Improved junior guard helps South to victory
By: Justin Feil
Amanda Terebey came into the season determined to play at a higher level than last year.
By the second quarter of the season opener against Ewing on Friday, foul trouble cost the West Windsor-Plainsboro South junior that chance and had her antsy to prove herself.
"I just wanted to not sit on the bench," Terebey said. "I was beating myself up so bad. I was just mad."
Terebey was sixth man last year for the Pirates girls’ basketball team. Sitting on the bench as WW-P South fell behind, 17-16, going into halftime left her in an all too familiar spot.
"I didn’t want to go back to that," Terebey said.
She wasted no time in putting the sluggish start behind her as Terebey rebounded for a team-high 14 points in the Pirates’ 50-37 win. The second-half performance was more what she had in mind.
"I feel like I have a more important role this year," said Terebey, a guard. "It’s more exciting. I feel like more a part of the team this year."
With just two seniors, the Pirates are young. But at the same time, they have a lot of returning experience in a junior class that includes forward Tia Williams and fellow guard Becky Peters. Sophomores Stephanie Dontas, Liz Huttner and Tory Sharpless also return with varsity experience after being a part of last year’s 12-13 squad.
"I think we look better," Terebey said. "All of us have played together for two years. We just know each other better. We work well together."
Terebey is happy to be in the mix as a new starter this season. It’s been a welcome transition from first reserve to the starting role. And the Pirates needed her strong play in the second half to turn around a slim deficit and come away with their first win going into tonight’s game against Nottingham.
"It was an amazing difference," said Pirates head coach Lisa Guarneri of the second-half play. "Amanda Terebey took over. She shot really well. It was a tribute to what a great summer she had. She was playing all the time, she was in the weight room Monday, Wednesday, Friday. She really was dedicated.
"I think she really wants it. It’s great to see how much better she’s doing. She struggled running plays last year. She was sixth man last year. You could tell she feels comfortable being a starter now."
Terebey grew up playing softball and basketball, but it is basketball that has taken a front seat in the past year. Terebey remained focused on her improvement throughout the offseason with the single idea to be a much better player this season than she was in her first varsity year.
"Last year, I had a bad year," Terebey said. "I wanted to get better this year. I’m looking to play in college. I played lot of AAU. Last year, I wasn’t that good of a player. I worked on my shooting and defense."
The athletic Terebey fits in well with what the Pirates are trying to do. They want to play pressuring defense and be aggressive at the offensive end. In the first half, it didn’t look like that Friday.
"The defense wasn’t there," Guarneri said. "They were really aggressive. It was really sloppy. It was the first game of the season. Everyone was nervous. Everyone was trying hard. At halftime, they relaxed a little and I think that helped. The third quarter, we played how we usually play. I don’t know what happened in the first half. Even the fouls were crazy. Everything bad that was possible happened."
It didn’t help the Pirates when Terebey got into foul trouble. It showed just how much she means to the team this year.
"She sat in the second quarter with foul trouble with three," Guarneri said. "Without her in the second quarter, it hurt us. And without Becky, she was in foul trouble too. It was tough without those two."
At halftime, however, the Pirates regrouped and came out better. They looked like a team with energy and enthusiasm for the year.
"We were just nervous," Terebey said of the start. "We didn’t do what we do in practice. We made a whole bunch of mistakes and just couldn’t do anything right.
"At halftime, I think we realized we can’t lose. We’re not going to lose our first game after working so hard. We knew we could start over in the second half."
Terebey, too, didn’t want to have little to show for a productive offseason. She wanted to show that she could step into the starting lineup and give the Pirates what they are looking for this year, a little more balance.
"Terebey takes some pressure off Becky," Guarneri said. "She’s another great guard on the floor. She’s a great athlete. She has really stepped it up on the defensive end as well this year."
Things started to turn around for the Pirates in the second half. Their defense was better and their offense found the holes in the Ewing defense.
"With Becky, we would bring the ball up and we saw openings," Terebey said. "It was just being in the right place at the right time."
Added Guarneri: "I’m actually glad had they came out in the second half like that. In the first half, nothing went our way. It was a rough first half. Last year, we had games that we were good in but dropped off at the end. At the end of last year’s games sometimes would have given up the lead. That was good we showed we could win."
It’s what the Pirates are expecting of their team, even though there is such youth. Some of that youth showed in the first half as the Pirates were nervous to begin. But in the second half, they showed they’d learned from being in similar situations and tight contests last year.
"I think that helps," Guarneri said. "In the first half, we had no communication. We weren’t working together. In the second half, we put it together. I told them, we have to pick it up. We’ve been in situations like that last year. It helped for sure.
"Ewing comes in, they had a rough season last year, and they were going 100 percent," she added. "It was nice to see we were able to pull it out and get a win on opening night. We talked about how it had been three weeks of practice and it was finally time to play games. The first game, you’re going to have a lot of mess-ups. But we looked experienced in the second half."
Terebey liked the start, once she forgot about the first half of the Ewing game. The win gives the Pirates momentum going into tonight’s Nottingham game and their rival matchup with WW-P North on Friday. It’s early but Terebey was happy to put last year behind her and show how far she’s come in a solid opening-night game.
"I feel a lot better now," she said. "You feel more confident when you know what to expect."
The Pirates have big expectations for Amanda Terebey. So does she.
The three other Packet-area public school teams were not as fortunate as the Pirates in their openers on Friday night. Montgomery dropped a 46-42 decision to Immaculata in the debut of head coach Kevin Kretschy. Susan Keneagy led the Cougars with 11 points in the loss.
Princeton dropped a 54-27 decision at Hamilton, as Stephanie Grubb led the scoring with eight points.
WW-P North played well for three of the four quarters, but dropped a 42-37 decision to Hopewell Valley. The Knights led, 22-21, at halftime before the Bulldogs opened the second half with 13 straight points. Early in the fourth quarter the Knights trailed, 37-24, before going on an 11-0 run to get within two points. But North would get no closer and dropped Bob Boyce’s head coaching debut.
Megan Pisani led the Knights with 15 points on five three-point shots. Kathy Ruiz had 11 points, including the first eight of the game for the Knights.

