By: Kyle Moylan
The Allentown High School girls’ basketball team tried very hard to win its opener this past Friday.
It will try even harder to win a spot in the state tournament.
Despite rallying back to take a lead in the fourth quarter, Allentown was edged in the opener at Steinert, 45-42. Fortunately, Allentown was able to bounce back with a 57-30 win over Spotswood the next day.
"The girls are a good basketball team and can do some special things this year," Allentown Coach Linda Weise noted. "The girls just have to instill that belief in themselves."
A win in the opener against a talented Steinert team would have gone a long way toward that goal.
"It would have been (a signature win for the program)," Weise noted. "I’m disappointed for the girls because they worked so hard. When you lose like that, you just have to learn from it. As the season progresses, we’ll learn how to win these games."
This game was up for grabs. Down by nine at one point, Allentown was up by two in the fourth quarter. The game hung at a one-possession contest for most of the fourth quarter.
"When the girls got down by five points late, they hung their heads a bit and were discouraged," Weise noted. "That’s what I didn’t want to see. It was still a winnable game."
To the credit of the Allentown players, the head hanging didn’t last very long. In fact, Allentown had numerous chances to tie the contest in the final two minutes.
"We’ll be in that game again and we’ll figure out a way to win," Weise promised.
Weise can say that because she already knows her girls can bounce back like a basketball.
After losing a tough game Friday night, Allentown was back in action the next afternoon and won going away.
Bea Pesciotta scored 14 points on Friday night and followed that with 13 points on Saturday. What made certain Spotswood wouldn’t be pulling any late charges, however, was the shooting of Angela Scibilia. She made four three pointers three in the fourth quarter to finish with a team-high 16 points.
"When we’re able to shoot the ball as well as we did from the outside, that opens everything up," Weise said. "That opens up the inside and takes a lot of pressure off of the post players."
Amanda Turowski scored nine points in the win and Brittany O’Brien added eight. Turowski had scored six points against Steinert. Haley Wilhelm put in 12 points against Steinert.
"We played mainly seven girls against Steinert, so the girls were a little tired on Saturday," Weise noted. "In a way, it was a good thing to just get out there and play again. We got a chance to forget about what happened on Friday and play our first home game. It was good for us."
While the first game is starting to become a distant memory, Allentown can totally forget about it by stringing together some wins. This past Tuesday, Allentown was scheduled to face a first-year Robbinsville team. Allentown will be at Voorhees for a 7 p.m. start tonight and at Princeton for a 6 p.m. game on Friday. Allentown will host a Christmas Tournament, starting on Wednesday. Allentown will play Monroe at 5 p.m. Union and Delran will face off in the other game earlier in the day.
"One of our goals is to win the Christmas Tournament, but we’re looking to take it one step at a time," Weise said. "I believe we can do some special things here. We just have to go out and do them."
NEW EGYPT
The New Egypt High girls’ basketball team were defeated at Florence, 59-21, in the season opener this past Friday.
Stephanie Partyka scored six points, Emily Straniero four, and Cindy Murray, Robynn Frank and Carol Ann Goff three points each. Kristi Martino and Kelly Cameron tossed in a point each.
New Egypt is scheduled to host Maple Shade tonight in a 6:15 p.m. start. On Friday, it will play Gateway at 5:30 p.m.
RHS
The Robbinsville High School girls’ basketball team was defeated by Trenton, 80-7, in its first varsity game ever this past Friday night.
Jen Bryan scored three points and Nicole Douglass and Laura Greb each added two points.
Robbinsville was scheduled to face Allentown this past Tuesday and Riverside last night. On Friday, Robbinsville will host Hopewell in a 5:15 p.m. start.
