Varsity team wins regular season finale
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High varsity girls entered this week’s High School Summer League basketball playoffs with a little extra momentum.
Hillsborough (3-3) has played well in spurts but lacked consistency overall. Last Thursday night’s 41-38 victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro North included many positives. The Lady Raiders fought back from a big early deficit, had two girls reach double figures in the same game for the first time in league action this summer and played well under pressure late in the game. They accomplished all this despite missing a few key players who elected to compete in the Hillsborough Elite Softball playoffs.
"We were missing many people but we played a great game and won," Hillsborough head coach Jim Reese said. "We had a lot of newer, younger players but the kids did a great job. We fell behind early but we came back. They hung in there. It was good to be involved in a close game."
Maria DiTunnariello, who will be a senior guard, hit four crucial free throws in crunch time to seal the victory. DiTunnariello was the most experienced player on the floor for the Lady Raiders, who prevailed with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.
Rachel Jackson scored a season-high 14 points to lead the winners. The incoming sophomore hopes to make an impact on the varsity level as a post player. Jackson saw limited action last winter but should play a bigger role in the upcoming season. Megan O’Reilly joined her in double figures with 10 points, while DiTunnariello added six.
WW-PN bolted to a 17-4 lead but the HHS girls didn’t quit. Hillsborough rallied in the middle quarters to take the lead and didn’t let it get away down the stretch.
The HHS girls spent the previous week at the Albright College Team Camp. It wasn’t a great week for wins and losses, but Reese liked the improvement he saw during the week. Hillsborough split 22 girls into two teams.
Kaitlin Capriccio, an incoming senior and only returning starter for the HHS varsity team, led the older squad at Albright. Capriccio and a group of sophomores played together and took a few lumps but it was a good learning experience.
"We entered the toughest division and we played some very good teams," Reese said. "The idea is to get better and we did that during the week. We got better defensively as the week went on."
While the defense improved, the offense struggled. Young, inexperienced teams typically have problems putting the ball in the basket.
"We struggled offensively," Reese said. "We got better at running the offense, but making shots was a problem. They’re still learning to play at this level."
Capriccio has spent a good part of the summer playing AAU ball but has made spot appearances with the HHS team, which has played without Janice Jeschke (AAU) and Kaitlin Kwiecinski (ACL injury). A year after coming back from an injury herself, Capriccio will be the most experienced player on the court for the Lady Raiders in the next varsity season.
"She looks good," Reese said. "She’s going to play down low and make some moves there. She’ll be a good scorer on the inside."
Regular attendance is always an issue in summer leagues, but the HHS girls were hoping to put enough on the court to make a run in the playoffs.
Hillsborough’s jayvee unit was scheduled to face Somerville and Montgomery in regular season games this week before next week’s playoff action. Lou Foranoce’s sub-varsity unit dropped two games last week, 39-27 to Middlesex and 38-21 to South Brunswick. Kelly Gabriel (9), Veronica Zuccaarello (6) and Stephanie LaManna (6) led the scoring vs. Middlesex, while Zuccarello (7) and Lauren Miska (5) set the pace vs. South Brunswick.
All eight summer league varsity teams were slated to play quarterfinal games Tuesday night, with the winners moving on to Thursday night’s semifinals. The jayvee playoffs begin Aug. 6 with all five teams guaranteed at least two games. There will be consolation games for the quarterfinal losers in the varsity bracket. The summer league championship games are set for Aug. 7 (varsity) and Aug. 8 (jayvee).

