Team enjoys first win streak of season
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
The Hillsborough High girls showed Saturday that even when they’re not having their typical dominant basketball season, they’re still dangerous and effective in the Somerset County Tournament.
Playing a preliminary round game for the first time in head coach Jim Reese’s 14-year tenure, the Lady Raiders advanced with a 53-40 triumph over Ridge. Hillsborough entered this year’s SCT as the No. 12 seed and improved to 4-12 with the win over Ridge two very unfamiliar numbers to one of the area’s most consistent winners.
Hillsborough has appeared in the county semifinals for the last 12 years and needed to pull out Saturday’s win to give that streak a chance to continue. The Lady Raiders have won three county titles and appeared in nine SCT finals under Reese.
They’ve got a long way to go in this year’s tourney, but Saturday gave the HHS girls a good start.
”The county tournament is the most important part of our season,” said HHS senior guard Sara DiClemente, who netted 16 points to share her team’s high scoring honors. “We can’t win the conference or make the states with our record. We can still win something in the counties. We can compete with those guys.”
The Lady Raiders will take on fifth-ranked Gill St. Bernards Saturday in Gladstone hoping to earn a shot at No. 4 Franklin in the quarterfinals. They needed to come from behind a few times Saturday to keep their tournament hopes alive.
Hillsborough has lost several close ones this season and blown a few leads in the fourth quarter. Saturday, the HHS girls executed and dominated down the stretch, allowing just one free throw in the final 4:30 to win comfortably.
It was the second straight game over a span of three days in which the HHS girls held off an opponent and closed out a game in style. Thursday night, they stopped the Immmaculata girls cold in their tracks and posted a 38-22 victory. Saturday, the Lady Raiders made it two in a row for the first time this season.
”Everyone’s on a high, we won two in a row,” said senior power forward Kaitlin Capriccio, who matched DiClemente with 16 points. “We want to go as far as we can in the counties. It’s a whole new start for us.”
”We’ve had teams come after us in the last few games and we’ve been able to hold it together,” Reese said. “We’ve lost some games with bad fourth quarters. Today, we handled the pressure and made good decisions.”
Reese credited his three seniors for leading the way Saturday. Capriccio and DiClemente grabbed the headlines for providing most of the points, but fellow senior Caitlyn Katzelnick led the defense with outstanding, scrappy play. Katzelnick was particularly effective in the 1-3-1 zone.
”She played great defense,” Reese said. “She deflected a million balls and she got steals. She won’t get a lot of recognition because she only scored two points, but she played very well.”
The game went back-and-forth and featured five lead changes. Ridge opened a 10-8 lead after one quarter but Hillsborough took a 25-22 advantage at the half. Ridge opened the third quarter with two baskets, prompting Reese to call timeout after the visitors took a 26-25 lead.
Hillsborough stormed out of the timeout with two straight transition baskets by DiClemente and never trailed again. Ridge stayed close for the rest of the quarter and trailed by only three points with 4:43 remaining in the fourth, but DiClemente and Capriccio wouldn’t allow their team to lose in the first round of the county tournament.
”We’re definitely shooting the ball a lot better,” Capriccio said. “Our team has grown up a lot. The underclassmen are gaining confidence. We’re playing hard every game.”
Although DiClemente is a senior, she’s still relatively young in terms of varsity experience. She was on the 2005-06 team that won the Somerset County title but did not come out for the team last winter. This year, after a slow start, she’s starting to make a difference. DiClemente used her athleticism to score five transition baskets, many coming off her own steals.
”We were lucky because the refs were letting us play,” DiClemente said. “I just tried to go out and be aggressive. We had to go out and help Hillsborough dominate in the county tournament like we always do.”
The Lady Raiders started their modest win streak with a solid defensive effort vs. Immaculata. The HHS girls blanked Immaculata in the first quarter and held off a late charge to complete a season sweep of their rivals.
Capriccio led all scorers with 17, while junior Janice Jeschke added 10 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line.
”We’re executing better,” Reese said. “We’re making better decisions with the basketball and people are growing up.”
Perhaps just in time for another Somerset County Tournament run.
FREE THROWS Reese won his 300th game as a varsity head coach Saturday. Most (235) of those victories have come as the head man of the HHS girls’ program, with others coming in stints as head coach of the Hillsborough boys (57) and Manville girls (8). The Lady Raiders planned giving Reese a special plaque before Tuesday night’s home game vs. Watchung Hills.