Forward helps inexperienced Pirates to win
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Megan Fitzpatrick knows that the West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls basketball team needs more out of her this season.
The 6-foot-2 senior center got off to a promising start in the season opener with 12 points and 16 rebounds as the Pirates held off Hightstown, 64-50, Friday.
”It’s a task I’m so excited for,” Fitzpatrick said. “I really do care about Pirate basketball and I don’t want it to go down.”
Fitzpatrick’s emergence is one of the keys to a Pirates team that lost plenty from last year’s 10-13 squad.
”We graduated five seniors,” said Pirates head coach Tom Lecorchick, whose team hosts Robbinsville tonight. “They didn’t all start, but we did start four out of the five seniors at points. We lost a lot of size — Kendall Borup at 6-2, Shanice Barnes at 6-5. We had big bodies. Sharell Lowe was jumping out of the gym last year. She played a big girl. We don’t have that this year.
”Megan is our biggest player. We’re going to rely on her to stay in games until our two sophomore forward/centers get that experience.”
Caroline Sandvick and Andrea Ndubizu are coming along, part of a WW-P South team that has plenty of new players in increased roles. Only Fitzpatrick, Gabi Hahn and Alyssa Gilman return from last year’s varsity.
”We have a really young team,” Fitzpatrick said. “We don’t have any juniors. We have all seniors and sophomores.”
Seniors are Gilman, Hahn, Fitzpatrick and Erica Aduya. Sophomores for the Pirates are: Katie McCormick, Sammie McCormick, Melinda Altamore and Sandvick and Ndubizu. Fitzpatrick is the lone experience inside. She’s been a tutor to her successors.
”We have two young sophomores that are my height,” Fitzpatrick said. “With work, I think we’ll get them to where they need to be. They’re great and willing to learn. They don’t have the varsity experience. Given the time, they’ll come up.”
Fitzpatrick was one of four players in double figures for the Pirates on Friday. Gilman and Hahn also had 12 points each, and Altamore delivered 11 points and six steals.
”We had eight girls working as close to a unit as you could expect for this point in the season,” Lecorchick said. “It was good.”
The win was the perfect early test for Fitzpatrick in her larger role. She was going up against a Hightstown team that has some of the best size in the Colonial Valley Conference.
”I knew this was either going to be bad or great,” Fitzpatrick said. “Coach told me I stepped up.”
The Pirates will need that on a consistent basis to help make up for its graduation losses.
”Last year, she was in purely a support role,” Lecorchick said. “We found her decent time, but we had a taller team. We were playing a 2-3 forward set with a rotation. She did get time, but she was getting time with and behind four seniors. She wasn’t playing a central role all the time. A lot of time she was the fourth or fifth girl. This year, she has stepped up.”
Fitzpatrick has given WW-P South not just a boost in the middle of the court during games, but also she has increased her leadership role.
”I don’t name captains,” Lecorchick said. “I’m a firm believer that captains name themselves. I don’t think you’ll find anyone to argue she’s the captain. She’s got everyone on the same page doing what they’re supposed to do. She’s a motivator. She’s a great personality. Everything is positive. She stepped up and took it. I’m glad she did.”
The Pirates needed their veteran leadership as Hightstown tried to claw back from 31-25 halftime deficit. WW-P South expanded its lead to 11 points at the end of three quarters before closing out the win.
”We’ll learn,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s difficult. We knew coming in we were going to be a fast team and we’re going to win by running.”
Practices aren’t as fun, but all their running is paying off for the well-conditioned Pirates. They were able to wear down Hightstown over the long run, but allowed the Rams to stick around by fouling. The Pirates also got to the line plenty as they converted 18 free throws and pulled out a game that saw them learn plenty about this year’s group.
”Our younger players are willing to work, willing to learn on the fly,” Lecorchick said. “They’re responsive and aggressive. They got a good taste of what CVC varsity basketball is, and they responded well. They could have easily folded during the third quarter into the fourth quarter when Hightstown was pushing back, but they didn’t. They stuck with it.
”We learned our speed is definitely our ally. And if we allow teams to play in the halfcourt, we’re going to be challenged.”
In the halfcourt offense is where Fitzpatrick can play a bigger part. She put pressure on the Rams defense with some newfound confidence and moves inside.
”Last year, I didn’t really play the post because Shanice (Barnes) was there,” Fitzpatrick said. “Shanice was the main girl. We worked on catching and squaring to the basket. I was able to pass and dribble and drive. It did work.”
Lecorchick was pleased with the presence that Fitzpatrick made felt in the paint. It’s what he expects to see a lot of this year.
”What teams are going to learn pretty quick is she worked very hard in the offseason to catch, turn, face, and how to make a move off it,” he said. “Teams are going to have a tough time defending her in the paint. She’s not a slow big girl. She moves pretty well with the ball.
”It was a big help for us. Hightstown has some height. We relied on her heavily tonight to make up for that, with positioning, getting a box out, putting herself in the best position for rebounding. Offensively, we got her the ball a lot in the middle and she drew fouls. We made a nice move and drew a foul. Even if it wasn’t Megan shooting the shots, she’s really the reason we were in position to get our guards to the line at the end.”
The Pirates pulled away to make it a little more comfortable in the end, and came away with some much needed confidence going forward into the year.
”As the game progressed, my concern was, can we use the clock as our sixth man, or are we going to continue to stop the clock and help them out?” Lecorchick said. “I was very happy and impressed with all the girls with that they did do.
”We went into the season knowing we’d have some mistakes with our youth, and we’re going to learn from them and move on. The mistakes made tonight, they could have been much worse. They weren’t bad at all. They were correctable, very minor, a lot of first-game jitters.”
There was also one promising first-game performance from Megan Fitzpatrick, who served notice that she will be quite a force inside or the WW-P South girls basketball team.