Lady Bruins Christmas Classic: Princeton rebounds with win over Marquette

PERU - Princeton got a much-needed bounce-back win at St. Bede Thursday.

After falling to Eureka Wednesday, the Tigresses rebounded for a 59-41 win over Marquette in the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic.

They took the lead for good early in the third quarter and never gave it up, outscoring Marquette 26-10 in the final 12 minutes to win going away.

Princeton senior Mariah Hobson said it was all about getting their minds set on putting the loss behind them and getting some pick-ups from players to help make up for the loss of freshman Camryn Driscoll (ill) and senior Isa Ibarra (injury).

“Honestly, we just had to get out it of our own heads. They (Eureka) were the better team that night, but we also have to remember we’re missing Cam and Isa and Olivia (Gartin) had fouls. Just had to realized other people had to step up in other ways to make our team better,” she said.

Princeton coach Darcy Kepner said her team responded nicely to the challenge.

“We talked about responding and we were missing two big pieces. It was not ideal, but I thought people stepped up off the bench and we really kept our heads in it and came away with the win,” she said.

Princeton (13-2) will play Seneca (13-5) for third place at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Marquette (6-8) will meet the Rock Island JV in the fifth-place game at noon.

Fieldcrest beat Putnam County, 52-28, in Thursday’s last game of the day to advance to Friday’s championship against Eureka at 5:15 p.m. Friday.

Princeton led as much as 24-13 late in the second quarter, settling for a 25-19 halftime lead. Marquette took leads of 28-27 and 30-29 to start the second half, but freshman Keighley Davis and the Tigresses got things going in a hurry.

Davis scored on three straight run-outs with Hobson leading the break with the assist each time to put the Tigresses ahead to stay at 35-31. Hobson hit a jumper and Davis scored once again on the break as Princeton opened up a 42-32 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“For two and half quarters, things were going pretty well. Took the lead a couple of times,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “We just got caught on some slow transitions on defense. Got beat on some run-outs. That was the difference. A lot of run-outs.

“Defensive assignments we got lost on a couple of times. Part of the growing pains. Most of the game I have four sophomores on the court, learning on the job.”

Miyah Fox scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter as Princeton finished off the win with a 16-9 advantage.

Davis led Princeton with 17 points, Fox had 16 points and Hobson had 11 points.

Lily Craig led Marquette with 15 points.

Price said Princeton’s experience made the difference at the end.

‘They’re an experienced team and it showed when stuff got tight,” he said. “They’ve won some games this year they’re use to winning and we’re struggling right now trying to find a way to win. Once it got tight and they took the lead, we got defeated a little bit.”

Senior Gen Tirao and sophomores Olivia Mattingly and Paige Jesse were pressed into duty early with Driscoll and Ibarra missing and Gartin in foul trouble.

Mattingly especially provided a much-needed spark offensively off the bench with eight points all in the first half. She had a 3-pointer and long 2-pointer in a 11-0 Princeton second-quarter run.

“They came off the bench ready to go and honestly really showed they can play basketball. They never missed a beat and I’m really proud of them for that,” Hobson said.

Kepner said the two sophomores proved ready for the prime time.

“They haven’t seen a lot of varsity minutes, but they’re the future and they were ready to go off the bench when we needed them and gave us big minutes,” she said.

The Tigresses turn their attention Friday’s third-place game and want to live up to their ranking.

“We’re ready for third. As soon as we lost that game (Wednesday), we were ready for the next challenge,” Hobson said. “We’re ranked third and we’re playing for third, so that’s where we should be. Not too disappointed.

“We were 4-1 when we left the tournament last year and we’re ranked third, so we want to finish third,” Kepner said.

Fieldcrest 52, Putnam County 28: The Knights led 19-10 after the first quarter and 38-17 at the half to run the table in the Green Pool at 4-0.

Ashlyn May had 12 points, nine steals and five assists for the Knights with Kaitlin White adding 12 points and Haley Carver seven.

Amber Richetta had eight points for PC, which will meet Sandwich for fifth place at 1:45 p.m. Friday.

Other games Thursday saw Sandwich beat Marquette, 47-27, Seneca beat the Rock Island JV, 55-38, Kewanee beat Sandwich, 50-47, and Putnam County beat the Rock Island JV, 44-30.