‘It’s tough,' but Princeton holds off Seneca

PRINCETON - Two tired teams had plenty in the tank Tuesday night at Prouty Gym.

Princeton got two clutch free throws from junior point guard Camryn Driscoll with 12 seconds to take a one-point lead and made a defensive stop at the end to hold on for a 56-53 win over Seneca in a nonconference matchup of two of the best teams on the I-80 corridor.

“I’m proud of the kids. We’ve had a couple games here with some really tough teams, but I also think we’ve played some of our best basketball over those games,” PHS coach Tiffany Gonigam said. “And to do that just back-to-back-to-back, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, with Sherrard’s who’s pulling state rankings and then Ottawa, who’s a good 3A school and now Seneca, a 20-win team. It’s tough.

“We knew this portion of our schedule with Hall coming to town on Thursday, this is a tough stretch.”

Seneca coach Josh Meyers said it was the kind of game he expected between two good teams.

“I knew it was going to be a good game,” he said. “They played a good game last night against Ottawa. We had a good game last night and played really well against St. Bede. Just two really good teams that were probably tired. I thought both teams did a lot of good things.

The Tigresses (16-10) scored the final four points of the third quarter to take a 36-35 lead and the first two of the fourth quarter to go up by three.

Princeton used an 8-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to go up by eight. Senior Paige Jesse hit a 3-pointer at the 4-minute mark and hard-nosed junior Makayla Hecht drove the left baseline to put the Tigresses up 48-40.

Gonigam said it was just one of several key moments for Hecht.

“She had a lot. She had eight points and I remember a 3-pointer late and then another basket as well underneath on a back-door cut,” she said. “She reads the floor really well and she’s very quick. So when she makes the decision to go, it’s hard to keep up with her. And credit her teammates to seeing her and being able to make the pass, too.”

Hecht followed a 3-pointer by Seneca’s Alyssa Zellers with one of her own to regain an 8-point lead for Princeton at 51-43.

The Irish (20-8) would not go away. Emma Mino scored and followed a scoring drive by Zellers with a three-point play by converting at the free throw line to pull the Irish within 51-50.

Jesse hit the first of two free throws to put the Tigresses back up by two, only to have Zellers cash in a three-point play with another drive and free throw to give the Irish their first lead of the fourth quarter at 53-52 with 30.9 left.

Keighley Davis found Driscoll open on a back cut. She was fouled on her shot and swished both foul shots to put the Tigresses back on top at 54-53 with 12 seconds left.

The Irish inbounded in front of their own bench and got the ball into hands of guard Zellers, who was guarded closely by Hecht and was unable to get a clean shot as both tumbled to the floor.

Davis rebounded and sank two free throws in the final second for the final tally.

“I thought we could get one defensive stop and Evelyn (O’Connor) about got that steal and then we fouled and they made their free throws,” Myers said. “I was going to call a timeout and they didn’t give it to me and our best guard was driving baseline. Put it in the referee’s hand and they said she was in good defensive position.

“We are definitely senior-led and our girls want to fight to the end and make sure it’s tough on everyone.”

Hecht said the win gives the Tigresses a confidence boost heading down the home stretch of the season.

“It means a lot. Because we’ve played hard the last three games and our Senior Night game against Hall is coming up (Thursday) and this kind of boosted our confidence more we can play at this level,” she said.

“Seneca is really quick and so I’m just proud of the girls for hanging in there, playing tough, playing hard and continuing to fight through to the end,” Gonigam said.

Davis and Driscoll both netted 15 points for Princeton and Payton Brandt added 10. The Tigresses went 17-21 from the free throw line with Davis going 7-7 and Driscoll and Brandt 4-4 each.

Zellers led the Irish with 14 points, Mino had 11 and Greyson Provance 10.