Fast start sends Princeton’s girls past La Salle-Peru

PRINCETON - Princeton raced out to a 15-2 lead against visiting LaSalle-Peru in a Saturday matinee girls basketball game at Prouty Gym and needed every bit of it in the end.

The Cavaliers made it back to one point early and again late in the third quarter before the Tigresses regained a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, settling for a 47-40 nonconference victory.

“We had a really good start to the game, and that probably made a little bit of difference just to have a little bit of a cushion,” PHS coach Tiffany Gonigam said. “They switched their defense on us and kind of forced us to take more from the outside when they moved to the 1-2-2 zone.

“Overall, I thought we still moved the ball and got some good looks at the basket. It definitely slowed us down, stopped the bleeding.”

A hustle play by L-P’s Elizabeth Sines – who batted a ball heading out of bounds back to teammate Kelsey Frederick for a basket – drew the Cavs within 27-26 late in the third quarter. Margaret Boudreau followed a 3-point shot by Princeton’s Camryn Driscoll with a three-point play the old-fashioned way. Payton Brandt scored in the post to give the Tigresses a 32-29 lead at quarter’s end.

Olivia Mattingly opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back baskets for Princeton, and classmate Paige Jesse added a 3-pointer to cap a 9-0 run and put the Tigresses back up by 10 at 39-29 early in the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers (10-16) drew as close as 40-37 on a free throw by Brianna Ruppert, but the Tigresses made 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

“This is a good, solid 3A team, a good neighboring school, and it’s nice to get a victory,” Gonigam said. “Last year we played them at the Ottawa tournament, and they took it to us pretty good. This one I think was important to come out and be competitive.”

Driscoll led the Tigresses (18-9) with 17 points, making 5 of 6 free throws. Gonigam said they made sure they got the ball in Driscoll’s hands when they needed to.

“That was the key to most timeouts to make sure she knew what screens she was running off of and make sure she knew we wanted it to go to there,” Gonigam said.

Princeton shell-shocked L-P in the first quarter, ripping off 13 straight points to take a 15-2 lead. Makayla Hecht hit a 3-pointer, and Olivia Mattingly and Keighley Davis each scored twice.

L-P coach Adam Spencer said the Cavs may have been feeling the effects of a short turnaround after a late night returning from Rochelle on Friday night.

“I think you could kind of see it early in the game,” he said. “The legs weren’t really there. We were a little sloppy with the ball. We’re not making rotations on the ball.”

Mattingly finished with 12 points for PHS, sinking 2 of 2 free throws in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.

Ruppert led the Cavaliers with 14 points, Emma Jereb had eight and Frederick seven.

Princeton has now won seven of its last eight outings heading into Monday’s regular-season finale. They will take the No. 4 sub-sectional seed into their own regional, which starts Saturday, Feb. 15.