Princeton girls hold off Newman in TRAC East road win

STERLING — Playing a hot Newman team on the road in a Three Rivers East conference battle, the Princeton Tigers needed to make a play late with the young Comets looking to pull off an upset.

It came in the form of a turnover.

Princeton grabbed a Newman giveaway in the final 30 seconds, converting it into an easy layup in a 56-52 win on Thursday night.

The Tigers (11-6, 5-1 TRAC East) forced 22 Newman turnovers in the win as Keighley Davis led Princeton with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Newman’s Gisselle Martin scored 10 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter to put her team a play away from a win, but Princeton’s advantage in the second and third quarters was enough to hold in the contest.

Princeton held on for the win after leading Newman 44-37 after three quarters.

“Just keeping our head in the game,” Davis said of what helped key the clutch win. “And keep pushing and not giving up.”

Princeton coach Tiffany Gonigam said it took mental toughness to finish the game with a win. The Tigers committed 16 turnovers of their own, with a number of late giveaways keeping Newman in the game.

“It was a really rocky fourth quarter for us,” Gonigam said. “We kind of blew away a pretty decent lead. I just felt like the girls had to overcome a lot of adversity but I was really proud of them for that.”

Newman (16-7, 2-3) came into the game having recently beaten Hall and Riverdale, two teams the Tigers lost to earlier this month.

“I was just really proud of them for just the overall effort and mental toughness,” Gonigam said.

Newman started the game strong and led 9-2 before Princeton answered after a timeout.

The Tigers used a 16-9 second quarter to take a 26-23 halftime lead after trailing 14-10 after one.

Princeton was the better rebounding team following the break after getting beat on the glass in the first half. The Tigers finished the game 6 of 16 at the line while Newman was 11 of 16.

Gonigam said the team emphasized rebounding after Newman had the early edge.

“That’s just not how we wanted to play,” she said. “I thought the girls responded really well.

“Newman’s been playing really well, and this one we really had to just fight and claw for, so it felt good.”

The coach said Davis' effort was also “huge” in the win. She scored 15 of her 23 points in the second half.

“She just has such a motor defensively,” Gonigam said. “She’s always on the go and can really read things well. She had some really important tips there at the very end of the game.

“She’s gonna take it to the hoop when she sees an opening.”

Newman coach Herb Martin said Newman had too slow of a start against the defending conference champions.

“You’ve got to be ready to play, and I don’t think the girls came ready to play,” he said. “We didn’t wake up until about midway through the fourth quarter.

“We just didn’t have enough energy to come back.”

Camrynn Driscoll was second on Princeton with 13 points and Payton Brandt scored nine.

Brooklyn Smith had 11 points as Newman’s only other scorer in double figures.

Newman played eight of its nine players on the varsity roster in the loss. The Comets have just one senior and one junior. Martin said better rebounding will come with experience.

“When you’re dealing with a whole lot of freshmen and sophomores out there, it’s just something that’s going to have to come with age,” Martin said. “But we’ll be alright in the long run, my girls, they work hard and we’ll get this rebounding thing figured out.

“We still had a chance to win it right there at the end of the game if we just didn’t turn the ball over right there. Despite three bad quarters, we played one good quarter and gave ourselves a chance.”