Girls basketball: How battle-hardened Pingry held off Voorhees for share of division lead

BERNARDS TOWNSHIP – The good news for The Pingry School girls basketball team headed into Thursday’s home game was it got a much-need break from a brutal slate that saw the Big Blue play four non-division powers, including a pair of Top 3 Skyland Conference teams in Gill St. Bernard’s and Hillsborough.

The bad news Thursday was the fact it was Skyland Conference Valley Division-leading Voorhees paying a visit, a club that had not only lost just once this season and was undefeated in conference play, but one that scored a four-point win over Pingry when they met in December — the Big Blue’s lone division loss.

And while the Vikings were certainly as advertised, closing deficit after deficit until Pingry was finally able to pull away, in the end, the Big Blue’s trial-by-fire over the previous five games paid dividends.

Junior point guard Taylor Francis notched a game-high 24 points, adding four rebounds and five steals, and classmate Debra Hill turned in a double-double, tallying 15 points and 15 boards, and Pingry drew even in the Valley Division race, scoring a 56-48 victory.

“We’re playing our best basketball at the right time,” said Pingry coach Robert Hoepfl, whose team is now tied with the Vikings, both 6-1 in the Valley, with three division games each left to play. “We’ve kind of been through a gauntlet the last (week) with five games against quality opponents. Voorhees is a great team, and I wouldn’t (diminish) them against those other teams at all. They do so many things so well. We’d like to go 5-0 in that, but 3-2 feels good, and now we’ve got to build off that with a couple big games next week."

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The game was an absolute battle from the opening whistle until the final buzzer. Pingry came out hot early, using an 8-0 first-quarter advantage on turnovers and carrying a lead for all of the period until Voorhees reeled eight unanswered points to finish out the period up 14-8.

The Vikings lead was 21-12 halfway through the second quarter, before Pingry came to life, outscoring Voorhees 10-0 over the final 3:00 of the first half to lead 22-21 at intermission, an advantage that would have been bigger had the Big Blue not shot just 2-for-8 from the free-throw line during the stretch.

Voorhees (13-2), which had suffered its only loss of the season to Morris Knolls two weeks ago, reclaimed the lead, 28-24 with 3:26 left in the third, before an 8-2 Pingry run closed out the period, sparked by a 3-pointer from Francis, after her team had combined to go 0-for-9 from beyond the arc in the first half.

It looked as if Pingry might run away and hide in the fourth quarter, building a 45-37 lead with 3:26 remaining, but Voorhees wasn’t done, ripping off seven points in less than 50 seconds, capped by a huge 3 from Ali Leibensperger to make it a 45-44 game with 2:28 remaining.

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But Pingry wouldn’t relent, getting some huge plays on both ends of the court to pull away and then close it out. That included a key blocked shot and offensive rebounds from Hill, who dominated inside all game, and some huge contributions from senior Ngozi Nnaeto — a force inside, outside and on defense — finishing with nine points, six rebounds and five steals. The Big Blue also got a dagger of a 3-pointer from freshman Vale Triana in the fourth, as she finished with nine points.

It also helped that the Big Blue shot 11-for-14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter after going 5-for-13 during the first three periods.

“One of our biggest challenges this season — and even last season — has been finishing games,” Francis said. “So, I think finally being able to string it together was very important for us. For the past three years I’ve been here, Voorhees has been a rival for us. They always make their shots.”

“Last time, we had a big lead in the second half (and we lost) — I think 10 points — but you’ve got to give them (Voorhees) credit, they never stop fighting,” Hoepfl said. “They’re super well-coached (by Mitch Collins and staff) and they make plays down the stretch, and they did it again today.

“We went up eight points (late) today, and it looked like we might separate a little bit, but they went on a 7-0 run in about 25 seconds. But we made a couple plays and it was absolutely massive. It feels really good. They’re a really good team, there’s a reason they (came into the game) 13-1.

Voorhees was led by sophomore Maddie Petak, who notched 15 points and six boards, while junior Christina Sullivan notched nine points and nine boards and Leibensperger notched eight points.

BOX SCORE

VOORHEES (13-2) 14-7-9-18--48

PINGRY (10-5) 8-14-10-24--56

SCORING: V—Petak 15, Sullivan 9, Leibensperger 8, Patel 8, Pettegrove 4, Kellogg 4; P—Francis 24, Hill 15, Nnaeto 9, Triana 8.

REBOUNDS: V-Sullivan 9, Petak 6, Patel 4, Kellogg 4, Pettegrove 3, Leibensperger 2; P—Hill 15, Nnaeto 6, Francis 4, Triana 4, Kirschner 3, Lemanski 1.

Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997. He can be reached at CNGirlsHoops@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Girls basketball: Pingry School beats Voorhees with Taylor Francis