Girl’s basketball hosted Pennsauken to open the home slate of their 2015-2016 season on Monday night and the Pirates walked away with a 47-36 victory to move to 2-0.
“To not only start 2-0, but also to beat a team like that,” head coach Bret Jenkins said. “They have some pretty serious players, great athletes. They are a very solid team with a ton of experience. I knew it was going to be a tough one, come out, show some grit at the end and get the win.”
“It’s definitely important to start of 2-0,” senior Marisa DiLeo said. “Last year we started off with a win and then went on a big, four-game losing streak, so it definitely gives us confidence to push and win more games.”
Things got off to a slow start Monday as Pennsauken took an early 5-3 lead that saw turnovers, long passes, missed shots and steals cause the Pirates to struggle to score points.
That didn’t matter much though as Jenkins kept telling his girls from the sideline that the offense will come.
“In the Burlington County League, there’s so many teams that are close to each other,” Jenkins said. “We’re going to have a ton of games just like this.”
“This is a great experience for that and we now have the confidence that we can win a game like this. We can win a game when the other team is trying to press us to get back in the game or foul us and force us to make our free throws.”
The offense did arrive late in the first quarter as the Pirates went on a 4-0 run to end it and take a 7-5 lead that they would not relinquish as Jenkins began subbing in fresh legs.
“We’re fresh all the time, so they’re running and we’re pressing every game,” DiLeo said. “They’re getting tired and we’re just rotating and we’re always able to keep up the pace.”
The Pirates then reeled off a total of 16 straight points to build a 19-5 lead before Pennsauken scored another point.
In the middle of that 16-0 run was DiLeo, who nailed three shots from beyond the arc as part of her game-high 20 points.
Cinnaminson went into the locker room at halftime with a 22-11 advantage.
Pennsauken came out fired up in the second half, putting a ton of pressure on the Pirates offense that saw the Indians put up 14 points in the third quarter to pull within nine.
At one point during the fourth quarter, Pennsauken got the game within six at 42-36 before the Pirates hit a couple of big free throws to move the lead back to nine and then eventually ice the victory.
“We had an 11 or 13 point lead at one point and they cut it all the way to six,” Jenkins said. “They had a ton of momentum. Their fans got pretty loud, they were pressuring us, we had foul trouble.”
“A lot of teams crumble there. You never know what a team’s going to do there, especially this early in the season. I don’t think we let them score another point from there. That showed a lot to me.”
Those free throws were key as the Pirates hit only on only 19-of-34 for the game.
“I thought we’d be a pretty good free throw shooting team,” Jenkins said. “Hoping it’s just early season jitters because free throws are so important. It’s a little surprising, so hopefully we can turn that around.”
DiLeo was the only Pirate to hit double digits in points Monday, but Cinnaminson did get at least two points from seven different players. Tori Robinson pitched in with eight, while Anne O’Malley and Fiona Flynn added six apiece.
“Everyone gave 110 percent. We never gave up,” DiLeo said. “If someone made a turnover, we were there to comfort them. We just stood by everyone.”
“We’re just really close. We all either played soccer together. Some people played tennis. We’re all just really close. We’re just a really close team and that definitely helps us on the court.”
Girl’s basketball returns to the court on Tuesday, December 29 at the Audubon Holiday Tournament.
