 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
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It was a week that started with so much promise for the Hun School girls' basketball team.
Playing at powerful Peddie School on January 13, Hun raced out to a 16-point lead in the first half over the 10-time state Prep A champions.
But with the battle-tested Falcons cranking up the pressure and outscoring Hun 13-3 in the fourth quarter, the Raiders limped home with a 58-53 loss.
Three days later, a tired and emotionally drained Hun ran into trouble again on the road, dropping a disappointing 58-46 decision at Prep B powerhouse Rutgers Prep.
As the Raiders hit the court last Saturday for a contest against visiting Nottingham, Hun senior captain Mary Stinson was determined to help the squad end the week on a high note. "I wanted to get the momentum back," asserted Stinson. "The longer you let it go, the harder it is to get it back."
With Stinson slashing to the basket on offense and controlling the defensive glass, Hun built an early 15-4 lead on the way to outscoring the Northstars 33-13 in the first half.
Hun didn't let up in the second half as its three-point shooting and suffocating defense resulted in a final margin of 72-35.
Stinson, who ended up with 12 points on the afternoon, savored the rout. "We pretty much just wanted to win," said a grinning Stinson. "We like to get ahead of people and work from ahead. We were down after the two losses but I really don't think we got too down on ourselves."
In Stinson's view, the team showed resilience in dealing with the week's setbacks. "I think we learned a tremendous lesson," explained Stinson. "Last year we only lost to Peddie [three times]. So to lose to Peddie and then lose to another team and then come back so quick, that shows how strong we are."
The 6'1 Stinson has combined with post-graduate star Amanda Sepulveda to provide the leadership needed to help the Raiders through the ups and downs that come with any season.
"From the beginning of the season, I've always felt like I should provide leadership," asserted Stinson, a Princeton native. "I've been here for four years. Amanda has been a tremendous player; we help each other as leaders because our team is pretty young."
Hun head coach Bill Holup would expect no less from Stinson. "Mary has been a terrific team leader," said Holup, whose club improved to 12-3 with its rout of Nottingham.
"She is our only team captain and our only four-year player here on the team. She is really stepping up big in the paint, rebound-wise and taking the ball to the basket. She's also unselfish; if someone has a better shot she gets the ball to her."
In Holup's view, the Raiders needed a collective unselfishness to break its mini-slump.
"It was important for us to get back to playing Hun basketball and play the way we are capable of," asserted Holup, who got 16 points from Sepulveda, 12 from Cara Fiori and 10 from Emily Gratch in the Nottingham victory. "We were moving the ball, playing extremely unselfishly and playing good, hard-nosed defense."
It was defense that triggered the whipping of Nottingham. "They had to work hard to get all of their shots, I'm happy with that," said Holup. "That's all you can ask from the girls defensively don't give up open looks and make the other team work."
If Hun keeps working the way it did last Saturday, it should be able to get rolling again. "The bottom line is you can't take anything for granted," said Holup, whose team plays at Germantown Academy on January 20 before going into its exam break.
"We've played a lot of games on the road. Out of our first 14 games, we played three at home. We have to be up for every game; we can't have any letdowns."
Stinson, for one, thinks the lessons learned last week will keep Hun from letting down in the future.
"In the beginning we were winning our games by so much that we weren't really focusing on everything we had to do and the things we were doing wrong," said Stinson. "Those losses really gave us a wake-up call."
The focus that Hun showed Saturday promises good things to come.
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