HARD DRIVING: Princeton High girls’ basketball player Sephora Romain drives to the hoop in recent action. Last Saturday, junior guard Romain scored eight points and had three rebounds as PHS fell 50-47 to Delaware Valley in the semifinals of the WW/P-South Tournament. The Tigers, who dropped to 4-1 with the loss, were slated to play Somerville on December 30 to wrap up action in the WW/P-S event and then play at Nottingham on January 3 before hosting Hopewell Valley on January 7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With the Princeton High girls’ basketball team trailing Delaware Valley 20-10 after the first quarter last Saturday in the semifinals of the WW/P-South Tournament, Sephora Romain went into overdrive.

“I feel like we needed to move more,” said junior guard Romain. “I tried to take it and pick it up. I just took it and went to the hoop.”

Making several forays to the basket, Romain scored eight points as the Tigers outscored Del Val 13-11 in the second quarter to keep PHS in the contest.

Continuing to battle back, the Tigers drew to within 40-37 heading into the fourth quarter. Putting together a 10-3 run, PHS forged ahead 47-46 with 1:33 left in regulation. The Terriers, though, responded by draining four free throws in the waning moments of the contest to pull out a 50-47 win.

While the loss to undefeated Del Val dropped PHS to 4-1, Romain was proud of the character displayed by the Tigers as they clawed back in the game.

“I feel like it takes a lot of courage,” said Romain. “It is your teammates having your back and just being there with your teammates.”

Romain and her teammates are finding a groove playing under new head coach Joe Smiegocki.

“It was kind of hard to adjust because we had new plays and new everything but we are warming up to him,” said Romain. “He lets us actually play, we are not only controlled by plays and stuff.”

Building on the progress she made last winter in her sophomore season, Romain is averaging 11.4 points a game so far this winter along with 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

“In my freshman year, I didn’t play,” said Romain, who ended up with eight points and three rebounds against Del Val. “In my sophomore year, I gained more confidence taking the ball to the basket. That is where my potential is at.”

In order to get more out of her potential, Romain has focused on strength training and played club.

“I did AAU off-season stuff so that helped me gain more confidence and get stronger,” said Romain. “There is going to be bigger competition so we have to be aware of that.”

Although the furious rally by the Tigers fell just short, PHS head coach Smiegocki was all smiles as he reflected on the way his players competed.

“I told them at the end of the game that I am extremely happy,” said Smiegocki. “We played well. When we were down 10, we could have rolled over and let the game get away from us but we fought back.”

Making a defensive adjustment helped the Tigers turn the game into a nail-biter.

“My two assistants [Mary Pat Lisinski and Christine Levering] suggested that we go to a zone in the second half which we did,” said Smiegocki. “It was a big help. We haven’t used it all year but today we did and it worked.”

Smiegocki some good work across the board against Del Val as Anna Winters scored 14 points with Katie Sharkey, Angela Cao, and Chloe Hunt chipping in seven apiece.

“We don’t live and die by one person,” said Smiegocki, who saw Winters foul out early in the fourth quarter and didn’t have star forward Luna Bar-Cohen for the game as she was sidelined by injury.

“That is what is good about it. Anna wasn’t in the game and others stepped up. That is what I think is going to be our MO all year, someone is going to step up every day.”

Romain has been stepping up all season for the Tigers.

“In the first four or five games, you can see that Sephora is very athletic, she has the ability to go to the basket,” said Smiegocki. “Sometimes I think she is a little unselfish. A couple of times she had a chance where she beat the girl and she should have muscled the shot up. Instead she was looking to pass the ball out to her teammate. You can’t yell at a kid for being unselfish.”

With PHS slated to play Somerville on December 30 to wrap up action in the WW/P-S event and then playing at Nottingham on January 3 before hosting Hopewell Valley on January 7, Smiegocki believes that the loss will help his squad fine-tune things.

“We always like to win; however we learn from our mistakes,” said Smiegocki. “We will work on getting the ball in from out of bounds on the side and work on getting it under the basket. It is the little things we need to work on. We will make some adjustments offensively and defensively.”

Smiegocki is confident that his players will make the necessary adjustments.

“They continue to work hard,” said Smiegocki. “Every day we get a little better. Someone steps up every day that didn’t step up the day before.”

Romain, for her part, believes that the Tigers need to step up a little verbally.

“I think we need leadership on the court, sometimes we are like really quiet,” said Romain. “I am the only one yelling sometimes.”

With Romain making noise, PHS looks primed to do some big things this winter.