DRIVING FORCE: Princeton High girls’ basketball player Anna Winters drives to the hoop last Thursday as fourth-seeded PHS defeated 13th-seeded Trenton Central 61-54 in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 tournament. Junior guard Winters scored a game-high 25 points in the win. The Tigers went on to lose 65-34 to fifth-seeded Franklin last Monday in the quarterfinal round of the tourney to end the winter with a 19-10 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Anna Winters went scoreless in the first quarter as the Princeton High girls’ basketball team fell behind 10-7 to Trenton Central last Thursday in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Central Jersey Group 4 tournament.

In the second quarter, junior guard Winters and fourth-seeded PHS got into a groove, outscoring the 13th-seeded Tornadoes 22-3 to seize control of the contest.

“We really just turned it up, we already beat this team and we knew what they were doing,” said Winters, who scored nine points in the quarter. “They are crazy athletic and aggressive. In the second quarter we really turned it up. I am really glad. I was confident, I was driving and I was shooting.”

Bringing a 50-26 lead into the fourth quarter, the Tigers had to weather a storm by the Tornadoes to hold on for a 61-54 win.

“We practiced what we were going to do against their pressure,” said Winters, who finished with a game-high 25 points in the win. “I think we were ready to the extent of that. We played well, we played hard. We put up a lot of points today too.”

Winters made some deft passes to help classmate Katie Sharkey enjoy a big game as she chipped in 20 points.

“I love playing with Katie,” said Winters. “I love finding her for all of her threes. We are playing AAU this year so I am really excited.”

Last month, Winters enjoyed an exciting moment as she hit the 1,000-point career mark in a 49-39 win over Montgomery on February 8.

“It is a great feeling,” said Winters. “In the beginning of my freshman year, I was hoping I could score 100 points. Now I am here scoring 1,000.”

PHS head coach Joe Smiegocki had a good feeling about his squad as it started the sectional with a home game.

“It is nice to play at home any time in the state tournament, it means you got a nice seed and now we get a second one,” said Smiegocki.

In earning that second home game with the win over Trenton, the Tigers broke the game open with their second quarter surge.

“We just played great defense, we rebounded, we ran the fast break,” says Smiegocki, reflecting on that stretch of the contest. “We played great as a team, we shared the ball.”

PHS also showed patience as it dealt with the stifling defense employed by the Tornadoes.

“Trenton is very good on the ball and the first pass, if you make two or three passes then things can become positive and that is what we did,” said Smiegocki. “We made two or three passes and the shots fell because they were wide open. It worked out perfectly. I just look at it as a team effort.”

Smiegocki credited Winters with hitting some big shots. “Anna played great, she played hard and went to the basket,” said Smiegocki. “They were being aggressive on her and she was aggressive right back. She made the plays that counted.”

While the Tigers went on to lose 65-34 to fifth-seeded Franklin last Monday in the quarterfinal round of the tourney, Smiegocki likes the way the squad progressed in his first season at the helm of the program.

“We are starting to play better as a team, we have finally turned the corner where some of the pieces that we were missing early in the season are starting to kick in,” said Smiegocki, whose team ended the winter with a 19-10 record. “It is a growing process here, I just like the way we are starting to improve as a team.”

In reflecting on the first state tournament win for PHS since it topped Trenton 66-51 in the Central Jersey Group 4 quarters in the 2018-19 campaign, Winters saw the triumph last Thursday as a breakthrough moment.

“It feels really good. This is our first time winning in the states since I have been here,” said Winters. “It is really important to us to see how we progress as a team, just seeing from getting blown out by 30 in our first year in states to now.”