Tigresses dance over Lady Devils

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Princeton’s Katlin Petersen keeps the ball away from Hall’s Jaclyn Kain as the Tigresses dribble out the final seconds of Monday’s 2A regional contest at Prouty Gym. PHS advanced with a 58-45 win. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

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PRINCETON — The host Tigresses came out with their foot on the gas, racing out to an 11-2 lead in the first three minutes, and stayed in the driver’s seat, never trailing as they secured a 58-45 win over Hall in opening round Class 2A regional action.

The Lady Devils, playing shorthanded with an eight person roster due to scheduling conflicts with the Devillette dance crew’s trip to Florida, made a valiant effort of hanging with the host Tigresses, but in the end did not have the gas to make a late game surge.

After the initial Tigress blitz, the Lady Devils responded with a 6-0 run of their own, cutting the PHS lead to three, 11-8, following a three-point play from senior Claire Faletti, and a free throw from sophomore center Kelle Net.

Another run from the Tigresses, capped by a Molly Stephens’ three-pointer with five seconds to go in the first, put PHS up eight, 20-12 entering the second, and extended their advantage to double digits, 23-12, with a three from sophomore CJ Rhodes to start the second frame.

Stephens kept her hot hand in the second quarter, scoring on a drive with 4:35 top play, and knocking down a pair of threes to finish with 15 first half points.

Stephens said that the quick start from the Tigresses helped keep the momentum in their favor.

“It was awesome, we’ve really been struggling in the first quarter and coming out really slow. So coming out and going up 11-2 just felt awesome,” Stephens said. “When we’re up we play better as a team because we’re not down on ourselves.”

Not content to quit after falling behind early, Hall managed to trim the PHS lead to single digits with an 8-0 scoring run in the third on back to back baskets from Hillary Klein, a drive and score from Jaclyn Kain, and a bucket from Nett set up by a Klein block on the other end. The rally , which took two and a half minutes of game time, brought Hall within seven, 40-33 with 2:15 to go in the third.

Feeling things start to slip, Princeton responded with a three from the left corner from Rhodes, followed up by a putback basket from the sophomore standout. Senior Lacey Jensen added a bucket with 20 ticks left to give the Tigresses a 14 point, 47-33 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Senior center Katie Click continued the PHS rally into the fourth, following up a bucket inside with a three-point play, and after a basket from Kain on the other end, Click notched her third basket of the frame to put PHS up 19, 54-35 with 6:30 to go, making things academic, as PHS held on to a double-digit lead for the duration of the contest, finishing with a 58-45 margin of victory.

“When you’re missing the fifth and sixth player on your team, a starter and first player off the bench we knew it was going to be tough,” said Hall coach Dave Kain, who added that the Lady Devils simply ran out of gas as the contest wore on.

PHS coach Spencer Davis said that his squad’s tough defense which forced Hall into 22 turnovers, was the difference in the game.

“They were missing a few girls, but our press put it on them in the first half, the girls got after it in the first half. The girls played extremely hard tonight,” Davis said.

Kain led all scorers with 17 points spread out over four quarters, Nett joined her in double digits with 13, and Klein added eight for Hall (7-21).

Stephens led the way with 16 points for Princeton (10-17), Rhodes added 15, and Click tallied 11.

The win advances the Tigresses to take on top seeded Bureau Valley tonight at 6 p.m., Tuesday’s nightcap will feature second seed St. Bede against Mendota. In the event of a winter weather cancellation, Tuesday’s contests will be postponed to Wednesday evening.

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