Princeton – James Monroe earned the No. 1 ranking in Class AA this week as a collection of talents rather than the sum of an individual.
When first team all-stater Mya Dunlap was held scoreless through the first 30 minutes of Wednesday’s contest against Class AAA No. 6 Princeton, the rest of the Lady Mavericks lived up to the billing helping the visitors from Monroe County stay unbeaten with a 55-46 win over the Tigers in Princeton.
Dunlap, who went 0-for-8 from the field, scored all four of her points in the final 90 seconds, leading a charge that saw the Mavs net six free throws after Princeton made it a 49-46 game with just under 50 seconds to play.
“I think having the four timeouts helped,” Helvey said. “We were able to keep those for that amount of time and were able to calm them down a little bit and understand this is now free throws. We work real hard in forcing them – at the end of practice we’ll do where they need to make 65 percent as a team. Them going for that goal, I feel like it should be a little higher, but we’ve been going towards that goal and learning the situations and being tired as well.”
Neither team played a clean game on offense, combining for 45 total turnovers (JMHS 21, PSHS 24) with the Tigers shooting just 30 percent form the field (15-for-50) and the Mavericks 37 (20-for-54) but prolonged stretches of sustained offense made the difference for the visitors. And it was a balanced effort with another Dunlap, Lydia, ultimately taking over.
Sophomore point guard Kendall jumpstarted the offense, netting seven of her nine points in the opening half while Lydia scored the bulk (15 points) of her game-high 23 points in the second half.
“The thing that we’ve talked about before is that the difference in this team,” Helvey said. “Then there’s just big shots and kids that are good roles players like Monaka (Moore) who hit a big jumper that maybe you go, ‘ehhh,’ but she knocks it down and that’s the kind of stuff that builds our confidence in each other and builds our team up. I think by now we can say Lyd is a pretty good scorer but the ability (is there) for Lyd, Kendall and Peighton to absorb that too.”
Princeton produced eight scorers but none broke double figures nor were they able to effectively steady the offense during down periods.
“Both teams played really aggressive defensively,” Princeton head coach Matt Smith said. “It was a physical game and we’re still allowing that to speed us up and get us out of things and when we get in a half court set, because when it is physical like that we’re settling a little more. But those are things if you don’t play these games you don’t know.
“Because we could easily play our regular regional schedule and people around here and think that we’re pretty good but we keep playing competition to get really good. I think that’s one thing we need to do a better job of executing in the half court and valuing the basketball.”
Valuing the basketball wasn’t on the docket early for either team with four consecutive turnovers on the first possessions ultimately resulting in a layup for Lydia Dunlap. Princeton later took the lead on a Kylee Jackson jumper before Long nailed a 3 to swing the lead in favor of the visitors.
Abbey Honaker later answered with her own triple for a 9-7 Princeton lead but a 7-0 run with a pair of layups from long a 3 from Griffith established order for the Mavs who led 14-11 after a quarter. Princeton’s response came in the form of a 9-0 run that featured a 3 and five points overall from Tylar Burks.
James Monroe battled back to tie the game twice over the remainder of the half, taking a 23-22 lead on Griffith’s second 3 of the half. A buzzer-beating jumper from Lydia Dunlap capped the half, sending the Mavs into the locker room up 25-22.
Princeton pulled to within a possession at 25-24 early in the third but an 11-0 run that featured seven points from Dunlap gave the visitors a healthy 11-point lead.
“We talk all the time, you’ve got to win the third,” Smith said. “Our message all the time is if you don’t win the third, that’s on coaches because if you lose the third that means they made one better adjustment than you did. They came out and made an effort to get the ball to the best freshman in the state of West Virginia (Dunlap). They made an effort to get her involved in things and we, offensively, stood a little too much.”
The Tigers battled back, cutting the deficit to five ahead of a dramatic fourth quarter, thought it appeared mundane at first.
The Mavs threatened to pull away again, getting another Dunlap layup and Griffith 3 to push the advantage back to 10, extending back to 11 following a Moore jumper.
With under two minutes to play Princeton’s Kylee Jackson cut the deficit to 47-41 before the elder Dunlap registered her first point of the night at the charity stripe. But missed free throws crept in.
Following a pair of successful foul shots from Addy McCabe, James Monroe missed a pair and the Tigers capitalized when Natalie Rose nailed a 3 with under 50 seconds to play, bringing the Tigers back to within a possession at 49-46. But those points proved to be the final ones of the night for the hosts as the Dunlap sisters closed the game out at the line.
“The game plan is you’ve got to stop 0 (Mya) and 13 (Lydia) or try your best to stop them,” Smith said. “And hope that other kids miss shots because you can’t be everywhere. In the first half we did a great job and when 10 (Griffith) got her looks she took advantage of them. (Long) did that a little bit later and then once we made our run – listen people are all-state because they step to the line and make free throws and they made free throws while we’re still missing free throws.”
Jackson and Rose scored eight points each for the Tigers while Dunlap (23) and Griffith (13) led the Mavericks.
James Monroe
Mya Dunlap 4, Kendall Long 9, Peighton Griffith 13, Monaka Moore 4, Lydia Dunlap 23, Trinity Hill 2
Princeton
Abbey Honaker 6, Addy McCabe 6, Kylee Jackson 8, Natalie Rose 8, Tylar Burks 5, Chy Carruthers 4, Brystal Winfrey 4, Maeann Stroupe 4
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