Hillsborough Girls Basketball Team Falls to Bridgewater

Turnovers were the difference during Hillsborough's Thursday night basketball game, where the girls team trailed Bridgewater 49-36.

The Raiders dropped to 6-7 on the year, while the win improved Bridgewater’s record to 11-6.  

After the game, Coach Charlie Davis had a simple answer as to why his team lost the game.

“We’re just a little bit inconsistent,” Davis said.  “We have game’s where we play well and game’s where we don’t, and that’s just the youth we have on the team.”

Kristina Vangeli led the way for the Raiders with a team high nine points.  Jacki Schwankert added 7 points and hit two three pointers in the first half.  For the Panthers, Jessica Venterelli led the charge with a game high 12 points, all of which were scored in the first half on four three pointers.

Hot shooting helped Bridgewater get the edge as they hit six of their 7 three pointers in the first half.  Davis understands that a good team like Bridgewater can put you away, especially if they get going from behind the arc.

“They must have had seven 3-pointer’s,” Davis said.  "There are times when teams are going to do that, and you just have to take your hat off to them.”

After a close first quarter where the Raiders only trailed by one point, the offense sputtered in the second quarter.  Hillsborough was held to only 4 points in the second frame, and went into halftime losing 26-17. 

Davis felt that this was the difference in the game, and that his team had a hard time recovering from that.

“They’re a good team,” Davis said.  “They picked up the intensity in the second quarter and we didn’t match it.  In the conference that we play in, you have to come out and play and you have to be consistent.  We have been making a lot of mistakes, but we’re young."

The third quarter was much of the same for the Raiders, who were swarmed by the Bridgewater defense all night.  Bridgewater’s Denisha Petty-Evans had an exchange where she picked up two straight steals and turned them into two easy transition layups.

Davis understands that his team is young, and his main goal is to just make sure that they improve everyday and every game.

“Today I started three sophomores, a junior and a senior,” Davis said.  “We’re just young and we’re making young mistakes. We’re getting better though.  I’m asking sophomores to step up to the varsity level and the game is a lot faster for a lot of these players.”

Hillsborough trailed by as much as 20 in the game, but showed some signs late in the game.  Their play picked up after a bizarre play that started with the Raiders going at the wrong basket that Bridgewater was defending.  After both teams realized the mixup, the Raiders scored an easy layup and eventually got the Bridgewater lead down to fourteen which was the difference in the game.

After the game, Davis spoke to his team and came out of the locker room with a smile on his face.  Despite the lopsided scoring, he was able to keep the game in perspective.

“There’s no sense in beating them down in a game like tonight,” Davis said.  “They’re already upset so there’s no point of getting on them despite the loss.  At the end of the day, we have to realize what the big picture is.  This is high school girls basketball, it’s not the WNBA.”

“We win Saturday and we’re back to .500,” Davis continued.  “With a team like this, I think .500 basketball is a great accomplishment.”

The Raiders play next in the Somerset County Tournament when they travel to Montgomery on Saturday.