caption, page 8:

Celebrating
The Putnam Science Academy's girls' Black Prep Team celebrates at a national competition. Inside Exposure photo.



PSA girls’
prep team
goes national
MOORSEVILLE, N.C. — It started out with great promise but ended in such great disappointment.
PSA’s girls’ basketball Prep Black team was flying high, winners of seven straight games — including two here at the Inside Exposure Independent School Nationals — and feeling good about its chances to win two more and bring the first girls’ championship in school history back to 18 Maple Street.
But it wasn’t to be as the Mustangs went cold from the floor and saw its title dreams dashed in a 54-40 loss to Winston-Salem Christian Academy in the semifinals.
When Janeya Grant hit a 3-pointer at the midway point of the first half of Saturday night’s semifinal game, it cut PSA’s deficit to 13-11. But the Mustangs went the next seven-plus minutes without a field goal, and Winston-Salem Christian Academy, always a tough out in this tournament, took a comfortable 31-19 lead into halftime.
PSA came out and scored the first seven points of the second half to get within 31-26, but then went cold again. The Mustangs managed just four points over the next eight minutes, their deficit ballooned to 13, and they were never able to recover.
“We lived by the 3 and died by the 3, all season,” said coach Devin Hill “(Saturday), we died by it.
“I thought we fought. We came out in the second half, and it was like, ‘OK, here we go.’ But we just couldn’t make a shot, and we had too many lapses. Not for long periods, but just lapses that you can’t get away with in a game like this.”
Molly Moffitt, who had a great tournament, finished with 16 points and six rebounds for PSA, while Grant added nine points, and Ines Goryanova finished with eight points, four assists, and four steals for the Mustangs.
The Mustangs went from there to Sunday morning’s third-place game, prompting Hill to say: “I’m not one for consolation prizes and moral victories, but third place is a lot better than fourth.”
But the shooting woes continued against Lincoln Prep, and a 71-59 loss, saddled PSA with a fourth-place finish that didn’t feel anywhere near as good as it might sound.
“I’m frustrated because this was the last time playing with the postgrads and seniors, and we didn’t end it off on a good note,” said Grant, who finished with another nine points. “So it definitely sucks.”
PSA had similar stretches of not being able to make a shot, and many of the things that plagued the team in its five regular-season losses came back.
“It was the same things we saw all year,” Hill said. “Execution, mental lapses, rebounding. It’s why I make a big deal about the little things at practice in November. It’s for a reason. I hope they understand that, and I think they do, that you practice doing it the right way for a reason. So maybe it’ll be different next year when we have some of them back.
“But it is hard. And every team that doesn’t win can do the woulda-coulda-shoulda, so I won’t go there. But I do think we were good enough to win it.”
The Mustangs made a run in the second half and got within four points, but a technical foul against a PSA player reversed the momentum and did in their hopes of winning.
“After the T I definitely felt like the momentum wasn’t there anymore,” Grant said, “and it was really hard to try and get it back especially with not having a lot of time.”
The Mustangs advanced to the semis with a pair of close wins Friday and Saturday morning. They beat 1-of-1 Academy 65-62 in the first round behind Moffitt’s 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Goryanova had a quiet 13 points, and Grant finished with 11, and Paris Kirk had 10 big points in the first half.
They then knocked off Crestwood in the second round, as Grant had 16 points, none bigger than a dagger 3-pointer with 1:10 left.
Moffitt and Goryanova both finished with 11 points. Fatim Sarr Ndow, Aniya Perry, and Genevive Wedermeyer also played key roles in the win.
PSA’s Prep Red team: also went to North Carolina for its own national tournament. While they didn’t win the three games necessary for a title, they did win two. After losing the first one Friday, 69-64 to eventual champion Example Academy (IL), the Mustangs beat Legion Collegiate Academy (N.C.) and Legion Collegiate Academy JV to finish the weekend.
Zoé Bayer, who was limited to just three points Friday, had a much more typical game for her, finishing with 16 points, eight steals, six rebounds, and five assists Saturday in a 69-57 win.
Zuza Komor put up 26 points in this one after scoring just nine Friday. Alice Meunier added nine points and five steals, while Lilly Krysiniski finished with eight points.
“We didn’t come down here to lose three games,” coach Sabrina Browne said. “Good to get this one. Now we’ve got another one to get (Sunday).”
They did that too, though it wasn’t pretty or pleasing to Browne. Krysinski had 15 points and 12 rebounds in a 64-47 win that was much closer than the score.
The Mustangs trailed 17-4 midway through the first half against a much smaller and younger opponent before cutting the deficit to 23-21 at the half.
PSA took its first lead, 35-32, at the 10:32 mark of the second half on three free throws from Farell, who finished with 15 points.
“I think we came out here and looked at them during warmups and thought this was going to be an easy one,” Browne said. “That was disrespectful to them and to the game, and it showed early.”
Eventually, the Mustangs’ talent took over and they salted the game away in the second half. Meunier finished with five points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and four steals, Komor had 12 points and six rebounds, and Bri Mead had 10 points and four steals.
By Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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