In only their second preseason game of the year, Pitman (2-0) High’s varsity girls basketball team is looking exactly like that—a team.
Much to the surprise of the visiting Gregori Jaguars, Pitman played an outstanding game on Tuesday night that resulted in a dominating defensive effort for the home team.
From the start, Pitman came out with the pressure and built up a 17-6 lead by the end of the first quarter. After a battle in the second, Pitman responded by dominating the second half to pull away with a 55-34 win.
“We started pretty well, came out with a lot of energy and put pressure on them after the first with some turnovers and got early buckets and energy was up and good,” said Pitman Coach Dustin Curtiss.
Things stayed tight in the first half after Pitman built only a 10-point lead by the end of the first half.
Cerah Moren led the way for the Pride with her 18 points, 15 of which came in the second half.
Without three of its top players, Pitman proved that they could still compete with a top team with the help of the deep bench.
“We played really well and reinforcement helped as well,” said Curtiss. “Everyone was chipping in and we steamrolled from there in the second half.”
Eight players scored at least once for Pitman, a habit for the Pride after seven scored in the preseason opener against Patterson last week.
It helped that five different players scored at least a bucket in the opening quarter, providing stability all over the court.
Gregori didn’t have the easiest night looking to stop anyone from Pitman.
“It’s hard to stop one when we can have another player go off and tomorrow you never know. It makes it really tough for the opposition and that is the good thing that everyone can chip in,” said Curtiss. “The impressive thing is having seven or eight girls score and doing their part.”
Jada Washington nailed 14 points for the game, 12 in the second half and Andrea Selkow knocked in 8 points and 11 rebounds.
“I really liked the energy, we made a big effort trying to go full speed and we have a deep bench so we have capability of pushing and everyone coming in will work hard and grind,” Curtiss added. “But making it a focus at practice has helped when we have a lot of energy and play fast.”
Pitman’s next game will be on the road at Davis High at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
