NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ- The New Providence girls basketball team began their game with the Johnson Crusaders, looking to get back on track in the race for the Union County Conference Mountain Division. With a quick start, they immediately set the tone, taking a 57-33 win Tuesday night in New Providence.
The Pioneers did not allow a single basket in the game’s opening minutes, being powered on offense by sophomore Lindsey Kinum (7 points) and senior Alyssa Nook (4 points). New Providence built a 16-1 lead after the first quarter.
The way New Providence plays every night has been a testament towards how they’ve been able to have success for all the 32 minutes on the floor.
“It’s our style of play. We try and play an up-tempo,” New Providence head coach Cap Pazdera said. “We try to create offense with our defense and everybody contributes. — We work hard in practice, drilling this over and over again.”
New Providence slowly found ways to score points and on the defensive side of the game, were able to create even more opportunities for points.
“We were really patient with our press. We knew [Johnson was] going to try and beat [our girls] with passing,” Pazdera said. “So we told our girls to be patient and wait for those passes up the court. We did a good job of that.”
The depth of New Providence has also proved valuable, with a total of 11 different players adding points on the night, showing a completely different look from last year, but fueling the Pioneers’ success this season.
They were able to maintain stops and set up to make their baskets as a comfortable lead was instantly built. New Providence led Johnson 24-11 at halftime, seeing around five different players score points. The Pioneers were able to capitalize off gathering rebounds and turnovers, turning those into scoring chances to add to their lead.
“We have such a deep bench this year, which we didn’t have last year,” New Providence senior Olivia Faucher said. “At practice, we push each other really hard and we can make really even teams. We get time working with different girls at practice.”
“Our coaches do a really good job of putting us through drills that are helpful and productive towards what we need to fix before our next game,” she added.
Senior Alexa Boyle led her team with 13 points, while Faucher and Kinum added nine points apiece in the win. Sophomore Amy Maurer tallied ten points for her team. New Providence opened it up, outscoring Johnson 16-11 in the third quarter to take a 40-22 lead heading into the final eight minutes of action.
Full Coverage of Johnson-New Providence Girls Varsity Basketball Here
