Princeton girls leave points on the floor

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on December 21, 2011 1:48 PM

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PRINCETON -- Princeton put on a clinic in patient offense and quality shot selection on Tuesday evening.

It was the inability to knock down open shots that haunted the Bulldogs in a 52-39 loss to Rocky Mount Prep in the finals of the Bulldog Christmas Invitational.

The Bulldogs cut a 10-point, third-quarter deficit to six early in the fourth quarter, but could get no closer. Princeton struggled the entire game to convert easy layup opportunities and to hit open jump shots.

"When I watch the film I think we'll see the difference is they made baskets and we didn't," Bulldogs' head coach Marty Gurganus said. "I'm proud of the way we played. We got all the shots you could ask for. I didn't think we forced up a bad shot tonight. I told the girls at halftime we had to finish and we didn't finish in the first half."

Savanna Massengill's free throws pulled Princeton to within 38-32 early in the fourth quarter. The lead grew to 49-37 on Fredrica Bunch's layup with fewer than 90 seconds to play.

Savanna Massengill led the Bulldogs (5-6) with 15 points. Katlyn Peedin and Nicole Melvin each had six points. Massengill was named to the all-tournament team.

Kiera Bryant, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, scored a game-high 17 points for the Jaguars. All-tournament team member Jasmine Sharp added 14 points.