LAWRENCEVILLE — Getting an earlier start to the season can help a team find its groove sooner. That was the hope for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South and Lawrenceville School varsity girls’ basketball teams when they took to the court at the Tsai Field House Monday. Both entered with one w in on their resume, but the host Big Red were already playing their sixth game, while the Pirates were only playing their second. Plus WW-P South was without its tallest player yesterday, so, as hard as they tried, it was tough to keep up with L’ville. Head coach Zak Kumor’s Pirates still did their best to stay as close as 10 points down to the final five minutes before head coach Tripp Welborne’s Big Red pulled away once again to claim a 62-42 victory. “Our team morale has been a lot better,” Lawrenceville 5-foot-10 junior forward Duru Develioglu said, reflecting on her team’s 0-4 start to the season. “We’ve been working well together, and a lot of good things have been happening. Now we want to keep our streak going.” Monday’s win was the second in a row for the Big Red, who defeated Holy Cross Prep, 59-45, on the road Saturday. Like that day, L’ville saw multiple girls score in double figures, something that is not surprising considering the team’s talent well. Develioglu, one of three 5-10 players on the squad, had 12 points and eight rebounds to back her classmates, Audrey Shueh and Aryana Iyer, who both had a game-high 17 points. Shueh added 10 rebounds and eight steals to keep the pressure on scrappy WW-P South. “Scoring like that motivates us to push each other,” Develioglu said. After building a 17-3 lead in the first quarter, the home team saw the visitors pick up their play in the second quarter to go to the locker room trailing, 28-15. When Jashmini Borusu (eight points) converted a three-point play 1:43 into the third quarter to pull the Pirates within 10 points, the Big Red began overplaying the ball with a trapping defense, which WW-P South had to get used to. “Solving their trap was difficult,” Pirates’ 5-6 sophomore guard Riley Duguay said. “We like to go hard. I thought we did better at the end. We were passing more and coming to the ball instead of just standing there.” Duguay led WW-P South with 11 points and eight steals; seven of her points coming in the fourth quarter. That was an impressive stanza for the visitors, who fell behind by 20 points (43-23) early, only to trim the margin back to 10 points (43-33) 1:45 later with the help of consecutive 3-point field goals from Anabella Ruiz and Ava Barbrow. But Iyer scored seven of her points in the final quarter, including a 3-pointer with 4:23 to go that ignited a 19-9 closing surge for Lawrenceville. WW-P SOUTH (42) ARuiz 1-0-3, Borusu 3-2-8, Barbrow 1-1-4, Peng 2-2-6, Sirmans 0-1-1, Duguay 4-3-11, BRuiz 0-0-0, Al-Quzwini 1-0-2, Pallo 2-3-7. Totals — 14-12-42. LAWRENCEVILLE (62) Song 2-1-5, Klochkov 0-0-0, Sorrentino 1-0-2, Devine 1-0-2, Shueh 7-1-17, Iyer 7-0-17, Develioglu 6-0-12, Ramirez Elizondo 0-0-0, Owen 2-1-5, Grieve 0-0-0, Durkee-Nuemann 1-0-2. Totals — 27-3-62. WW-P South (1-1)                        3    12      8    19    —    42 Lawrenceville (2-4)                     17    11    13    21    —    62 3-point goals — ARuiz, Barbrow (WWS), Shueh 2, Iyer 3 (L). BORDENTOWN 62, DOANE ACADEMY 17 BORDENTOWN — Ciara Knight’s 19 points and nine more from Avery Taylor lifted the Scotties to an opening-game win over the Spartans. DOANE ACADEMY (17) Childs 1-5-8, Perry 2-0-4, Glass 1-0-2, Firat 0-1-1, Janson 1-0-2. Totals — 5-6-17. BORDENTOWN (62) Arnold 2-0-4, Knight 6-6-19, Wade 1-0-3, LKelly 2-0-4, Maloney 4-0-8, Crowell 1-0-2, Flynn 1-0-2, ATaylor 4-0-9, Madeya 1-0-2, SBrown 1-0-3, Dziubak 1-2-4, Crusen 1-0-2. Totals — 25-8-62. Doane Academy (0-1)                   5      5      7    0    —    17 Bordentown (1-0)                        24    15    14    9    —    62 3-point goals — Childs (DA), Knight, Wade, ATaylor, SBrown (B). HOLY CROSS PREP 36, NORTHERN BURLINGTON 26 COLUMBUS — Callie Fox and Mary Kate Yansick scored 12 points apiece to carry the Lancers past the Greyhounds. HOLY CROSS PREP (36) Mosteller 1-0-2, Fox 5-2-12, DiGiovanni 1-3-5, Sherlock 1-1-3, Yansick 4-4-12, Lamendola 1-0-2, Crawbuck 0-0-0, DePietro 0-0-0. Totals — 13-10-36. NORTHERN BURLINGTON  (26) Ramaswamy 0-0-0, Nazario 1-2-5, DWilliams 3-0-6, ZJones 3-0-6, Kowalczyk 1-3-5, O’Connor 0-0-0, HBrown 2-0-4. Totals — 10-5-26. HolyCrossPrep(1-1)                    15    2    10      9    —    36 No. Burlington (0-1)                      2    5      9    10    —    26 3-point goal — Nazario (NB). ...read more read less