PRINCETON JCT. — While the beginning of the 2025-26 winter season may not have gone as well as the Northern Burlington High varsity girls’ basketball team had hoped, the Greyhounds are counting on a win in their final game of 2025 to serve as a springboard to better things in 2026.
In its first season under the direction of head coach Dee Briggs, Northern put together a complete game to defeat West Windsor-Plainsboro High North, 40-28, Tuesday in the WW-P Holiday Tournament to snap an 0-6 start to the campaign.
The Greyhounds followed the hot shooting of 5-foot-2 sophomore guard Emmalee Nazario from the outset and got more of a balanced effort as the game went on to stop head coach Jay Lagomarsino’s Northern Knights, who had won their last two outings.
“The difference today was our passion,” Northern Burlington’s 5-8 sophomore guard/forward Dallyss Williams said. “It showed in the way we came out in the beginning, and we kept that momentum up all game.”
While Nazario, who also had six steals, scored 13 of her game-high 15 points in the first half, including nine in the first quarter when the visitors opened an 11-2 advantage, Williams backed her with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, primarily over the final three stanzas .
“Today we were getting open shots, and we were passing better,” Williams said. “Our bench was very supportive and helped out. To keep it going, we need to come out like that and continue with the same energy.”
After its slow opening quarter, WW-P North (2-4) played well in the second and third quarters, matching the Greyhounds point for point. But, from the time Northern 5-8 freshman guard Priscilla Kowalczyk (eight points) opened the fourth quarter with a 3-point field goal (one of two she would hit in the frame, along with a trey from Williams), the Northern Knights could not gain any more ground.
“We didn’t start the game as aggressively as we normally do,” WW-P North’s 5-7 senior forward Rebecca Slater said. “We can’t put too much pressure on one person to score. We have a lot of skill on this team, so we need to play together.”
Slater had the only basket for her team in the first quarter when she stole the ball and scored with 5:19 left. She would go on to lead the Knights with eight points, 17 rebounds and four steals, but the closest they could get was 27-22 when 5-7 guard Annabelle Lee hit her second trey of the game with 1:32 left in the third quarter.
Lee, WW-P North’s only other senior, was coming off a game Monday in which she scored a season-best 23 points with five 3-pointers, but she was helped off the court Tuesday with a late ankle injury after scoring just six points. Laya Krishna, a 5-2 sophomore guard, was the Northern Knights’ second-leading scorer with seven points.
NORTHERN BURLINGTON (40)
Ramaswamy 1-0-3, Nezezon 0-0-0, Nazario 6-1-15, DWilliams 3-3-10, ZJones 0-0-0, Wasilewski 2-0-4, Kowalczyk 2-2-8, HBrown 0-0-0, O’Conner 0-0-0, Bifulco 0-0-0.
Totals — 14-6-40.
WW-P NORTH (28)
ALee 2-0-6, Slater 3-2-8, Marda 0-0-0, Saitoh 1-0-2, Krishna 3-0-7, Somashekar 0-0-0, Kailashram-Krishna 0-0-0, Karthik 1-3-5.
Totals — 10-5-28.
No. Burlington (1-6) 11 10 10 9 — 40
WW-P North (2-4) 2 10 10 6 — 28
3-point goals — Ramaswamy, Nazario 2, DWilliams, Kowalczyk 2 (NB), ALee 2, Krishna (WWN).
WW-P SOUTH 52, JFK-ISELIN 19
PRINCETON JCT. — Riley Duguay’s 12 points and 10 more from Sophia Latif Estafan carried the Pirates past the Mustangs in the WW-P Holiday Tournament.
Ridhi Palla added eight points for the home team, while Kayra Bilgili led JFK with that total.
JFK-ISELIN (19)
Gray 1-1-3, Kuzar 0-3-3, Kotsakis 0-1-1, Alibrando 1-1-4, Bilgili 3-0-8.
Totals — 5-6-19.
WW-P SOUTH (52)
Latif Estafan 4-2-10, ARuiz 1-0-3, Borusu 1-3-5, Peng 2-2-6, Duguay 6-0-12, BRuiz 0-4-4, Montemayor 2-0-4, Palla 4-0-8.
Totals — 20-11-52.
JFK-Iselin (1-6) 1 2 7 9 — 19
WW-PSouth(3-4) 16 14 12 10 — 52
3-point goals — Alibrando, Bilgili 2 (JFK), ARuiz (WWS).
