Hill leads Wildcats as captain

Throughout her career as a High Point High School girls basketball program, Brittany Hill has paid her dues, earned the respect of coaches and teammates alike-now she is the team captain.

“Brittany is a senior who is our only returning starter from last year,’’ High Point head coach Brad Dragone said. “She has been a part of great teams the past three years in this program including winning (NJSIAA) State Sectional championships and Tri County Tournaments. She is someone who works on her game all year round and is dedicated to the game of basketball.

“Brittany is averaging over 10 points a game with a season high of 20. She also scored 19 points, while making five 3 pointers, in our game over Lenape Valley which was a win (48-39 on February 6). She also is our teams leading rebounder.’’

Hill is consistently looking for ways to improve herself as a basketball player, while helping the rest of the players on the court get better as well.

“We are a very young team who has improved in a bunch of areas,’’ Dragone said. “Again, Brittany is our only senior, so we have a lot of younger talent. We have done a much better job handling the press and getting consistently good shots in our offense which is something we struggled with as a younger team earlier in the year.

“The best way the girls can help each other is to be as competitive as possible in practice. The younger kids going against the older kids are going to make them tougher and be able to handle tougher situations as the year goes on. Having competitive practices where the players are challenging each other leads to improvement.’’

As coach Dragone noted many players have made contributions for the Wildcats this season and it bodes well for the future.

“Keirra Wingle is a junior who is probably the best pure ball handler in the county and was the engine for our offense before she got hurt, she was averaging over four assists per game,’’ Dragone said. “Leia Ruvo is a sophomore who is also averaging over 10 points a game and is able to play a lot of different positions which has helped us tremendously due to the amount of injuries we have sustained. Noelle Gaffney is a sophomore who is third on the team in points and second in assists. She has taken on an even bigger ball handling role with the injury to Keirra and has done a great job.

"Brooke Munoz is a junior who has been huge for us especially defensively. We are not a big or tall team, but Brooke's toughness has done a lot for us defensively. She is our team's second leading rebounder. Ashley Kuperus is a freshman who has done a great job after being forced into a starting role. She is fourth on our team in points, third in rebounds and second in blocks.’’

NOTES: The statistics listed above were from games played through the first week of February. High Point has a road game scheduled at Warren Hills on Feb. 20.