FLORENCE — As a young team grows along with its coach, there are bound to be ups and downs. The Florence High and STEMCivics Charter varsity girls’ basketball teams only have one senior each this winter, so maybe they should have expected a little bit of that roller coaster ride Friday when they met for the first time this season in a Burlington County Scholastic League Independence Division contest. The game was close most of the way with four lead changes and two ties over the first three quarters until the Flashes hit their stride and pulled away in the final nine minutes. Up until then, neither team had had a lead wider than five points. In the fourth quarter, the home team found the balance it was seeking to pull away for a 57-44 victory. With 5-foot-6 junior guard Amanda Cech leading all scorers with 22 points, 5-6 freshman guard Jayla Long adding 16 points and 5-11 sophomore center Jazmin Montigue grabbing 21 rebounds and scoring nine points, second-year head coach Zach Rinaldi’s Florence club improved to 4-4 overall and 2-0 in the Independence Division. “I feel like last year I played a lot, so this season I want to prove I’ve still got that dog in me,” said Montigue, who had also hauled in 20 rebounds in a game during her freshman campaign. “I think we played pretty good the whole game. We just can’t play to our opponent’s pace. We picked things back up in the fourth quarter.” First-year head coach Denny Cox’s Purple Lightning made life tough on the Flashes throughout those first three quarters, opening a 13-9 advantage after eight minutes, then only trailing, 22-20, at the break, and, 34-30, at the end of the third. “I thought it was a good effort, but we needed to play better defense,” STEMCivics 5-3 sophomore guard Aniya Singletary said. “They were moving the ball around better, plus getting rebounds and steals in the fourth quarter.” With the help of 18 points apiece from Singletary (three 3-point field goals) and 5-1 sophomore guard Clover Spaulding (six steals), the visitors were still as close as 41-39 with 4:30 left in the game. But a pair of free throws by Long ignited a 16-5 closing run for Florence. “Yes, I think a game like this will help us get better,” Singletary said. “We’ll see what happens.” After picking up their first win at the start of the week, the more confident Purple Lightning showed better than their 1-8 overall and 1-4 Independence Division record. Now as both young teams proceed, they just need to find more ups than downs. STEMCIVICS CHARTER (44) Kidd 0-0-0, Medley 0-0-0, Spaulding 8-2-18, Singletary 7-1-18, Del Valle Pomales 3-0-8, Scott 0-0-0, Simms-Smith 0-0-0. Totals — 18-3-44. FLORENCE (57) Cech 9-3-22, SArnold 1-0-2, Wainwright 0-0-0, Montigue 3-3-9, CHaas 0-0-0, Arecchi 1-0-2, RSmith 3-0-6, Mathis 0-0-0, Long 6-3-16, NJones 0-0-0. Totals — 23-9-57. STEMCivicsChrtr(1-8)                 13      7    10    14    —    44 Florence (4-4)                                9    13    12    23    —    57 3-point goals — Singletary 3, Del Valle Pomales 2 (SCC), Cech, Long (F). HAMILTON WEST 35, STUART 32 PRINCETON — The Hornets outscored the Tartans, 23-11, over the second and third quarters, then held on for the narrow win. Zairra Galloway’s 18 points and 10 more from Diamond Tran paced Hamilton. Taylor States’ game-high 19 points kept Stuart in the hunt. HAMILTON WEST (35) Galloway 8-0-18, Conte 0-1-1, Celio 0-0-0, SRoberts 0-1-1, Scelza 0-0-0, Tran 2-4-10, Harlan 0-0-0, Vanselous 1-3-5. Totals — 11-9-35. STUART (32) Bourgoin-St. Maurice 0-0-0, REnimil Ashun 0-0-0, LLopez-Spencer 0-0-0, TStates 7-5-19, Chirik 1-0-2, Broughton 0-0-0, Struve-Auletta 0-0-0, LStates 3-0-7, THernandez-Lewis 2-0-4. Totals — 13-5-32. HamiltonW(7-8)                     3    12    11      9    —    35 Stuart (2-6)                          10      5      6    11    —    32 3-point goals — Galloway 2, Tran 2 (HW), LStates (SCD). PDS 34, WW-P SOUTH 27 PRINCETON — The Panthers used a 26-12 run over the second and third quarters to rally past the Pirates. Sophia Rae Barber’s nine points on three 3-pointers led Princeton Day School, while Ava Barbrow directed West Windsor-Plainsboro South with the same production. WW-P SOUTH (27) EBlack 2-0-6, Holden 0-0-0, Joseph 1-0-2, Latif Estafan 4-0-8, Hu 1-0-2, Borusu 0-0-0, Barbrow 3-0-9, Peng 0-0-0, Sirmans 0-0-0. Totals — 11-0-27. PDS (34) Kolli 3-2-8, Ruf 2-1-5, Barber 3-0-9, Martin 2-1-5, Vriesendorp 3-0-7. Totals — 13-4-34. WW-PSouth(5-7)            9      9      3    6    —    27 PDS (7-4)                       2    12    14    6    —    34 3-point goals — EBlack 2, Barbrow 3 (WWS), Barber 3, Vriesendorp (PDS). MERCERSBURG ACADEMY 56, PENNINGTON 45 PENNINGTON — The Red Hawks suffered their sixth consecutive loss, this one at the hands of their Mid-Atlantic Prep League foe, the Blue Storm. Mercersburg (10-3)                   16    14   14    12    —    56 Pennington (4-8)                       11    11    11    12    —    45 NORTHERN BURLINGTON 60, DELRAN 28 DELRAN — The Greyhounds started and finished strong against the Bears behind 18 points from Karina Harrison, 15 points from Jill Watson and 13 points from Maleeya Brammer. NORTHERN BURLINGTON (60) Watson 6-0-15, Harrison 7-1-18, Fryc 2-0-4, Ramaswamy 0-0-0, MkBrammer 1-0-2, MlBrammer 5-3-13, Rosario 3-2-8, DWilliams 0-0-0. Totals — 24-6-60. DELRAN (28) Harper 1-0-2, Jaussi 2-0-4, Shaeffer 0-3-3, Theis 4-0-8, Doyle 3-4-11, LBallard 0-0-0, Haupt 0-0-0, Hamlet 0-0-0, KBallard 0-0-0. Totals — 10-7-28. No.Burlington(7-4)              19    10    17    14    —    60 Delran (3-7)                          4    10    10      4    —    28 3-point goals — Watson 3, Harrison 3 (NB), Doyle (D). WESTAMPTON TECH 66, THRIVE CHARTER 61 WESTAMPTON — A 15-5 burst in the third quarter gave the Panthers the distance they needed to hold off the Titans. Adris Oppong’s 21 points keyed Thrive Charter’s effort. THRIVE CHARTER (61) Evans 2-2-6, Wilkins 5-0-11, OMoore 4-1-11, Daudin 0-1-1, Oppong 8-5-21, Kinston 4-1-11, Wilson 0-0-0. Totals — 23-10-61. WESTAMPTON TECH (66) Nnebe 1-0-2, Azona 3-2-8, MTaylor 9-4-24, Lafleur 10-6-26, Poindexter 0-0-0, Sunkett 0-0-0, JScott 3-0-6. Totals — 26-12-66. Thrive Charter (6-4)                    17    19      5    20    —    61 WestamptonTech(10-1)               14    21    15    16   —    66 3-point goals — Wilkins, OMoore 2, Kinston 2 (TC), MTaylor 2 (WT).