LAWRENCE TWP. — While some may have seen Friday’s Lawrence-Notre Dame varsity girls’ basketball game as the matinee before their varsity boys’ game, those who showed up early saw these young ladies out to change that impression. Though it was opening-day action for the 2025-26 season, the Ca rdinals and Irish put forth a dandy battle, especially in the last 16 minutes when the visitors turned a 15-point halftime deficit into a three-point margin twice in the fourth quarter before the home side held on for a 57-51 victory. “No, we weren’t surprised. We know they are a good team,” Notre Dame 5-foot-5 junior guard Talia Kniffin said of their crosstown rivals. That’s part of the beauty of a public school/non-public school rivalry in the same town. All the players know each other and know what to expect. Yet, this was a Lawrence team that was 6-20 a year ago going up against the defending Colonial Valley Conference Tournament champs, who were 16-12 in 2024-25. Lawrence’s Amber Wooding, center, tries to move past Notre Dame’s Victoria Bucchere, 33, Kelsey Wood, 22, and Talia Kniffin, 10, during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Notre Dame’s Grace Hempsell, left, looks to go up with the ball as Lawrence’s Nell Straczynski, right, defends during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Lawrence’s Amber Wooding, center, tries to move between Notre Dame’s Caroline Foley, right, and Grace Hempsell, left, during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Lawrence’s Nell Straczynski, 15, puts up a shot between Notre Dame defenders during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Notre Dame’s Kelsey Wood, right, looks to pass the ball to a teammate as Lawrence’s Amber Wooding, left, defends during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Notre Dame’s Grace Hempsell, center, grabs a loose ball as Lawrence’s Claire Gorczynski, right, and Nell Straczynski, left, reach for the ball as well during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Lawrence’s Kayla Williams, 21, pulls down a rebound against Notre Dame during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Notre Dame’s Talia Kniffin, 10, puts up a shot over the defense of Lawrence’s Grace Orashen, 32, during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Lawrence fans react to a play against Notre Dame during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Lawrence coach Dana Williams yells to her team against Notre Dame during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Notre Dame coach Beth Fitzpatrick gestures to her team against Lawrence during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Show Caption1 of 11Lawrence’s Amber Wooding, center, tries to move past Notre Dame’s Victoria Bucchere, 33, Kelsey Wood, 22, and Talia Kniffin, 10, during a CVC girls basketball game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Lawrence Twp. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Expand What head coach Beth Fitzpatrick’s Irish knew is that head coach Dana Williams’ Cardinals were welcoming back 5-5 senior guard Amber Wooding after missing last season with an injury. She joined 5-11 sophomore forward/center Kayla “K.J.” Williams, who had taken over the scoring lead in Wooding’s absence, and an impressive group of newcomers. “It felt good being back,” Wooding said. “I’ve waited so long for this, and we’ve definitely gotten better.” It may not have looked that way at intermission when Lawrence headed to the locker room trailing, 25-10, after only connecting on one basket (a 3-pointer) and one free throw in the second quarter. “We all got over our nerves in the first half,” Wooding said. “The first half, especially the second quarter, was a bit of a mess. We decided we were going to come out better in the second half – better than any other half we’d played. That really helped our confidence.” With Wooding scoring 20 of her game-high 22 points and Williams following with 12 of her 17 points to go with 14 rebounds, the visitors outscored the home team, 41-32, after the break, trimming ND’s lead to 36-33, then 38-35 in the first 1:12 of the fourth quarter. But that was where the Irish had a surprise of their own. Seemingly every time the Cardinals got close, Kniffin would sneak into the corner, get open and hit a big shot. She scored 11 of her team- and career-high 19 points in the final stanza to spoil the visitors’ rallies. “As they were coming back in the second half, our coaches said, ‘Just keep playing how we always play,’” said Kniffin, who had only hit eight 3-point field goals last season, but drained five in this season’s opener. “We just fought hard.” Clinging to a three-point lead after a short jump shot by Wooding in the lane with 6:48 to go, Kniffin hit a trey, then came back to score on the break over the next 37 seconds to push the lead to 43-35. Kniffin’s contributions were very impressive and necessary when 6-1 senior forward Grace Hempsell, who backed her with 14 points, got in foul trouble in the second half. With Hempsell scoring six of her points in the fourth quarter, Kniffin hit her second trey of that stanza midway through to push the Irish’s advantage to 48-39. Then when a three-point play by Wooding and a bucket from Williams helped Lawrence trim the gap to 50-46 with 2:30 left, Kniffin struck again from long range. Tori Bucchere, a 5-9 senior forward/guard, helped out Notre Dame with eight more points, but Lawrence had a pleasant surprise of its own when 5-5 freshman guard Claire Gorczynski added 10 points to her team’s attack, including three 3-pointers. LAWRENCE (51) Wooding 8-5-22, Orashen 1-0-2, Carter 0-0-0, Madison 0-0-0, KWilliams 7-3-17, Swaroop 0-0-0, Boucicaut 0-0-0, Straczynski 0-0-0, Gorczynski 3-1-10. Totals — 19-9-51. NOTRE DAME (57) Foley 2-0-5, RParker 1-0-3, Hempsell 6-2-14, Bucchere 4-0-8, Hughes 2-0-4, Kniffin 7-0-19, Wood 2-0-4, FParker 0-0-0, Scharibone 0-0-0. Totals — 24-2-57. NOTRE DAME (57) Lawrence (0-1)                         6      4    19    22    —    51 Notre Dame (1-0)                   15    10    11    21    —    57 3-point goals — Wooding, Gorczynski 3 (L), Foley, RParker, Kniffin 5 (ND). WW-P SOUTH 52, WW-P NORTH 36 PRINCETON JCT. — Sophia Latif Estafan and Riley Duguay scored 17 points apiece , while Ridhi Palla added 11 points, as the Pirates pulled away from the Northern Knights in their non-league opener. Annabelle Lee scored 13 points with three 3-pointers to pace West Windsor-Plainsboro North. Duguay also hit three treys in the game. WW-P NORTH (36) ALee 4-2-13, Slater 1-0-2, Marda 1-1-3, Krishna 3-0-8, Kailashram-Krishna  1-0-3, Kartnik 1-1-3, Bujala 2-0-4. Totals — 13-4-36. WW-P SOUTH (52) Latif Estafan 5-7-17, Borusu 0-0-0, Barbrow 0-0-0, Peng 2-0-4, Sirmans 1-1-3, Duguay 7-0-17, BRuiz 0-0-0, Al-Quzwini 0-0-0, Montemayor 0-0-0, Palla 3-4-11, Gill 0-0-0. Totals — 18-12-52. WW-P North (0-1)                        12      8     9      7    —    36 WW-P South (1-0)                       15    15    11    11    —    52 3-point goals — ALee 3, Krishna 2, Kailashram-Krishna (WWN), Duguay 3, Palla (WWS). ...read more read less