Long-range accuracy powers Whippany Park

Sabrina Ahmed couldn’t have chosen a better time to break out of her shooting slump.

The senior guard connected on five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points to lead Whippany Park to its first victory of the season, 50-30, over Boonton in an NJAC-Independence girls basketball game.

“It’s really nice to win,” Ahmed said. “It’s been really frustrating. We all had a talk in the locker room before the game and we were definitely due for a win, so we got pumped up and all of us came out shooting well.”

Ahmed was on fire to begin the third quarter when she hit four of her five 3-point shots and scored 14 of her team’s 17 points to give Whippany Park a 46-18 advantage.

“I was pretty happy to hit those shots because I haven’t been hitting them for a while,” she said. “But now that I’m back in it, I’d like to stay in it. I was really feeling good when I was shooting, but I had help from my teammates with all the passes they gave me.”

Ahmed wasn’t the only long-distance shooter for the Wildcats (1-6), who hit nine 3-point shots on Tuesday night. Guard Katie Walsh and center Jenna Holleran, both sophomores, each scored six of their eight points from beyond the arc.

“Sabrina hasn’t shot well going into tonight, but we knew that she could do it because she was able to shoot multiple 3’s on multiple occasions last year,” Whippany Park coach Tom Wilson said. “So I hope this is a harbinger of things to come.”

Holleran scored all of her eight points in the first half. Walsh and Mayada Ahmed, Sabrina’s twin sister, added six apiece and Sabrina Ahmed had five to help the Wildcats establish a 29-16 lead.

“The key was the way that we shot today,”  Wilson said. “We shot today the way that I thought we’ve been capable of shooting all year. We were able to create offense. We’ve been working on it, but we haven’t been able to do it.”

Senior guard Rhiannon Groll paced Boonton (0-6) with eight points. Kristen Gallo, Chelsea Davis and Adriana Dika finished with four points apiece.

“I think everyone was on top of their game today,” Sabrina Ahmed said. “We’ve been losing for a while so we were pumped about today. We all came out together and made a pact, and we did it. It was pretty frustrating to lose, but we have to keep a positive attitude because if we don’t, we’d have no chance at all. Our coach was telling us not to give up, to just keep playing our game, and we got one today.”