Hillel School basketball on winning track

CARROLLWOOD -- They scored 18 points in their last game, a little low for a basketball team. But they held their opponent to 16, and a win's a win.

Winning, in fact, is all the Hillel School girls basketball team has done this season. This competitive crew, grades 4 through 8, improved to 14-0 with last Wednesday's 18-16 victory over visiting Tampa Prep.

Hillel plays in the Florida West Coast League, with games that last 24 minutes. It competes against small local private schools such as Academy of the Lakes, Hillel's final regular season opponent. The teams play this Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Hillel.

Leading the charge this season for Hillel have been two eighth-graders -- both 5-foot-9 natives of Russia who have attended Hillel since Kindergarten -- and a spunky fifth-grader.

Liliya Mzhen (pronounced MEZ-un), a center, and Eugenia Timofeev, a guard/forward, have been the top scorers, both averaging just into the double digits. Ayala Wasser, the fifth-grader point guard, leads the team in assists and has been a strong shooter from three-point range.

"These girls are very scrappy, diving on the floor to get the ball," said coach Penny Lucier. "We just have a very competitive team."

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