Baldwin’s Danielle Hammond looking to lead her team to strong finish
Bryn Mawr – Baldwin School basketball second-year head coach Danny Fraider told her team it’s not how you start but how your finish. That message is a prefect parallel for Polar Bear senior Danielle Hammond.
After persevering through challenges on the offensive end of the court her freshman and sophomore year, Hammond began to gain the same level of confidence towards the end of last season her teammates and coaches had and has turned into a legitimate threat on the offensive and defensive end.
“Danielle has grown so much throughout her career and last year she recognized how much confidence her teammates and us coaches have,” said Fraider. “I began to see the transformation last year and it has continued this year.”
“I truly believe its how you finish,” said Danielle Hammond, who will be playing basketball next season at Virginia Commonwealth University. “The reason I struggled freshman and sophomore year was due to not having much self confidence. It means everything that my teammates had the confidence in my abilities. They said you are 6’3” and you are our biggest player. I did not want to take every shot but they told me to score. That helped boost my confidence.
“I am so happy for Danielle,” said junior Gillian Chestnut. “She has worked so hard and since I saw her play when I was in eighth grade I was excited to play with her. The way she has developed makes everyone want to work harder.”
On Jan. 10, Hammond put on quite a display, scoring 22 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and adding five blocks in her team’s 50-42 win over Harriton in a game played at Chestnut Hill College as part of the 15th annual Maggie Lucas Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic.
This season Hammond is averaging 16.9 points per game, 10.2 rebounds per game and four blocks per game.
Baldwin’s win over the Rams marks their second win over a program that has seen its share of success in recent years. Earlier in December, Baldwin traveled down the street to Shipley and defeated the Gators for the first time in school history.
Hammond is part of a talented senior class that also includes Kejohna Hammond, Alex Brittingham, Kayla Watkins and Imani Brown (who is out due to injury) that has played a major role in the forward progression of Baldwin’s basketball program.
In other Maggie Lucas Scholastic Play-By-Play games held at Philadelphia University and Chestnut Hill College:
Playing in their usual opening game slot at Philadelphia University, Radnor tipped off against Penn Wood and gave the Patriots all they could handle before falling 55-45. Leading the way for the Raiders was Kristin Hamill, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Shortly after Radnor finished its contest, Academy of Notre Dame tipped off against Merion Mercy. Thanks to some clutch outside shooting early on from Kristen Rogers (13 points) and Jill Kane (eight points) the Irish jumped out to a comfortable halftime lead en route to the victory.
Friends’ Central opened the tripleheader part of the action at Chestnut Hill College against perennial power Mount Lebanon. The Phoenix and Blue Devils battled back and forth for 32 minutes featuring 14 lead changes before the Blue Devils broke away at the end for a 57-48 win. Iyanna McCurdy and Mikayla Vaughn led the way with 18 points each for Friends’ Central.
