UA Closes the Book on Historic Team

with the 2008 State Title

Elena Takes Home 4th Title in 5 Years

March 8, 2008

by Tom Dunn & Jim Charles

In a game accompanied by lackluster, mediocre play on both sides, the usually phenomenal Lady Raiders of Ursuline prevailed over their arch-nemesis, the Lady Vikings of St. Elizabeth's.  To put it more accurately, UA played "less bad" than St. E's.  In any event, it's in the books.  The iconic Ursuline squad, epitomized by the four starting seniors - Shannon O'Hanlon, Erin Edwards, Kayla Miller and Elena Delle Donne - closed out the high school basketball chapter of their lives the same way they started it in 2004.  They won the State Title.  Four years ago, their opponent was Seaford High School, the last time a downstate team made it to the Big Dance.  And it was the last time that the Ursulinians faced a team other than St. Elizabeth for all the marbles.

The opening 2 minutes or so started off looking great for the defending champs.  Unfortunately, foul calls to key players began mounting up for the Elizabethans.  Milana Gilbert got in trouble with whistles, and she was perhaps the most pivotal player on the court.  When she was taken out in the 2nd quarter due to accruing her third foul, she had only given up 6 points to her "assignment", Elena Delle Donne.  Gilbert had done the best job of containing Delle Donne of anyone we had seen through the tournament.  Soon after coming out, Delle Donne's numbers began to spike.  She would finish with 20, a number that -- if you told Viking Coach, Tom Ferrier before the game was all she would get, he would've probably taken that as a very good omen.  Unfortunately, his players just couldn't get their own offense off and flying.  They wanted to be competitive.  But their plays always seemed to be off a step and their offensive approach was often tentative.  Not what we usually see with this roster.  Of course, a lot of credit has to go to Ursuline for shutting down passing lanes and coming out far to hinder long jumpers.

For anyone who thinks that now, because BOTH Elena and Khadijah are gone -- as well as Symone Woody, Amanda Craig, Joy Rutland, and the aforementioned Lady Raiders -- that we'll now see other, different teams in the Final Four and Title Games, don't start licking your chops anytime soon.  As we've said before, these two programs are loaded with all the talent they can handle and both programs will continue strong with the underclassmen already in their systems.

Congratulations to Ursuline for winning the Championship.

A special acknowledgement to Elena Delle Donne for inspiring so many young girls in the State to pick up a basketball and take up the sport.  Her influence on the game in the First State will be felt for a long time to come.

The Boxscore

 

Friday, Mar 7

Ursuline 47, St. Elizabeth 33

Ursuline 16   9 13   9 — 47 St. Elizabeth 14   3   8   8 — 33

URSULINE-Edwards 2-5 2-3 6, Doogan 2-4 0-0 4, O'Hanlon 5-10 1-2 12, Ka. Miller 0-1 3-4 3, DelleDonne 9-21 2-3 20, Collins 0-0 0-0 0, Szolack 0-0 2-2 2, Perrotti 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Ke. Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Bateman 0-1 0-0 0, McHugh 0-2 0-0 0, Noonan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 10-14 47. ST. ELIZABETH-Massado 3-5 0-0 6, Rutland 3-13 0-0 6, Gilbert 2-4 1-2 5, Woody 1-11 2-4 4, Craig 3-9 0-0 6, Swarter 2-3 0-1 4, Migliocco 1-1 0-0 2, Tiberi 0-3 0-0 0, Seal 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Bozzo 0-0 0-0 0, Centrone 0-1 0-0 0, Hines 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-52 3-7 33. Team rebounds: Ursuline 4, St. Elizabeth 5. Turnovers: U 10, SE 11. Total fouls: U 10, SE 19 Fouled out-Rutland. Points in the paint: U 24, SE 18. Points off turnovers: U 7, SE 8. Second chance points: U 10, SE 7. Fast break points: U 4, SE 6. Bench points: U 2, SE 6. Ties: none. Lead changes: 1. A-4,300.

 

 

Random Notes / Awards / iPOW Award

 

Much ado has been made recently about the situation with Elena Delle Donne and a possible recent violation of NCAA recruitment policies.  NCAA restrictions are worse and more intricate than the United States Tax Code.  And so many seemingly innocent actions are, or can be, violations.  Judging by the report in the News Journal, and with a follow-up discussion of my own with Elena's father, I have no doubt that the supposed infraction (or possible infraction) happened as he stated it -- without any thought that it was wrong, and further, with no idea that what Elena was doing could be construed in any way as promoting the recruiting service mentioned in the News Journal piece.  I hope that, for all involved, intelligence and common sense will ultimately prevail and this episode will blow over and be forgotten.

 

...All of which brings us to our own iPOW Award.  We both judged Elena as the new winner of the iPOW for week ending March 8, 2008.  However, because of the swirl of controversy surrounding Elena and her dad right now, it was decided that it was safer for the Delle Donnes to decline accepting the award for the time being.  And, considering everything, we do not blame the family one little bit.  However, Elena is still the winner of the award as far as we're concerned.  We are not going to bestow it on an alternate player.  And, we hope the day will come soon -- within the next week or two -- that we can establish clearly that the Delle Donnes have nothing to fear from accepting the award. 

 

The iPOW award, in our estimation, comes from an entity (www.delawaregirlsbasketball.com) that has no commercial interest.  And this is an important point.  No money changes hands at all.  Neither of us (Jim Charles & Tom Dunn) make a penny from the website -- either directly or indirectly.  In fact, it costs us money to keep the site going!  Nether Tom, Jim, nor the website have any connection with any educational institution -- collegiate or high school -- nor does any active, working relationship exist between any coach, athletic director, or athletic department and the website or Jim and Tom.  As such, we believe the iPOW Award to be a legitimately NCAA-legal honor.  In almost every big tournament (Diamond State Classic is a perfect example), there are awards for All-Tournament Team and Tournament MVP.  Those players receive plaques and/or trophies, which probably have more monetary value than our t-shirt.  Whole teams receive sweatshirts at tournaments.  There is no lack of gifts showered upon the players.  Yet, to the best of our knowledge, we've never seen a single boy or girl denied NCAA eligibility for receiving such an honor or award.  We believe that the iPOW t-shirt is no different.

 

So, like we said, we hope that someday soon we can have Elena accept the t-shirt, have her pic taken with it, and slap it up on the site with no fear of recrimination.  In the meantime, she will still be honored in the iPOW section, in absentia.

 

Images from the Finals

Symone Woody leaning back to pop a shot.  Hard to believe she's a senior!

We remember her playing for St. Helena's like it was yesterday.

Erin Edwards.

Like we said before, this girl would be a hall of famer if she played for any other school.

Instead, she decided to play for one of the greatest Delaware teams of all time.

Can't they just let her shoot all alone? 

Elena Delle Donne draws a crowd of defenders with every touch she gets.

A player who will return next year, St. E's junior, Alex Massado.

Sometimes, you can't help seeing red!  ...Especially when Ursuline is playing for the Title!

The Vikes weren't short of followers either.

Kayla Miller receiving her medal. 

(See?  Players can receive trinkets for their accomplishments!)

Coach Fran Burbidge high fives his star pupil.

The Super Seniors accept the team trophy.

This website was started up out of a desire to showcase other teams than St. E's and Ursuline and other players than Khadijah Rushdan and Elena Delle Donne.  However, we never felt anything but in awe of Elena, Khadijah, and their terrific teams.  We only wanted to give other girls some publicity.  We are fans of anyone good.  Elena's special.  There's no denying that.

Jim Charles