2009-2010 "Odds & Ends" Page
Here's where we'll put pictures that ran on the home page but that had no feature article associated with them.
Tianna Wagner attempting a layup, but the impolite C. Milton Wright players won't let her without a fight.
Still MORE Mid-week Bonus Coverage!
Pandas Bamboozle Mustangs 51 - 45 in OT
New!!!
(Posted 12-10-09)
Sophomore, Shelby Henderson (3 points on the night) lines up a free-throw.
Kristen Marbury (10 points) had the play of the game as she went coast-to-coast with a nailed layup that tied the game up with just seconds to go in the game. The Pandas would own the overtime period, 7 - 1, en route to an opening day win.
T-Wag at the line. She'd end up with 10 points for the game.
At the big play-in day at Sanford the day after Thanksgiving, I wrote that hustle, heart, and intensity
were issues that haunted Padua the last couple of years. On Wednesday, in the C. Milton Wright game, the Paduinians "brought it." Especially in the last three minutes of the 4th quarter and throughout the overtime period. If they keep this up, the Pandas could make a lot of noise this season.
Left to right: Bianca Parker, Krista Hsu, Annie Rivituso and Kayla Goodge
Mid-week Bonus Coverage
St. Mark's Topples Reigning Champs 43 - 24
New!!!
(posted 12-09-09)
No need to click anything. There's no feature story. Just some pics and very brief commentary.
A happy Annie Rivituso. And so she should be. Turned in a nice 17 point performance to lead all scorers in the game.
Parker advances the ball on a focused Rivituso.
Nice to see the veteran senior smiling!
If we're splurging a bit on this one player it's only to make up for all the times she deserved recognition while we were in other gyms covering other games. The Spartans are surely one of the premier programs in the State - both historically and right now. It's hard to imagine the Green & Gold without Rivituso. On this particular night, she was a 3-pointer away from a 20-point night, but Coach Fiorelli, with the game's outcome all but locked up, sat Annie for the final few minutes.
Holy Angels 47, St. Mary of the Assumption 42 (in Overtime)
Game Played 12-12-09
(Posted 12-14-09)
Claudia Seemans goes in for a left-side layup.
On Saturday Holy Angels Varsity girls played St Mary's varsity girls in
an unbelievable game. St. Mary's took an early 6 to 1 lead. St. Mary's
was lead by Rachel Liszkiewicz who finished with a game high 15 points.
Rachel is one of those special players who can score inside and is also
a very accurate outside shooter. St. Mary's was also lead by strong by
play from Lara Hurf (12 points). Lara maybe one of the fastest players
in CYM. She had several steals that she converted into easy layups
throughout the game.
Shannon Tobin of Holy Angels hit a clutch outside jump shot in the first
half and also contributed several assists.
Holy Angels was lead by Caroline Davis who had 10 rebounds, 14 points
and 3 blocks. The score at halftime ended up 18-15 with Holy Angels
holding a slight lead.
St. Mary's out-rebounded Holy Angels in the second half due to strong
inside play from Colby Ciarrocca and Jess Reynolds. Colby is another
one of those special athletes that St. Mary's has.
Center Sabrina Hackendorn of Holy Angels contributed 9 rebounds and 7
points. Brittany Conner of Holy Angels lead the way in rebounding for
Holy Angels with 11 rebounds and added 4 points.
Anna Bradley from St. Mary's also added 4 points for St. Mary's.
St. Mary's was up by 3 late in the 4th quarter until Claudia Seemans
drilled a 3 pointer to tie it. Emma Matthews jump shot with from the
corner with less than 20 seconds left hit net but lipped out to send the
game into overtime. Emma finished with 6 points several steals and 1
blocked shot. In overtime it was Claudia Seemans foul shooting
that iced the game for Holy Angels. She went 5 for 7 from the line and
finished with 10 points, 18 assists and 5 rebounds. Also Caroline Davis
had a huge put back late in the game to seal it for Holy Angels. One
final note that I would like to add is the addition of Rachel
Liszkiewicz from Corpus Christi has made this St. Mary's team one of the
best in the CYM league.
Submitted by:
Dale Seemans
Holy Angels
Two - that's right, two - former iPOW winners in the same picture!
Holy Angels' Sabrina Hackendorn is closely guarded by SMA's Rachel Liszkiewicz.
SMA's Lara Hurf (#23) pursues Claudia Seemans, who in turn, is chasing a loose ball.
Caroline Davis is thought by some to be the #1 grade school free agent. All the big name high school coaches have been out to see her. In the photo on the right, she is not standing on a milk crate. She gets up that high on her own power.
Hackendorn is just as much on the high school radar screens as Davis.
In this game, Sabrina saw limited time due to a recent injury. Still, she got enough time to score 7 points in a game where every tally was big. Sabrina turns in healthy scoring numbers, but her real forté is in crashing the boards. When not troubled by injury, she's always in double-digits with her rebounds, often getting more than 20 in a game!
DGB.com Out & About
(Posted 12-14-09)
Christ The Teacher's Ashley Barnett just will not let go of the ball!!
CTT's Morgan Grubb executes a pass.
Maura Binkley plays for St. Catherine's and was very impressive.
Our player of the hour and current iPOW winner, Erin Dodds.
Her 16-point performance led her St. Ann's Mustangs to a 20 - 15 win over St. Matthew's.
St. Thomas More 51, Wilmington Christian 33
(Posted 12-17-09)
Senior, Kaitlin LeBlanc (8 points), brings up the rock for the Ravens.
Soph, Christine Eliassen (6 points), goes in for a layup.
Senior point guard, Emily Darling (4 points) was having a nice night . . .
. . . until she went down with what looked to be a severe ankle injury. The 3 - 0 Ravens can ill afford to lose Darling's skill and leadership.
It was a long night for Coach Hickman of Wilmington Christian. Here, he tries to make a point to his Lady Warriors.
Sophomore Natalie Stella (18 points) was superb for the WC crew in a losing effort.
WC's Ashley Connell (5 points), Coach Hickman (0 points) and St. Thomas More's Meghan McGlovin (2 points) all find a ref's call interesting.
Giving the twins equal time, here is Chelsea Connell with the ball.
Both Connell sisters will graduate in 2010. They have been fixtures in the basketball program for Wilmington Christian for quite awhile. Hard to imagine them leaving after this season.
You Invite Us, We Show Up!
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton CYM C Team
(posted 01-24-10)
Back in December, we got an email from a player on the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton varsity C Team inviting us to come out and report on her team. (The "C" Division is the most competitive in CYM). Well, we actually attended a game in January, but neither S.E.A.S. nor their opponent played very well that day. Hence, no report. But we gave them another chance, and we're glad we did. Saw them on Sunday, January 24th, in action against St. Anthony's, a game in which Seton won handily, 34 - 20. According to the CYM website, they were 3 - 2 as of last Friday. The win on Sunday makes them at least 4 - 2. St. Anthony's was shown as being 3 - 1 going into the weekend.
Very impressed with this young lady, Briana Flemings.
She led all scorers with 16 points.
Alyson Davis starts off the Seton attack at point. She contributed 6 points.
Allison Schwandt is smooth as can be on this baseline layup. She had 4 points in the game.
A couple more looks at Flemings in action.
This game got very physical at times, as you can see here...
...and here. For St. Anthony's, that's Arden Hunt (#41) and Kelly Rozenko (facing us with goggles). Need an ID on the Seton player.
St. Anthony's Karli Panella looking to inbound the ball.
After the Holy Angels/St. Mary's game on Sunday, a younger age group Holy Angels team hosted a similarly aged St. Catherine's team. It was a rather spirited contest!
Keira Morgan, running point for the Little Angels, was great!
The look on Carly Wasko's face is priceless and does about as good a job of capturing the fun of sports as any image can.
St. Mark's 55, Ursuline 44
The big UA/St. Mark's matchup was a very competitive affair for most of the game. Adding quarters 2 and 3 together and you come up with a 22 - 22 tie. But, in the first quarter, St. Mark's established an 8 point lead that seemed to just hang there for an eternity, as the two squads kept trading baskets. Alison Zimny had a "quiet" 16 points to lead all scorers. I say quiet because Zimny plays the game in a no-frills, workman-like manner that often fails to draw attention. She got ample support from Lindsey Nichols (13 points) and Briana Goodge (11 points). The injured Annie Rivituso, sitting on the St. Mark's bench, clearly liked what she saw out of her teammates.
For Ursuline, there were problems in busting through the Spartan low-post defenses. The Green & Gold really know how to keep teams away from those sweet spots right under the baskets. And, with the outside shots not falling for the Raiders, there wasn't a whole lot that could be done. Alex Witt played the best we've seen her this year, scoring 7 field goals for 14 points, but oddly, drawing no shooting fouls. No one else was in double-digits for the Ursulinians, though Mary Kate Williams had 9 points.
UA did mount a late rally of sorts, narrowing the score to 45 - 40 with 4:19 left on the clock on a nice Kelsey Miller layup, but then St. Mark's put on a surge and locked the game away with an 11 point victory.
St. Mark's has to be a tough gym for teams that rely on outside shooting like this year's Ursuline team seems to be. There is a mile of "foul territory" beyond the backboards that probably plays tricks with a long-range shooters touch. I look for a much closer affair when the teams face each other again on the 20th at UA.
Senior, Paige L'Italien, is a quality guard that often gets few minutes. In this important game, however, Paige got lots of PT and contributed to the Spartan victory with a basket, fighting for loose balls, and smart, steady play.
UA point guard, Audra Cranston, had a tough game, but will likely bounce back in the rematch.
Point guard, Amanda Farrell, plays a high-energy, nose-for-the-ball style.
UA's Meghan Carter is a blur (thanks to both her speed and my camera) as she drives the gap between Kara Gallagher and Amanda Farrell.
This shot features an interesting player mix. Clockwise from left: Kelsey Miller (#14), Mary Kate Williams, Paige L'Italien, Kayla Goodge, Austin Noonan, and, with her back turned to us, Meghan Carter (#3).
Cape Henlopen 33, Padua 27
Taylor Harris with a nice hop stop jumper. She would lead the Capes in scoring with 11.
Jaclyn Coveleski waits to check in.
Padua's Krista Panella concentrates on defending Cape's Margaret Bartley. Bartley would have 9 points on the day with a 5-for-6 performance from the foul line.
CYM "Play-In" Game
IHM 37, St. Elizabeth 15
Lexi Portincasa is all smiles as things went the Spartan's way in this contest.
Christie McDermott, IHM's starting point guard, is seen behind Lexi.
Sixth grader Alyssa Irons plays up on the 7th/8th grade team. Great young point guard with a bright future in the game.
After the above game determined the 8th and final seed of the CYM Varsity Playoffs, the first round began in earnest Sunday afternoon. Holy Angels defeated IHM. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton defeated St. John the Beloved. St. Mary of the Assumption defeated St. Anthony's (on a clutch basket at the buzzer by Colby Ciarrocca). Ursuline defeated St. Mary Magdalen.
This sets up the Final Four at IHM Gym this coming Saturday, Feb. 27th:
Holy Angels vs. S.E.A.S. @ 12:45
S.M.A. vs. Ursuline @ 2:00
Championship Game:
Sunday, Feb. 28th, 4:00 PM, @ Padua Academy
The IHM Spartans won a recent tournament, held over Valentine's Day Weekend, at the West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington. The event was held in conjunction with an effort to curb tobacco use among our youth. IHM had to beat St. Matthew's, Holy Angels #2, and then St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (by a score of 27 - 25, after trailing by 14 at halftime!) to take the title.
Congratulations, ladies!
IHM's Lexi Portincasa reaches for the sky in an attempt to disrupt the inbound.
Need an ID on the Seton player on the left. She is really TALL! Portincasa, on the right, isn't exactly a shorty herself, and still the Seton player has a couple of inches on her!
(All photos from this event were submitted to DGB.com and used with permission.)
St. Mark's 50 (or 49, depending on the source), St. E's 36
(posted 02-25-10)
Well, Tom & I have seen yet another game where a team - a good team - cannot figure out the St. Mark's defense. And it was the classic setup. The Spartans establish themselves more or less in the paint. St. E's, like most teams, begins their offensive sets with 4 or all 5 of their players in a semi-circle around the 3-point line. One player at a time, they try to get a girl inside. That girl usually gets doubled. The guards with the ball outside can't make the interior pass. So, the only thing left is to put up low-percentage perimeter shots. Well, in the first half of the game, a lot of these outside bombs were falling for the Vikes. They even took a 1 point lead into halftime! Then, the law of averages caught up to the Elizabethans.
Disaster struck in the third quarter when all St. E's could slap together was one lonely basket. Their one point lead turned into a nine point deficit in eight minutes. The outside shots stopped dropping in, and they still couldn't work players inside. Keep in mind, St. E's is a team that scored 75 points in a game earlier in the season. And they've scored 58 or more points five times. This is a roster that can put the ball in the hoop.
St. Mark's really has something good going. Their 30.9 points allowed per game ranks as the state's stingiest defense. When asked how to disarm and defeat the Spartan defense, our own Tom Dunn said, "I'd put three girls down low to start the offense." In theory, this would cause the normally evenly spaced Spartan D to have to tighten up on those opponents under the basket. If they successfully seal off those "three forwards", they do it at the risk of covering much less territory outside, allowing the two guards better, closer shooting opportunities. Not to mention that the offensive posts could set screens and cause additional mischief. But to date, we've yet to see a team approach St. Mark's with such a strategy. Neither Tom nor I are sure it would work, but isn't it worth trying?
With all that out of the way, it looks like the snow will cancel the last regular season game for St. Mark's which was to be against Sanford Friday night. Surely it would've been a great game. And maybe, it might still be played. All that is up to Mother Nature. St. Mark's has earned a claim to the Number One spot in the state. I can't see how anyone would deny them that -- even fans of rival schools. The coaching staff has done a fantastic job with the team. The girls have all applied themselves 100%. DGB.com saw them as the third best team in the state back in November. We knew they'd be in good shape. Maybe we didn't know just how good.
Downstate Recognition!
Milford's Ashley Young (sophomore), was injured on February 18th at a home game vs. Dover High School and is out for the season (missing the last few games). She was fouled on a fast break in the 1st quarter, causing to land on her right knee wrong (she made the shot). It was later revealed that she tore her ACL and damaged her MCL, too. She is the starting point guard and team co-captain, along with Aaliyah Davis. The two players led the team in scoring, rebounds, blocks, assists, steals and minutes played. Ashley was also leading scorer from last year's team and was named to the All-Henlopen Conference South last year as a freshman.
Ursuline 51, Hodgson 44
(posted 3-05-10)
As we made our way to Franklin Street & Pennsylvania Avenue Thursday night, I, personally, thought this game would be the best matchup of the eight tournament games being held that same evening. And it lived up to those expectations.
The Silver Eagles, who played Ursuline a mere 9 days ago, losing by a dozen at home, seemed clearly motivated to avenge the result of the recent meeting of the two teams. Coreenah Redden came to play. Her 17 points led all scorers. Redden is an athletic guard with an arsenal of moves – especially as she bursts through the lane on her way to the hoop. The 6’ 1” Tiffany Anderson wore her game face for the full 32 minutes. Her 11 points was a good contribution. Alyssa Cuomo rounds out the HVT trio of top scorers with 14.
The general story of the game itself was that it was an up-tempo affair – anything but boring. Point guards Audra Cranston for UA and Jazmin Johnson for Hodgson saw to it that the game kept a nice pace. Ursuline worked to their offensive strong suit, the perimeter shot, knocking down a total of 6 threes, four from Mary Kate Williams alone. However, the action in the low post, an area of concern for the Raiders this year, was no problem this game as Kelsey Miller turned in a particularly effective effort with 12 points, many of these coming in the first half as the Ursulinians established the format of their offensive attack early. A total of seven Raiders scored during the game, a testimony to the fact that this was indeed a team win.
For UA, Williams led the way with 14, followed by Cranston with 13. Ursuline advances to the quarter-finals at The Bob. Their opponents will be Dover and their high-octane offense. For Ursuline to handle the teams ahead and make it to the finals, they will have to stay as motivated as they were in the Hodgson game. They will have to get solid, better-than-average numbers from senior team leaders like Miller and Perrotti. They will need Williams firing on all cylinders. They will need Cranston to continue coming up big with numbers and to do well with the ball.
Coming into the tournament, Ursuline brought a 4 – 4 record over their last 8 games. However, this is a team that can beat anyone when the players are focused and decide to take care of business. Will the atmosphere at The Bob inspire the Raiders to band together and keep the intensity high? We’ll know the answer to that beginning this weekend.
Announcement!
Jim Charles & DGB,
Although the Sanford Lady Warriors have not been to able join the very competative NCC summer league this year, the move was a calculated one to allow our young ladies with an opportunity to build on the exposure they gained during a successful high school season. Recently, this move has proved fruitful. In short, the Hines family and the Sanford family submit the following release to DGB who has been so favorable to all our state's girls basketball programs:
I hope all is well. My name is Marcus Thompson and I am the head girls coach at Sanford School in Hockessin, Delaware. I send you this e-mail to update you that point guard Andrea Hines, Class of 2011, has committed to play at UCF after her senior season. She plays her summer ball with the Gauchos out of NYC.
Congrats to Andrea Hines! Moreover, congrats to the Delaware girls basketball programs which continue to grow through the hard work of it's players and coaches. Also, a special thanks to those who, like DGB.com, donate their time to promote these young female athletes in sport.
Marcus Thompson
Sanford School
Upon receiving the above letter from Coach Thompson, I replied with the following:
I certainly share with you, the greater Sanford community, and the Hines family the joy and sense of accomplishment that accompanies Andrea's achievement.
Jim Charles