Jim Charles is the High School Girls Basketball correspondent for DelawareSports.com.  His articles appear below...

Sanford Prevails over Charter, 57 – 38

December 21, 2006

Last night, in a game that started out all Sanford and that ended much the same way, there was – sandwiched in the middle – lots of quality, competitive basketball. Take away the 1st and 4th periods, and you have yourself a 29 – 20 Charter victory. Unfortunately for Charter, all four quarters are counted toward the final score, and Sanford had too many good horses not to win the race.

The answer is, "Dunk." The question is, "What can’t Paris Waterman (14 points in the game) do on a basketball court?" Her name might not come up in any discussion regarding the best high school players in the state, but maybe it should. If she had another 4 to 6 inches in height, the local sports pages might rank her immediately behind Delle Donne and Rushdan. And for all this, she alone isn’t what makes Sanford a great team.

Rachel Denis (11 points) plays defense like a forward and offense like a guard. She’s tough off the glass in the former mode, while maintaining a nice shooting touch in the latter. At 5’10" and 6’3" respectively, Jamie Milliski (9 points) and Jasmine Gibson (11 points) provide most of the verticality. Allie Kenney (8 points), a transfer from St. Mark’s, supplies a tough, scoring-capable presence anywhere on the court. Freshman, Alexa Webb (4 points), has the burden of playing behind this gifted lineup, but look for her minutes and role to increase dramatically as a sophomore.

Having heard a lot about Charter lately, I was anxious to get my first look at the team this season. What I saw frustrated me – and I mean no disrespect. Charter lacks some important elements that are usually found on State Title teams. They aren’t the quickest team around, nor are they the tallest. Therefore, what they get they have to earn. Charter may be the most workman-like team I’ve seen so far this year.

A player that typifies this blue collar style (Charter’s main uniform color, by the way) is Kim Leonard (6 points). With Leonard, where skill won’t take her, sheer determination does. Kathleen Kenney (4 points) supplies size and leadership. Kristen Lake (11 points), though, is a real presence and on this night, Charter’s most impressive player. Lake and freshman, Kayla Stitz (11 points) came up with most of Charter’s points.

Early in the 4th, Charter came within one point of Sanford, with the scoreboard reading 37 – 36, but then Sanford put on a flurry and pulled away for good, winning by nearly 20 points.

Charter has been winning games, and to be fair, Sanford is an awful tough opponent. On nights when Charter can slow down the opposition, they should continue to do well. A slower game plays to this team’s strengths.

As for the Sanford Warriors, balance is their claim to fame, and perhaps their ticket to The Bob.

Jim Charles

Spartans School Padua, 33 – 21

December 19, 2006

In what was probably the worst effort by a Padua team in this reporter’s memory, Padua came out on the short end of low-scoring affair at St. Mark’s – losing by a dozen in this all-Catholic Conference match up.

Padua began the game stiff and out-of-rhythm, and things only got worse from there. The Spartans held the Pandas scoreless in the first quarter, taking an 11 – 0 lead into the second. At the 6:33 mark of the second quarter, super sophomore, Kelly "KJ" Johnson, drained a three to put the Pandas on the scoreboard. The St. Markians took a 19 – 5 lead into halftime.

With Padua barely on pace to end the game in double digits, you’d think it would be time for a change in direction, or at least time for five fresh faces to enter the game. But head coach, Maureen Faulkner, decided to stubbornly dig in and stay with her game plan – and lineup – through the third period. The Paduinians, to their credit, improved things a little, taking a 26 – 13 score into the final eight minutes. A few minutes into the fourth quarter, long after the game had become irretrievable, Faulkner finally began sending in new bodies. But, it was "too little, too late" for the supporting cast to be able to do much about the situation. In this offensively-deprived game – there were only 54 points scored altogether – Padua managed to somehow get out of the game with a dignity-saving 21. Not a number to be proud of, but compared to their opponents, it wasn’t a total disaster.

Random Notes:

Kaitlyn Szupa scored 8 off the bench – the most for a Panda on the night. Szupa is the kind of player who wants the ball and rarely passes up a shot opportunity. This particular game was taylor-made for her style of play.

St. Mark’s played a very methodical, if not always successful, brand of basketball. Jessica Calderone plays all phases of the game well, but had an off night offensively, just hitting two field goals. Still, the girl can play and she goes all-out. Jeannie Knowles, a player on my radar screen since she was in 5th grade, came through with 6, including a 4-for-4 performance from the charity stripe. The only Spartan in double-digits was Kimmie Dwyer, who pumped in 11 points, and never gave Padua the same look twice. She hit off brilliant, end-around give-and-gos, came up with 4 from the foul line, and even threw in a three (one of her specialties) for good measure.

I caught up with Dwyer after the game for this Delaware Sports Exclusive^TM:

DelawareSports: How do you think St. Mark’s fits into the general scheme of things in the State right now?

KD: Ursuline and St. E’s are up at the top, but we can play with those teams.

DelawareSports: Describe what it’s like having John Fiorelli and Michele Albanese coaching this team.

KD: They’re very demanding, give good advice, know what they want – and know what the players want, as well. There’s a focus on defense.

DelawareSports: Describe what’s inside this Lady Spartan team this year.

KD: We’re all very close. We help each other and pick each other up. If we make a mistake, we know that we have ten other teammates to pick us up.

My guess is, with a team this good, they don’t have to pick each other up very often.

Thursday night, December 7, 2006, Glasgow handed Caravel a 49 – 44 defeat in what was Kristin (Mills) Caldwell’s official in-state debut as varsity head coach of the Lady Bucs. In my pre-season rankings, I had both teams positioned in the middle of the Top Ten – Caravel at #4, Glasgow at #6. So, the outcome, while a bit of an upset, was still a clash of two highly-ranked teams.

Let’s talk about Glasgow first. Where did they find Telisha Turner? Although only accounting for 4 points, she nevertheless was the catalyst for the Lady Dragon offense. Her dribbling ability – she juked many a Caravelian out of her shoes – and her skill at advancing the ball have me believing that she is the best one-guard Glasgow has had since Lindsey Dyal, even if she may not score as much. Speaking of scoring, Jessica Tatum led everyone with 16, and she is certainly to be ranked among the best frontcourt players in the State, based on what I saw of her in this game. Other big contributors include Monica Pannell (11 points) and Brittany Kilgoe (12 points). Most impressive was the composure of Glasgow. Even though this was a huge early season game for them, the Dragons were calm, cool, and collected. Even when Caravel mounted a couple of comeback attempts, and even briefly took the lead, Glasgow was unfazed. They just kept on doing what they do – and what they do is put the ball in the hoop. If their offense was a little more up-tempo with a higher shots per minute rate, Glasgow could easily score in the 70s and 80s against lesser opponents. They simply shoot that well.

As for Caravel? I have to admit to being disappointed. Missed shots, poor shot selection, and worst of all, incorrect defensive positioning by many on the Buccaneer squad, all added up to doom the team right from the tip off. When defending a shot, you’re supposed to interpose yourself directly between the basket and the player shooting. That’s Basketball 101. Apparently, the Lady Bucs skipped class the day that lesson was taught. Instead, the crowd was witness to many uncontested or poorly contested baskets in the paint. As to the other issues in the lackluster play of the Lady Bucs, I caught up with Caravel guard, senior, Ashley Steele (9 points & countless rebounds), after the game. Ashley’s take on the challenges the Bucs faced were summed up thusly, "We came into the game overconfident and thinking that we would blow them out, when what we should do is play every game hard and not take any opponent lightly. Tonight, we also played more like individuals at times, and not as a team." Giving props to the Lady Dragons, Ashley said, "They never gave up. We knew they would be fast and would be all over the court." I asked her for her opinion on rookie head coach, Kristin Caldwell. Ashley offered these pointed comments: "She teaches us the game at a more understandable level. She coaches us better because she played, herself, and she knows us on a different level than past coaches." For anyone who hasn’t seen Ashley play the game, she comes from the Pete Rose school of give-it-everything-you’ve-got. I asked her where her exemplary work ethic came from. She replied, "The love for basketball just makes you work harder and want to get better every day. When I was in 6th grade, Kristin Mills was my role model. I never played before, but just hearing about her made me want to play. So, I started playing because of her. It’s great playing for her now." Lastly, I asked her to tell the DelawareSports.com readership about her team as seen through her eyes. She spoke to the challenge of losing one of their front line players, Charnelle Bacon, this year due to health problems, but that it would be foolish for anyone to think that this is a one-girl team. In her words, "Without Charnelle, people think we might not have a good team – that we’re a small program, that our roster isn’t deep, that we won’t be hard to beat. Right now, we’re 0 – 2, but we’re definitely gonna turn that around. We have heart. We’ll go back and practice ten times harder. By the end of the season, you’ll see a big difference."

For the Lady Bucs, sophomore sensation, Dara Taylor, set the scoring pace with 13, while senior, Brittany Shells, contributed 6. Dara is blessed with blazing quickness and athletic ability. I just hope she can work on her maturity and learn to play with grace and composure under pressure. She seems to get frustrated way too easily. If she can keep the emotions in check, or even use them to work for her, there is no limit to what this player can accomplish.

Caravel fans, if Ashley Steele tells you the team is going to fix things, you can take that to the bank.

Glasgow fans, my hat’s off to your team and coaches. I look forward to following your season.