Fencor 1989s

Aug. 1 2003 Fairfax flattens Fencor for AAU title By Dave Long dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com FAIRBORN | The Fairfax (Va.) Stars used a smothering defense, deep bench and fresher legs to win their first girls national AAU age-group basketball championship Thursday at Wright State's Nutter Center. The team from the Washington suburbs defeated defending champion Philadelphia Fencor, 51-47, for the AAU 13 and under title before 400 fans. The Stars went through the 95-team tournament with a 9-0 record. Fencor was attempting to come out of the losers bracket for the second straight year to win the championship. It had won eight straight games in the bracket to get to the title game, including three on Wednesday. Those three games Wednesday left Fencor with some tired legs in the 10 a.m. contest against the Stars. Fencor played well in the first five minutes of the first half. Fairfax coach Aggie McCormick-Dix had her team applying face-to-face pressure defense over the court. The result was 17 straight Fencor possessions without a score and a 22-10 Fairfax lead. "The press is what got us here and the press is what won the championship for us," said Jasmine Thomas, a 5-foot-9-inch forward who led Fairfax with 23 points. "We knew they would be tired from playing all those games. So we just kept the pressure on." The 13-year-old division does not pick a tournament MVP but if it did, Thomas would have been the leading candidate. Fencor went 11:08 in the first and second half without a basket and trailed 40-25 with 6:38 left. But the Philly team overcame mistakes and short shots to make a late run. Elana Delle Donne, a 6-3 guard who will be in the eighth grade, hit 13 of her 22 points in the final six minutes to cut the margin to three. But Thomas converted three big free throws in the final 19 seconds to keep the lead safe. "We just ran out of legs," Fencor coach Keith Webster said. "They come at you with 11 players and keep the pressure on all the time. We made a good comeback, but we didn't have enough. July 31, 2003 "Fencor 2 wins from repeat Fairfax girls formidable foe in today's AAU finals By Dave Long dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com FAIRBORN | Philadelphia Fencor will try to follow the same path it took last year to the AAU girls 13-and-under national basketball championship. To repeat, it must win twice against the Fairfax (Va.) Stars in the finals of the national tournament today at Wright State's Nutter Center. The first game is at 10 a.m. If Fencor wins, a second game will be played at 2 p.m. Fencor won three games in the losers’ bracket Wednesday, stopping Illinois Elite of Chicago, 71-51, the Central Kentucky Angels, 51-41, and the Kenner (La.) Angels in the bracket final, 67-60. Since losing to Indiana's Finest, 58-54, in Round 3 of the winners’ bracket Sunday, Fencor has won seven straight in the losers’ bracket. "Last year, we had to win three games in one day in the losers’ bracket and then come back the next day and beat the (Dallas) Team Texas Express twice to win it," Fencor coach Keith Webster said. "We have nine of 11 kids back from that team, so they know what they can do. Our legs were a little tired that third game (vs. Kenner) but we have a good bench and it showed." Elena Delle Donne, a 6-foot-3 guard who is going into the eighth grade, scored 30 points vs. Illinois followed by Christine Matera and Shannon O'Hanlon who had 11 each. Delle Donne had 20 and Caroline Doty 13 vs. Central Kentucky. In the Kenner game, Matera was the star coming off the bench. She had 17 points, four assists and three rebounds. In the final five minutes, whenever Kenner would cut the lead to three points or less, Matera would come up with a big basket or assist to keep her team ahead. Delle Donne was again Fencor's leading scorer with 21, while Doty had 18. Tiffany Aidoo had 28 for Kenner Fairfax, which had not been challenged through eight games in the nine-day event (three games in pool play, five in the championship bracket) cruised again Wednesday in the winners’ bracket final over Kenner, 63-40. July 28, 2003 Indiana's Finest upsets top seed for AAU title By Dave Long dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com FAIRBORN | When Indiana's Finest coach Matt Arnold first looked at the 48-team championship bracket in the AAU girls 13-under national basketball tournament, "I thought we were in big trouble." If his team — made up of eighth-graders and high school freshmen from all over the Hoosier state — won its first game, it would have to face the No. 2-seeded Dallas Team Texas Express. A win over last year's national runner-up likely would provide a matchup against defending national champion Philadelphia Fencor. "It wasn't that we didn't have the talent to play with those teams," Arnold said. "But going against No. 2 and then maybe No.1 is a tough challenge for anyone." Indiana was up to the challenge, knocking off Fencor, 58-54, on Sunday in a championship game atmosphere before a standing room-only crowd at Wright State's McLin Gym. It had put TeamTexas into the losers' bracket of the event Saturday, 57-50. "I guess we put the target on our back now," Arnold said. "We played really well to beat Fencor. We just have to keeping playing at this level or better." Corissa West, a 5-foot-6 freshman at New Castle (Ind.) High School, hit a pair of free throws with 31.8 seconds left to give Indiana a 56-54 lead. She made two more free throws with 16.2 ticks left for insurance. She had 13 points for the game while Sarah Bassler, a 5-8 freshman at Indianapolis South Point, had 26. Fencor was led by Elena Della Donne, a 6-3 eighth-grader at Wilmington (Del.) Ursuline, with 29 points. "People told me coming into this tournament she's one of the best young players in the country and they're right," Arnold said. July 27, 2003 Seattle team adjusts to time East time zone tough on players By Dave Long dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com FAIRBORN | It has taken the girls on the Washington Triple Threat almost a week to get used to Eastern Daylight Time. The team, based in the Seattle suburb of Everett, came into Dayton last Monday to prepare for the AAU girls Under 13 national basketball championships. They went 3-0 in pool play on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, they won two games in the championship bracket, defeating the Michigan Pistons, 56-25, and the Atlanta Cagers, 61-52. • Philadelphia Fencor, the top seed and defending national champion, got off to a 5-0 lead in the first 12 seconds of its game against Bucks County, Pa., and went on to record a 51-34 second-round win. Elena Della Donne, a 6-foot-3 guard who will be in the eighth grade at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del., hit four straight 3-point shots to put Fencor in control early. She had 23 points for the game. Fencor will meet Indiana's Finest in the third round at 7 tonight at Wright State. The Indiana team upset the No. 2-seeded Dallas Team Texas Express in the second round, 57-50. Kristen Dockery, a 6-4 freshman at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., had 16 for the winners. July 26, 2003 AAU tourney play to get 'more intense' Field shrinks from 95 teams to 48 By Dave Long dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com FAIRBORN | Now the competition begins to get real serious in the AAU girls 13 and under national basketball tournament. After two days of pool play, the record 95-team field has been whittled to 48 teams in the double-elimination championship bracket. Play begins today at 8:30 a.m. at eight different area gyms headed toward Thursday's championship game. "You see the level of play begin to get more intense" said Stuart Little-London, coach of Philadelphia Fencor, the defending national champions. "In pool play everyone is making adjustments. This is the first time a lot of players have been this far from home so their getting used to the surroundings and the competition. "As coaches we're getting used to different styles of play and making adjustments in who we can play in what situations." Fencor, the No.1 seed, was one of 22 teams to come through pool play at 3-0. Other seeded teams to go untouched were No.3 Tulsa Swoosh; No. 4 Central Kentucky Angels; No. 5 Wichita Spooks and the West Virginia Thunder; No. 7 Orlando Comets; No. 9 Dayton Lady HoopStars Black and Kenner, La., Angels; and the No. 13 California Lady Rebels and Fairfax, Va., Stars July 25, 2003 National AAU event ready for first tip By Dave Long dlong@DaytonDailyNews.com FAIRBORN | With a record 95 teams in the field, it is hard to pick one as the favorite in the Nationals AAU Girls 13 and under basketball tournament. But "Fencor" was the first club several coaches spoke of Wednesday night during the opening ceremonies at Wright State's Ervin J. Nutter Center, where Duke University coach Gail Goestenkors was the keynote speaker. A Philadelphia area team, Fencor has nine of 11 players back from the team which won the championship in this age group last year. Its two top players are 6-foot-3 Elena Delladonne and 5-10 Caroline Doty. Both are entering the eighth grade. Fencor is the No.1 seed in the tournament followed by Team Texas Express from Houston. "From what everyone says Fencor is not only big, but very athletic and shoots the ball outside pretty well," said HoopStars Black coach Jerry Rex.