Fencor 1989s

By JAMES D. HORNE, 07/26/05 The Leaf-Chronicle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christine Matera understands her role and knows what she's supposed to do for top-seeded Fencor (Pa.). It's just with Fencor's stacked roster, opponents may be surprised with what Matera can accomplish. "They look for me to shoot the ball," Matera said. "So, if I get a chance to shot the ball, I'm shooting the ball." Matera, with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, did her part in helping Fencor take a 78-41 win over the Western Lakers (Mich.) in the second round of the Championship Bracket of the AAU 15U Girls National Basketball Championship at the Dunn Center on Monday after noon. "Chris is one of those extremely hard workers we have on our team," Fencor coach Veronica Algeo said. "People may not remember her from last year. But because she's made herself develop so much, people know her now. She played real well at the Oregon and the Chicago Nike Tournaments earlier in July. She's capable of putting together runs of 12 or 15 points in a matter of six minutes. That's how well-skilled she is." Fencor's Elena Delle Donne was the game's top scorer with 22 points. Shannon Ferguson added 11 and Lindsay Kimmel chipped in with 10. The Lakers were led by Elyse Schlump's 10 points and Erika Bruinsma and Maddie Burnett added eight a piece. The Lakers (2-3, fourth place Pool H), who were hampered by poor shooting for most of the game, missed their first eight shots and fell behind 11-0 in the first seven minutes. "That's something about playing the number-one team in the country," Western Lakers head coach Dan Geelhoed said. "That's what that's about. Our girls were a little nervous coming out. Once they settled down, they started playing basketball. But Fencor is a good team. It was a tough game." Top-seeded Fencor (5-0, first place Pool A) took control of the game with two runs. The first, a 13-3 run, came at the end of the first half as Fencor took a 34-14 lead at halftime. The second run was a 15-4 streak that helped Fencor build a 51-18 advantage with 13:14 to play. "We just played really great as a team," Donne said. "We're just trying to prepare for the better games that are to come. We just wanted to make sure we played real well as a team, went on runs and do all the good stuff we're supposed to do."