Fencor 1989s

Eighth-grader leads Raiders in prep debut By DOUG LESMERISES Staff reporter 12/10/2003 The top-ranked Ursuline girls basketball team finished its season opener against Charter on Tuesday night with only four players on the court. But one of those players was eighth-grader Elena DelleDonne, and that was enough. Every Ursuline starter except DelleDonne fouled out, but the Raiders knocked off Charter 55-38 as DelleDonne scored 27 points in her high school basketball debut. Ursuline (1-0) jumped to a 15-2 lead with pressure defense and crisp ball movement. But the Raiders' aggressiveness quickly caught up with them. Four players had three fouls at halftime, and Kate Mills, Cait Mullarkey, Sarah Williams and Shannon O'Hanlon all wound up fouling out as the Raiders ran out of players in the final 45 seconds. "We didn't play very smart," said Mills, who scored seven points before exiting with more than five minutes to play. "We lost focus. We're more worried about making smart decisions right now than how much we won by." Charter (0-1) was led by 14 points from Courtney Irving and played clever, patient basketball after Ursuline pounced early. "We know we can stick it out," Irving said. "It's a good feeling because in the past we beat ourselves." Ursuline coach Steve Johnson wasn't happy with his team's 24 fouls, 15 in the first half. "We played outside ourselves," Johnson said. "It was our first game, and we know we need to get better." But Johnson was encouraged in watching DelleDonne help hold the team together as her fellow starters headed to the bench. "She didn't play like an eighth-grader," Johnson said. "She has the maturity of a college junior." And she had the nerves of a 14-year-old. "I had some butterflies," DelleDonne said. "But once I started they went away. I think we just need to play better as a team."