Fencor 1989s

Eastern USA Fall Championships schedule FINAL SCHEDULE (finalized at 8:30 a.m. Friday so double check) *To win Eastern USA Fall Championship: Any team that goes undefeated will be awarded championship certificates. Undefeated teams should see site director after last game. Team key: (all age groups are as of 2004) 1. NE Rockers 16 2. Comets 16 3. Hopewell Jaguars 16 4. Bucks County Wildcats 16/17 5. Atlantic Cape Wildcats 6. Comets 15 7. Central Jersey Hawks 17 8. Hazleton Hurricanes 17 9. New Jersey Flames 17 10. Niagara Rapids 17 11. Tri-State Tar Heels 14 12. Bucks County Wildcats 14 13. Fencor-London 14. Connecticut Spirit 14 15. Penn-Jersey Panthers 15 16. North Brunswick Sparks 17. PA Swoosh 18. Pittsburgh Rockers 16 19. Fencor- (17)Chapman 20. Kips Bay 16 21. Long Island Silver Bullets 17 22. NE Rockers 17 23. Hoop City 17 24. Lady Knicks-Reilly 25. Lumberton 26. Comets 13 27. Renegades-Strand 28. Renegades 14B 29. Central Jersey Clovers 30. Renegades-Catanzaro 31. Pittsburgh Rockers 13 32. Bay State (Mass.) Elite 33. NE Rockers-Kim 34. Fencor-Heather 35. NE Rockers 14 36. Renegades-Hahn 37. Connecticut Spirit 13 38. Tornadoes 39. Renegades 11 40. Fencor 11 41. NE Rockers 11 42. Purple Comets 43. Comets-Moffat 44. NE Rockers-Fred 45. Fencor-Meg/Cornish 46. Deptford Lady Rams 47. Blue Demons 14 48. Renegades 14A 49. Fencor 15A 50. Fencor-Harkins 51. Lower Delco 14 Saturday: Tri-State Sports Center Court 1 Court 2 Court 3 9:30 a.m. 2-5 1-6 10:15 a.m. 3-12 10:45 a.m. 7-8 4-9 11:30 10-13 Noon 1-2 5-12 12:45 p.m. 3-4 1:15 p.m. 8-13 7-10 2 p.m. 6-23 2:30 p.m. 14-49 19-9 3:15 p.m. 21-50 3:45 p.m. 15-23 18-20 4:30 p.m. 22-24 5 p.m. 14-50 21-49 5:45 20-19 6:15 p.m. 15-24 22-18 Sunday Court 1 Court 2 Court 3 8:30 a.m. 6-21 9 a.m. 14-24 10-23 9:45 a.m. 9-20 10:15 a.m. 8-6 7-19 11 a.m. 10-2 11:30 p.m. 14-23 21-24 12:15 p.m. 8-20 12:45 p.m. 13-7 19-4 1:30 p.m. 12-5 2 p.m. 18-13 9-1 2:45 p.m. 3-22 3:15 p.m. 15-5 4-2 4 p.m. 51-12 4:30 p.m. 3-1 15-22 IMPORTANT: Due to nearby air show, traffic will be heavily congested around Hatboro-Horsham & Lakeside, please leave yourself extra time. Hatboro-Horsham High School Saturday: Main gym Auxiliary gym 9:30 a.m. 25-30 10:15 a.m. 26-28 10:45 a.m. 29-27 11:30 a.m. 32-25 Noon 26-31 12:45 p.m. 28-16 1:15 p.m. 29-30 2 p.m. 27-47 2:30 p.m. 34-32 3:15 p.m. 48-17 3:45 p.m. 27-16 4:30 p.m. 31-33 5:15 p.m. 34-17 Sunday: Main Gym Auxiliary Gym 9 a.m. 31-32 9:30 a.m. 37-28 10:15 a.m. 34-16 10:45 a.m. 27-17 11:30 a.m. 37-34 Noon 36-32 12:45 p.m. 43-29 1:15 p.m. 31-35 2 p.m. 46-17 2:30 p.m. 25-29 (break) 4:30 p.m. 25-43 Lakeside Youth Center Saturday: 11:30 a.m. 45-47 12:45 p.m. 46-48 (break) 2:30 p.m. 33-28 3:45 p.m. 45-46 5 p.m. 48-47 Sunday: (gym not open until noon) 12:15 p.m. 45-48 1:30 p.m. 11-47 2:45 p.m. 45-16 4 p.m. 11-46 Northeast Racquet Club Saturday: 10 a.m. 35-11 11:15 44-36 12:30 p.m. 43-37 1:45 p.m. 39-42 3 p.m. 37-35 4:15 p.m. 43-44 World Gym Saturday: 10 a.m. 39-41 11:15 a.m. 40-42 12:30 p.m. 11-38 1:45 p.m. 40-41 3 p.m. 36-38 (break) 5 p.m. 35-36 Sunday: 9 a.m. 33-26 10:15 a.m. 30-44 11:30 p.m. 26-38 12:45 p.m. 30-42 2 p.m. 38-33 3:15 p.m. 44-42

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.

It seemed like just another stop on the AAU circuit as the 16-and-under team from upstate New York got ready for it’s game against a team called Fencor(from Penn). Popping onto the court was a team clad in warm-ups with the name Fencor on its back, a team that appeared more like the little sisters of their opponents, because they sure did not look anything like 16-years-olds. “ We were supposed to play a national championship team, and someone said they won the 12-and-unders last year, but that was impossible, because they wouldn’t play a 16-and-under team,” said the scorekeeper to one of the Fencor coaches. By early in the second half, the Fencor 13’s held a 42-9 lead before calling off the dogs. Beating girls who, off the court, could probably be their baby sitters is par for the course for a team aiming to stay on top. After coming in third as 10’s and fifth as 11’s Fencor won the AAU National Championship last July in Amarillo, Texas. Fencor did not romp the title. It grittily slogged through the losers’ bracket after an early loss to the Texas Express. Fencor won five games in 30 hours and beat Texas twice on the final day to win the championship. There were the obligatory newspaper articles on the girls in their hometown, and the team was even featured in a television commercial by a local car dealer. But with a new AAU season comes defending the championship. Like in any sport, when you are on top, everyone is looking to knock you off. Fencor is a member of the Middle Atlantic region, which includes Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and the state of Delaware. The last team before this one from the Middle Atlantic to win a National Championship was the Comets’ 12-years-olds in 1997. The coach of that team, Bill Dessart-Majer, remembers the following year very well. “Every game was a Super Bowl for the other team”, he says. “Every game was a war.” “It is so hard to win a National Championship, but no one can take it away from you.” Fencor started the new AAU season well, winning all four games in its own Fencor Invitational, with no game closer than 15 points, mostly against teams of 15 and 16-years-olds. A total of 57 players tried out for the team this year (Fencor actually fields a total of 22 teams in ages 9 to 18, and the 13’s were one of six different Fencor teams to go to AAU nationals in 2002), but only one new player cracked the roster, Deree Fooks of Camden, NJ, who had previously played for the Philadelphia Belles. Although the team still has its punishing practices two to three times a week and vigorous playing schedule, things are not exactly the same as last season. College coaches are starting to show an interest in the players, even though three of the team’s top players(6’4” shooting guard Elena Delle Donne, 6’ forward Rose Tarnowski and 5’11” guard Caroline Doty) are only in seventh Grade. When Cathy Rush’s Future Stars organization decided to hold an elite-only tournament for East Coast high school age AAU teams, an exception was made for Fencor to be in it. Another age exception was made for Fencor by Blue Chip to let them play in its big college showcase at Virginia Commonwealth University in mid-April. Fencor coach Keith Webster, who has guided the team since its members were 11, knows winning the title last year means no guarantees for this season. “The first practice we had the championship trophy there, and I told the kids to touch it because it was the last time they would see it,” says Webster, a veteran high school coach in the Philadelphia area. “ That was last year. We’re onto this year.” One advantage that Fencor has, Webster feels, is that while many successful young AAU teams backslide as time goes on because their players do not grow, that is not the case with Fencor, as in addition to Fooks and the three tall seventh graders, they also have 6’2” Megan Marcinkowski and 5’10” Shannon Ferguson. How Fencor does as the hunted instead of the hunter will be discovered July 22-31 at the 13-and-under AAU Nationals in Dayton, Ohio.

March 39-30: Fencor Invitanional (4-0) April 5-6: Future Stars Elite Tournament at Tri-State Sports (3-1) April 11-13: Blue Chip Preseason Challenge in Richmond, Va. (4-1) May 3-4: Middle Atlantic Championships in Bucks County. (5-0, champs for 4th year in a row!) May 17-18: Hunterdon Heat Wave (4-0, 16a champs) June 7-8: Blue Chip Summer Slam (3-1) June 14-15: Fencor Summer Classic (4-0) June 20-22: Wildwood Tournament (2-2) July 7-9: US. Junior Nationals 14-and-under (7-0, champs) July 12-13: Tournament of Stars in Edison, NJ (4-0) July 23-31: AAU nationals in Dayton, Oh. (11-2, 2nd in country) Record as of Aug. 2003: 51-7 --------------------------------------------------------- Fall Schedule 2003 DBL Tournament: 2-2 Eastern USA Championships: 3-1 NY Top 20: 2-1 Lehigh Valley Tournament: 4-0 Villanova Tournament: 3-1 Final Fall record: 14-5

Directions to Wilmington PAL Center, 3707 Market St. Wilmington, DE 19802. Take I-95 south and get off at Exit 9-Marsh Rd. At end of ramp make left and go south. Make a right at Philadelphia Pike which turns into Market St. and go 37th St.