|
|
|
End in Semifinals |
A.I. Concludes Season
Photos: Seaford's Chaunta Kilgoe looks for a shot (top), while center Kadedra Brittingham lays in the game's first basket. NEWARK -- When Jim Wearden replaced his starters late in the Seaford High School girls' basketball team's 2002 Delaware state tournament semifinal loss to A.I. DuPont on Wednesday, March 6, it wasn't a sign of surrender.
"These girls have never quit," said Wearden. "When I took them out with 9 seconds to go to let some of the other girls walk out there, they were still saying, 'Coach, we can win this game'. And that's just it. They don't quit. They never quit, and they didn't quit tonight." That's the kind of team Seaford was all year as it posted a 23-3 record. After losing to Caesar Rodney during the regular season, the Blue Jays didn't let a 13-4 deficit to the Riders in the Henlopen Conference championship game get them down. They came back to win that game and to beat CR again in the state quarterfinals last week. Against A.I. DuPont, which rose to 25-1, the Blue Jays came back time and again, as they kept the top-seeded Tigers on their toes right down to the game's final minute. And had it not been for the Jays' poor shooting, they may have done more than put a scare into A.I. Seaford shot just 17-for-67 from the field including only 3 of 26 from three-point territory.
Despite the shooting disparity, the Blue Jays trailed just 44-40 with 1:58 left when Ebony Keaton laid in a basket off a nice feed from Roniece Williams. But then A.I. DuPont forward LaTayna Shazier and standout Markeda Hollingsworth took over down the stretch, as Shazier scored 4 points on a layup and two free throws and Hollingsworth hit three foul shots for a 51-40 Tiger advantage with just 8.5 seconds left. Seaford had come back from several other deficits in the game, as well. Early on, the Blue Jays trailed 6-2 only to come back and take a 9-7 lead on a three-pointer by Tonya Purnell. They fell behind again, 16-10 early in the second period, but battled back to take a 21-20 halftime lead when Chaunta Kilgo followed in a miss and Williams buried a three-pointer. A.I. again went ahead late in the third period as it forged a 38-30 advantage on a pair of foul shots by Shazier with 35.5 seconds to go, but Seaford cut that deficit in half before A.I. went on its game-clinching run at the end. The Blue Jays were led by Williams' 11 points and 10 rebounds and Ebony Keaton's 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Chaunta Kilgoe added 8 points and 5 rebounds. Shazier led the Tigers with 24 points and 16 rebounds, but Hollingsworth controlled the game as she broke Seaford's defenders down time and again with vicious cross-over dribbles. Hollingsworth finished with 19 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
A.I. DUPONT (53) -- LaTanya Shazier 7 9-13 25, Jill Regester 0 0-0 0, Emily Gunter 1 0-0 2, Kelly Gast 0 0-0 0, Amanda Grimes 0 0-0 0, Markeda Hollingsworth 7 5-11 19, Nicole Gibson 1 0-0 2, Monique Babes 0 0-0 0, Lorraine Sutton 2 2-2 6, Nieva Carter 0 0-2 2, Jennifer Bogia 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 16-26 53. SEAFORD (40) -- Ashlee Burbage 0 0-0 0, Shirelle Tingle 2 0-0 5, Dawn Penuel 0 0-0 0, Sharon Murphy 0 0-0 0, Curtisha Ross 0 0-0 0, Elise Wynn 0 0-0 0, Ashley Dean 0 0-0 0, Chaunta kilgoe 3 2-2 8, Roniece Williams 5 0-0 11, Tonya Purnell 1 0-0 3, Ebony Keaton 4 1-3 9, Kadedra Brittingham 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 17 3-5 40. Three-point field goals: Seaford 3 (Shirelle Tingle, Roniece Williams, Tonya Purnell), A.I. DuPont (LaTanya Shazier).
Seaford head coach Jim Wearden on his team's shooting woes: "It's (Carpenter Center) a different kind of gym than we've ever played in before. I've never been to A.I. DuPont, so I don't know what kind of gym they have. They seemed to have some trouble shooting, too, but they have a different kind of game. They don't depend on the outside shot. They're a little more strength and getting the ball inside. Our game is outside shots. I can sit back here and count four that went in and out and could have made the difference in the game tonight. But my girls went out and played hard. I don't think they were intimidated by A.I. I don't think they were intimidated by the Carpenter Center. I think they went out and gave their all. We made some mistakes and had some shots not drop. I have nothing but pride in this basketball team." Wearden on next year's Blue Jays, who will lose only one senior starter from this year's team, center Kadedra Brittingham: "Losing really only one senior who contributed a lot of playing time just tells me we have a chance to get back here next year and I don't think they're going to let it slip by next year. They weren't intimidated and I think if you look in their eyes back here, everyone of them wants to come back. I've seen kids before who have been emotionally crushed over it and those are the ones you worry about more. These girls seem to have the attitude that we came out and played hard and we're going to get another shot." Wearden on A.I. DuPont's unstoppable Markeda Hollingsworth: "She is unbelievable. Everybody told me she is the best player in the state. I came into halftime and we held her to 6 points, and in the second half she showed me she was the best player in the state. I have good defensive players and they got up and challenged her, but she's just so explosive on that cross-over and from the left to the right and then went back and went from right to left and that's something I'd never even heard about that she could do that. And just an explosive jumper. Her and the Shazier girl play excellent basketball together with dish and get it to each other. The other ones stepped up. They're role players but they stepped up and they made it a team." Wearden on the effort by Ebony Keaton, who had 9 points, 7 rebounds, a block and 2 steals in 20 minutes: "I think she would drop dead on the court before she'd quit. She works hard. One nice thing is she'll be back next year."
|
|
|
Copyright © 1999-2002 Sussex County Online |
Not for the Blue Jays' head coach, and most certainly not for the players he removed with 8.5 seconds to go in the 53-40 season-ending defeat at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center.
That was nearly twice as many shot attempts as A.I. DuPont took. The Tigers went 18-for-35 from the field and attempted only 3 three-pointers.
