Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 39

COURIER-POST, Monday, March 15, 2004 7D Era ends a WTO V- v. Shabazz denies Langhorne, Wade a state championship varsity extra twilling By LIAN SKAF Courier-Post Staff Gkoup 3 State Final 1 I in- 1 iff CARLOS J. ORTIZCouner-Post Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne gets set to shoot over Shabazz's Matee Ajavon in the Group 3 state final. i. 1 S.

vSi, DOVER TWP. The end of an era for Willing-boro High School girls' basketball came Sunday. In the highly anticipated rematch of last year's final, the Chimeras battled Malcolm X. Shabazz of Newark for the Group 3 state championship at Toms River North's Ritacco Center. Unfortunately for Willing-boro, this year's result was all too similar to last year's.

The Chimeras lost 63-52, ending their season and the high school careers of Crystal Lan-ghorne and Latiesha Wade, who helped Willingboro forge a national reputation for success. "Regardless of this game, these girls had great careers," Willingboro coach Guy Fowler said. "We're definitely proud. We lost to a good team with a good supporting cast." Langhorne scored 34 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Willingboro, while Eade contributed 13 points. Willingboro kept itself in the game throughout the second quarter and most of the second half by finding Langhorne down low and utilizing its half-court trap on defense.

But it was the Chimeras' sour start that put them in too deep a hole. Senior forward Shahida Williams played aggressively for Shabazz, willing her way to the basket for two of her eight first- quarter points and giving her team an 8-5 lead with 3 minutes, 57 seconds to play in the quarter. Williams later scored back-to-back baskets, snatching defensive rebounds, then leading and finishing Bulldogs' fast breaks with lay-ins. Sophomore guard Al-Nisa Harris sank the final first-quarter dagger for Shabazz, rebounding her own missed shot and leaning into the lane for an off-balance, buzzer-beating basket, which gave the Bulldogs an 18-5 lead going into the second quarter. The lead took Willingboro out of its game and forced the Chimeras to come from behind.

"Usually when we get down like that early, it's hard for us to come back," Langhorne said. "You have to just keep playing." Langhorne helped Willingboro show signs of life in the second quarter by scoring in the paint on two consecutive possessions to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 21-11 with 4:59 to play in the half. Langhorne continued her stellar play in the second half, drawing fouls on baskets that accounted for three three-point plays for the Chimeras. "She's always right in the middle of games like these," Fowler said. "Today she was scoring, rebounding and doing all the other things with three or four players on her." yet," said the dry-eyed Langhorne.

"Everybody said I would cry." While Wade has had an impressive career in her own right, the guard knows that playing with a teammate like Langhorne has made all the difference. "I loved playing with Crystal," Wade said. "She's an unbelievable player. I'm going to miss her. I'm going to miss my coach and the other players on the team." On the eve of her last game, Langhorne had some palling advice for her teammates in the locker room.

"I was telling them that they have to start practicing in the gym right now for next year," Langhorne said. That's how Langhorne, who will continue her career at where she is now. Reach Lian Skaf at Even with Langhorne hot, it was the control of Shabazz senior point guard Matee Ajavon in the second half that suppressed all Willingboro threats. Ajavon scored 14 of her 20 total points in the half, working the clock when it needed to be worked and driving into the lane when Shabazz needed a score. Willingboro never showed any signs of conceding the win late in the game, but the Bulldogs had answers for almost every Chimeras' bucket.

Although the Chimeras end their season as the Central Jersey Group 3 champion, the loss left their goal of redeeming last year's loss unfulfilled. And the end of the season meant the dynamic duo of Langhorne and Wade would not play together for Willingboro again. For Langhorne, the reality of it all may take time to truly sink in. "I don't think it has hit me CARLOS J. ORTIZCouner-Post Willingboro's Tammy Meyers shoots over Khiada Evans of Shabazz in the Group 3 state final Sunday.

Riverside's run at state title comes to decisive stop By SEAN McCANN Courier-Post Staff we left it all on the court." Reach Sean McCann at Group 1 State Final "If we would have won this game, it would have been great," Wrice said. "But we made a run and won a South Jersey title, and whole game finally undid the Rams, and there was no fourth-quarter comeback. Thazina Cook scored 16 for Bloomfield Tech, while Victoria Sykes scored 15 and owned the boards to the tune of 15 rebounds. Lowenthal finished with 12 points and nine boards, as Riverside's season closed at 24-5, still the best girls' team regardless of sport in school history. i edge on the glass.

And after shooting well from the foul line in the first half, Riverside went cold in the second. The Rams were just 5-for-21 from the line in the second half. "We've struggled a little bit from the line this season, but in the playoffs, we've been pretty good," Gould said. "I didn't see anything yesterday (in practice) to indicate we were going to shoot like that." Wrice had a slightly different take on the situation. "I think nerves got to us on the line near the end," she said.

The physical and mental sfrain of playing while behind the jt-wm-M II si Later, the most prolific scorer in Riverside school history said the disappointment of the loss made it a little too painful to reflect on her accomplishments just yet. "Getting 2,000 was nice, but it's a little overshadowed by losing right now," Wrice said. Fouls hurt Riverside the whole game, from both sides of the ball. Lowenthal's foul trouble severely weakened the Rams inside, and by the end of the game, Bloomfield Tech owned a 50-30 Site 21575RW CrossTerrain git Hill 23575R15 LTXATBW 89.99(3 P18575R14 X-RadialWW. 49.99 P19575R14 X-RadialWW 57.93 P20565R15 Energy LX 4 BW 69.99 P21565R16 Energy LX 4 BW 89.99 26565R17 ii CrossTerrain BW.

99.9911 26575R16 ADULT DVD ADULT VHS Title of the Month Jenna Jameson on Bella Loves Jenna VHS or Toys Novelties Off Keg (Cannoi nimhiw ads, must nienlinn ad for salol LTXMS10ply 779.93 4 Delia FDl til's, DVD's, PS1, PS2, IBM, GAMEd'BE i DREAWIST 23575R15 24565R17 P17570R14 Traction Plus BW 49.99 P18580R13 Momenta BW 39.99 DOVER TWP. There are worse ways for high school playing careers to end than on the court, in a state final, with a 36-point, major-milestone performance. But Riverside High School senior Sabra Wrice left the Ritacco Center at Toms River North with tears in her eyes, cradling her basketball, wishing she could trade it in for a state championship. The South Jersey champion Rams bowed to Bloomfield Tech 71-59 in the Group 1 state final Sunday afternoon, ending Wrice's career and a pledge that began in obscurity months ago. "We got together as a team back in October and made a goal to win this game," Riverside coach Mike Gould said.

"We came up a little short, but these girls left it all on the court. I couldn't be prouder of them." The whole tournament season long, Riverside has had the best two players on the court, in Wrice and sophomore forward Baendu Lowenthal, and the Rams expected Sunday to be the same. "We didn't know anything about their players," Wrice said. "All the scouting we had was on their team as a whole." But by the time the first half was over, Wrice was frustrated, Lowenthal was in foul trouble and a minute point guard named Khaliqa Davis owned the basketball game. Listed generously at 5 feet, 4 inches, Davis picked the Rams apart with quick hands, quick feet and quick looks to capable teammates.

She controlled the first half with her dribble pene-tratioa Davis finished with a team-high 20 points, eight assists and four steals. "She can penetrate and dish with anybody," Gould said. "We thought if we could make them sit back and jack 3s, we'd be able to rebound the ball, but it didn't happen that way." Bloomfield Tech led 33-24 at the half, but the game wasn't over. Wrice was yet to make her run. The 5-8 Fairfield University recruit scored Riverside's first nine points of the third quarter, drawing her team within seven, 40-33, with her career point just less than three minutes in.

Lowenthal made a steal in the defensive post and threw an outlet pass to the streaking Wrice, who laid the ball in. The action on the court never paused, but Wrice got the loudest ovation of the game. If Tf 23570R16 i P20570R15 Voorhees at Burnt Mill Plaza Deptford at Delsea Plaza I 211 Burnt Mill Road Minutes from Phila. R. 295 to Exit 25A i Near The Echelon Mall (Rt 171 4 blocks on to Delsea Plaza I 856-554-2082 856-855-1510 I I LII.I.III.I IM 'I I WW i LongTrailTABW 79.99 TouringTABW 59.99 iff I P22560R16 3UW.50R15 MLTamSnTIA 110 00 ri rum TouringTABW 79.99 0r, Mm BFGoodrtch fl FYQf i BFGoodrtch T4 KS CONTROL' TAK CONTROL- APR pJHfW, i 07, Lube mer Brake Service Install new front brake pads Repack and torque front bearings Machine rotors i mi I I J.

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