Smyrna (Del.)
once again proved Friday night why they are the top-ranked girls team in the
state, soaring to an easy 76-34 win over Caesar Rodney in a Henlopen
Conference game.
The Lady Eagles (5-0, 5-0) benefited from
double-double performances by their two superstars,
Betnijah Laney (26
points, 10 rebounds) and James Madison-bound
Crystal Ross (19, 13), to
stay atop the conference standings.
"Our season has started out
very well," said Smyrna coach James Kiger, who led the Eagles to the
state title game last year. "Our girls have really worked on little
things to make us better like foul shooting and screening.
"We,
of course, are led by Betnijah Laney and Crystal Ross, who have been
extremely solid for us.
Jackie Jenkins has been a great captain and we
are getting contributions from several players including
Kamerra Matthews,
Brionna Johnson,
Jasmine Hilliard and
Alexus Stroud."
The
Eagles have outscored their opponents by an average of 42 points,
including a 13-point win over Cape Henlopen, a school many consider to
be the Eagles' top competition in the conference.
"We know we
have some very tough teams coming up on our schedule and we still have a
lot of work to do," Kiger added. "I have been pleased with our defense
and our attitudes and work ethic. If we continue on the way we have been
playing we have some exciting things in front of us."
TIMES-DISPATCH INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT OPENS IN VIRGINIA
Jestine
Lewis scored 15 points, had five steals and dished out two assists to
lead
Henrico (Richmond, Va.) to a 63-55 win over Hermitage in the opening round of the
annual Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament held at Glen Allen.
*
In other opening-round games,
Micah Thomas scored all of his 12 points
during a 17-2 second-quarter run to break open the game and catapult
Highland Springs to a 71-55 win over L.C. Bird.
Jarvis Threatt
led all scorers with 26 points and
Marcel Crump finished with 12 for the
Springers, who will face Cosby in the quarterfinals Monday night.
*
Cosby (Chesterfield, Va.) defeated Thomas Dale, 64-43, behind
Matt Gorski's game-high 26 points.
Evan Orzolek chipped in with 17.
*
Adjehi Baru, who has signed a letter of intent to play at the College
of Charleston, poured in 37 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead
Steward (Richmond, Va.) to a 72-63 win over Patrick Henry. Raymond Minor led
Henry (Ashland, Va.) with 23 points.
THE BUZZ
With just two games (both wins) under its
belt, the defending state champion
Sanford (Hockessin, Del.) boys team is in the middle of
a 21-day layoff that ends Dec. 28 when the Warriors participate in a
holiday tournament at Widener University (Pa.). Coach Stan Waterman told
me the layoff is due to moving some games around on the schedule to
allow Delaware's top-ranked team to participate in the Primetime
Shootout and the Kobe Bryant event.
"It's been tough to keep the
intensity up over this period," he said. "However, I'm hopeful that we
will be a little sharper mentally because we were able to clean up some
of the mistakes we made in our first two games and install a few new
wrinkles. It was like training camp. We are anxious to get going again.
There is no substitute for game conditions."
Jon Buzby is the
sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and a color
analyst for the 1290AM The Ticket High School Football and Basketball
Games of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.