Bits and Pieces 27   3-12-01 

  The Girls State Basketball Championship

  St. Marks beat Ursuline in the state championship game 36-34 Monday night at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark to repeat as Delaware girl's basketball champions.
  Senior Spartan Michelle Albanese scored 27 of the Spartans points and broke a state championship game record with five 3-pointers. 
  But it was a finger tip jumper with 57 seconds left that put the pressure on Ursuline to re-tie the game, that they had fought hard to tie to begin with, that sealed the fate for both teams. 
  Albanese scored 12 first quarter points as she was basically unstoppable. Raider Sarah Boltz had her hands full from the first minute of the game and Albanese won the duel that was critical for UA to win. 
  In the second quarter, after falling behind 14-8 in the first, Raider head coach Jeff Flanders switched his star Alexis Henderson over to guard Albanese. It seemed to work a bit more effectively, but UA only managed to score 2 points in the quarter. But then the Spartans only managed two points themselves until Tracee Mosch hit a buzzer-beating three pointer to give the Spartans a 19-10 half-time lead. 
  UA came out in the second half a bit more inspired. Freshman Kate Mills kept her team in the game scoring 8 of her team high 12 proving, yet again, that Ursuline has another rising star in their midst.
  Mills did her part and her defense held, but there was a lack of clutch shooting from the rest of her team. Alexis Henderson who scored four points in the first three minutes of the game, only scored two more the rest of the way. 
  UA continued to claw their way back and tied the game in the fourth quarter and tied the game with 2:27 left on a Mills layup. 
  The Spartans slowed down their offense and ran over a minute off of the clock before Albanese scored her short jumper to take the lead back again.
  Ursuline was forced to foul five straight times on inbound passes. Each time the Spartans were able to get the ball into Albanese who eventually went to the free throw line with 26 seconds left and promptly sank two shots.
  Christine Armstrong made a steal for the Spartans, and UA had to foul her right away. Armstrong missed the front end shot of a 1-and-1, and the Raiders Kelly Mark came up with a rebound. Henderson missed a 3-pointer that was rebounded and scored by Eileen Webster and the Raiders took their final time out down by just two points.
  The Spartans inbounded to Armstrong who was fouled and sent to the line to put the game away.  She again missed her first shot and the rebound was picked up by Sarah Boltz. Without the ability to take a time out, she rushed upcourt and a pass was tipped out of bounds by the Spartans with .7 seconds left in the game. 
   After a Spartan time out, Boltz passed inbound to Henderson who spun and shot and just bounced a 3-point shot off the side of the rim. The Spartans were champions.
   The Spartan win was the sixth overall for their program and the fifth for head coach John Fiorelli. 
  The Raiders have now lost their last three championship game appearances, but still have nine championship banners hanging in their gym.
  Albanese's five three-pointers broke the championship game final record of four set in 1995 by Sussex Central's Jennifer Coursey. Just one more basket and she would have broken the record of 28 points in a final game set in 1976 by William Penn's Lynn Foster and tied by St. Elizabeth's Penny Welsh in 1979.

Marshal Manlove