Willingboro 66, RV 54

I was looking forward to seeing Chelsea Cole play, but according to Coach Corrado, she's been struggling with back problems. She still put up 11 points and 10 boards, but that was rather a quiet night in light of Tiffany Crews' 17 and 18. She's not Crystal, of course, but no one may ever be again.

Willingboro played very solidly tonight, especially since the Chimeras start a sophomore and a freshman, both of whom played pretty well. The soph, Jasmine Rich, had nine points a few steals, and the frosh had some big boards. Boro absolutely owned the glass pretty much all night. That, combined with RV's struggles from the foul line, was enough to put Boro in the driver's seat. RV made a run near the end, but they were hurt by the fact that Cole was already on the bench for good with the back troubles.

I think the game will be closer when they play in Mt. Holly later in the season. It's impossible to say if the teams are located correctly in the Top 20 without seeing the rest of the area play.

Here's a funny thing that happened off the court:

In the middle of the second half, I heard some people sitting behind me gasp, and it took a second to figure out what had happened. As it turns out, a little kid jumped down from eight or nine rows up, into the gap between the two sets of bleachers at midcourt. It's a pretty big drop, but kids are resilient and nimble. The thing is, this kid never got to the floor. There was a length of pipe about eight inches long sticking up out of the end of the wood bench -- I guess it's part of the locking system for when the bleachers are put away -- and the kid's shirt had caught on it. So he was just hanging there by his shirt, swinging in midair, helpless to get down and helpless to climb back up. I stuck out my arm, though, and he scrambled back up to his seat. He wasn't hurt at all so we all started laughing uncontrollably. Luckily, I think it happened during a time out because I didn't miss anything.

When I got back to the office, some mild surprises were waiting for me:

Camden Catholic almost lost to Timber Creek. Not a huge surprise, but still. I'm hoping the Irish aren't looking past all the good teams on their schedule just because they play a lot of great teams.

Wilson annihilates Lenape. It was close at halftime, but apparently the Tigers didn't take too kindly to the Inky dropping them to No. 3. Sunday should be very interesting.

Haddonfield beats Heights. Not really a surprise. The Colonial is like the Big 5; anything can and does happen, and the Bulldogs are a quality squad.

CH East beats BE. Again, not a shock, except for that BE had only three scorers. I guess I just assumed they had some role players to go along with Lazos and Hudspeth, but perhaps not. Time will tell. On an aside: Kim Keyack wrote on her preseason info form that we were not, under any circumstances, to rank her team in the top 10. I had East at No. 11 when I saw that, so I just kept them there. It may not be possible to meet her demand much longer.

Eastern beats West 66-10. That's a big, big score from a team not known as a powerhouse. Could be a tough year for the Lions, or perhaps the Vikes are about to shock us all.

Penns Grove beat Gloucester. That came out of left field. Looks like the Lions came out cold and couldn't get it going in time. Nice win for the Devils, though.

Clayton almost takes out Glassboro. As indicated in the T20, I'm not a believer in Glassboro yet. You don't lose a player of Sakera Young's caliber and just heal right up from day one.

Cumberland beats Gloucester Catholic. Not a result you're used to seeing in girls' hoops. Lisa G. needs to recruit some of that undefeated, speed-rich soccer team onto the hardwood.

Clearview beats Deptford. Maybe the biggest upset of the night. Congratulations to the Pioneers, who have endured a few rough seasons.

AC squeaks by Oakcrest. It's hard to believe Tasha Cannon wasn't the best player on the floor, but Whitney Walker must have given her a run for her money with 23 points and 10 boards. The Vikings will have to represent a little better to have a shot against Holy Spirit tomorrow.

And so, one day of the season is in the books, and it was a good one. Tomorrow is a little slim, by comparison, but we make up for it with one of very few great Sundays. I'll be at Sterling-Cherokee tomorrow at 1 p.m. for Knights coach Kate McDonald's first game on the sideline. Sterling is ranked and the Chiefs are not, but at this point in the season that doesn't mean anything. The game is pretty much a toss-up.

See you there.