(Photo credit: Kathleen X. Cook, Allentown Morning Call)
William Allen High's Ashley Slater holds the trophy after her team beat Dunmore in the SportsFest girls basketball tournament championship game at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown Sunday,
Tears streamed down the face of Allen's Alaura Workman on
Sunday night, but make no mistake, these were tears of joy.
Workman's Chicks built a 20-10 halftime lead and held on for a 35-32 win over
Dunmore in the championship game of the American Architecture SportsFest girls
basketball tournament. When it was over, Allen celebrated as though it won a
state title.
Even Ed Pawlowski, the mayor of Allentown, came over to the girls to offer his
congratulations.
It was the Chicks' first SportsFest title and they hope it's
an omen for the upcoming 2007-08 season.
''This championship means a lot to us,'' Workman said, after being named to the
all-tourney team. ''We worked hard for this and we're going to keep working
hard. It gives us a big boost of confidence going into next season. Right now, I
feel like we're going to go unbeaten.''
Allen was not unbeaten on Sunday. The Chicks fell to Dunmore by nine early in
the day when they didn't respond to the early start and had one player sit out a
half as disciplinary measure..
But they regrouped to make their way back to the title game and made the most of
their second chance.
''We needed to be more patient on offense and we went to a 2-3 zone on defense
to get out on their 3-point shooters,'' said coach Tom Gallagher. ''We gave up
10 points in the first half and six of them were on foul shots, so we played
good defense.''
Allen led 32-25 with 2:45 remaining, but Dunmore kept plugging away and had the
ball with seven seconds left and needed a 3-pointer to tie. But the perennial
District 2 power threw away its last chance and the Chicks' celebration could
begin.
''I couldn't be happier for a bunch of kids,'' Gallagher said. ''They worked
hard for this. They deserve this. These kids love to play basketball. They'd
play 24 hours a day if they could.''
Michelle Koren helped get Allen off to a good start with eight points in the
first half. The soon-to-be junior finished with 11 points and the tourney's MVP
award.
''It was the defense and rebounding that did it for us,'' Koren said.
The Chicks went 5-1 to win the 34-team, four-day, double-elimination tournament.
Parkland had won the previous five SportsFests, but perhaps Allen's gold means a
changing of the guard in the rugged Lehigh Valley Conference.
Gallagher isn't ready to say that, but is very optimistic about the coming
season.
''We're going to be competitive,'' he said. ''We don't have the most talented
kids, but these kids are hard-nosed and they never give up. They give me effort
and that's all you can ask as a coach.''
Shalice Jackson, Lindsey Gosse, Ashley Slater and Janeire Holloway all
contributed to one of the program's biggest wins -- regardless of time of year
-- in a long time.
''We play three juniors and three seniors,'' Gallagher said. ''This has to make
them sky-high and show them what they can do.''
''We have a really good coach, a really good team,'' Workman, the team's gritty
point guard, said. ''It's my job to lead them and I'm so proud of the rest of
the girls right now.''
Tournament director Tara Belfield was pleased with the quality of the
tournament.
''Dunmore hadn't lost in the tournament and they beat Allen pretty easily this
morning and a lot of people thought they were going to win the championship
game, too,'' Belfield said. ''But Allen proved them wrong. They came back,
turned it around and did a great job. It's good for their program to win this.''
East Stroudsburg South finished third, Emmaus fourth and Northampton was fifth.
keith.groller@mcall.com