Championships

THERE SEEMS TO BE a shift of power going on in Public League girls' basketball. Central dominated the league in the first decade of the 2000s with a run of league championships between 2002-07, plus the '09 and '10 titles. But entering the current decade, Prep Charter, which entered the league only 4 years ago, has emerged as the league power. The Lady Huskies have appeared in the past four Public League championships games and have won the past two. Their most recent was a 70-34 trouncing of Central on Saturday at Community College of Philadelphia.

MIKE MODANO, one of the greatest American hockey players, announced yesterday that he is retiring after 21 seasons in the NHL. Modano, 41, from Livonia, Mich., spent 20 seasons with the Minnesota North Stars and Dallas Stars, then one with the Detroit Red Wings. He was the top overall pick in 1988. He won a Stanley Cup championship with Dallas in 1999 and scored 561 goals and 1,374 points, both records for U.S.-born players. "It's just time," he said in a phone interview from Dallas.

Katherine Costain and Jennifer Urban reached the final round of the USTA Amateur Satellite Women's Tennis Tournament with straight-set victories yesterday at the Arrowhead Tennis Club in Medford. Costain prevailed in a tightly contested semifinal with Shannon Etzweiler, 6-3, 7-5, and Urban won, 6-4, 6-0 over Corinna Bode. Rain interrupted play in the Middle states 50-and-over and 55-and-over tennis championships last night at the Germantown cricket Club. No matches were completed.

Heath McCormick's win streak grew to six Tuesday morning in the men's round robin at the 2012 USA Curling national championships at IceWorks Skating Complex. But it wasn't easy as McCormick and his 6-0 team needed to go to the last rock to hold off Brady Clark's late rally for an 8-6 win. The semifinals are Friday, and the championships are Saturday. For a live video feed of the action and full results, go to: www.2012usacurlingnationals.com . Wednesday's Schedule 8 a.m. MEN: Sheet 1-Shuster v. Sampson; Sheet 2-Morton v. McCormick; Sheet 3-E. Fenson v. Clark; Sheet 4-Brown v. Birr; Sheet 5-Farbelow v. George.

ROBBINSVILLE, N.J. - The river of red ink is rising around the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. The NJSIAA on Wednesday projected a budget for 2012-13 that would result in a shortfall for the eighth time in the last nine years and deepen the organization's deficit since 2005 to more than $2.5 million. "I know this is such a great organization," NJSIAA executive director Steve Timko said after Wednesday's final executive committee meeting of the school year.

ROBBINSVILLE, N.J. - The river of red ink is rising around the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. The NJSIAA on Wednesday projected a budget for 2012-13 that would result in a shortfall for the eighth time in the last nine years and deepen the organization's deficit since 2005 to more than $2.5 million. "I know this is such a great organization," NJSIAA executive director Steve Timko said after Wednesday's final executive committee meeting of the school year.

ATLANTIC CITY - The NCAA is "ludicrous and hypocritical" for moving five championship games out of New Jersey next year because the state plans to offer legalized sports betting, a spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday. "The NCAA wants to penalize New Jersey for legalizing what occurs illegally every day in every state, and often with the participation of organized crime," the spokesman, Michael Drewniak, told the Associated Press. "But the NCAA looks the other way for that?"

WASHINGTON - Nobody was shocked. That was not the reaction in the Phillies' clubhouse on the day the team traded away Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence at the deadline. Players understand how the business works better than we ever will, and they can read the National League standings, too. Truth be told, some people expected more trades that never materialized, involving starting pitcher Joe Blanton and others. Still, there was this odd sensation. "Without a doubt," second baseman Chase Utley said.

In 2006, Dan Fowler was a senior goalie for the Lenape boys' lacrosse team. He knows what "long-term" goals used to mean for most South Jersey boys' lacrosse programs. A division title. A conference title. Then try not to make it look so obvious when your team is fed to the North Jersey wolves in the state playoffs. "A lot of teams from this area were going to the playoffs and opening with teams who were years and years ahead of them as a program," Fowler said. Before the NJSIAA's decision to establish sectional championships in boys' lacrosse before this season, there essentially was no postseason for most of the top programs in South Jersey boys' lacrosse.

In 2006, Dan Fowler was a senior goalie for the Lenape boys' lacrosse team. He knows what "long-term" goals used to mean for most South Jersey boys' lacrosse programs. A division title. A conference title. Then try not to make it look so obvious when your team is fed to the North Jersey wolves in the state playoffs. "A lot of teams from this area were going to the playoffs and opening with teams who were years and years ahead of them as a program," Fowler said. Before the NJSIAA's decision to establish sectional championships in boys' lacrosse before this season, there essentially was no postseason for most of the top programs in South Jersey boys' lacrosse.