Chimeras

It was a fitting conclusion to a stirring game. In a Burlington County Liberty Division battle in which the lead changed hands six times in the fourth quarter alone, Willingboro guard Carl Mack buried a three-point shot at the buzzer to give the Chimeras a 59-56 victory over Moorestown last night. The shot that touched nothing but net and got Mack mobbed by Willingboro fans who spilled onto the floor might as well have been a punch in the stomach to Moorestown coach Steve McGair.

Willingboro's girls' track team went into last weekend's West Deptford Relays with one mission - to get recognition. Mission accomplished: The Chimeras were dominating. Their performance was dominating, to say the least. Willingboro captured every running event in Division I, except for a second-place finish in the shuttle hurdles. The Chimeras set division records in every event but the 1,600-meter relay. Willingboro even established a record in the 3,200 (9 minutes, 52.7 seconds)

Archbishop Wood played with the pace of a sprinter, the aggression of a boxer, and the heart of an underdog last night against Willingboro, refusing to give up the chase. Ultimately, though, Willingboro, The Inquirer's top-ranked girls' basketball team in South Jersey, proved it had too much power and talent to catch. Willingboro (12-0) outlasted the unrelenting Vikings with a big fourth quarter for a 66-46 win in the second annual Scholastic Play-by-Play Girls' Classic at Council Rock North High School.

Things would be different this time. No mental lapses, no nervous passes under pressure, no losing big leads. The Willingboro plan was easy, and if the Chimeras stuck with it, they wouldn't have as tough a time with Highland as they did the first time. The young Chimeras would need to be patient, smart, and composed. Everything Willingboro set out to do last night it did, winning the South Jersey Group 3 girls' basketball championship, 52-44, over a stubborn Highland team at Woodstown High.

On a star-studded Willingboro team for which any player, at any time, can grab the headlines, it was Kellie Rice who emerged as the team's leader last night. Rice erupted for 23 of her 25 points in the second half to lead the Chimeras to a 70-43 win over Wildwood at the Dunn Sports Center. The win allowed Willingboro (28-2) to advance to the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions Saturday, where it will face top-seeded Red Bank Catholic here at 3 p.m. Wildwood ended its season 24-5.

The third time proved much more difficult than the first two, but Willingboro came through with a harder-than-it-looked 49-35 victory over Pemberton last night to win the South Jersey Group 3 girls' basketball championship at Woodstown High. It was Willingboro's first sectional girls' basketball title since 1978. The Chimeras, who improved to 25-2 this season, were led by Brandee Moses and Sherri Brown, who scored 17 points apiece. Pemberton, which fell to 19-6, was led by Kamika Harden (18)

One step forward, one step back. That pretty much sums up Willingboro's season after the Chimeras lost yesterday to visiting West Chester East, 34-6, a week after their convincing 43-6 season-opening victory over Holy Cross. "We were coming off a big win, and we just didn't play very well," Willingboro coach Ty Belford said. "But that's no excuse, and we have to play well every week. We can't let up. " The Vikings (4-1) took control on the game's opening play as Tyrone Bowden, a quarterback, defensive back and kick-returner, took the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

The Willingboro girls' basketball team couldn't do it this time. The Chimeras pulled off upset after upset in the postseason on their way to winning the NJSIAA Group 3 state championship. But the outcome was different last night in the first round of the Tournament of Champions. Third-seeded University defeated sixth-seeded Willingboro, 71-58, at the Ritacco Center. As a result, the Chimeras (23-10) go home while Group 1 champion University (31-2) faces Trenton Catholic in tomorrow's 6 p.m. semifinal at the same site.

After a season of triumphs, the Willingboro girls' basketball team fell two wins short of the ultimate goal. The Chimeras were trailing Red Bank Catholic, 64-63, with two seconds remaining yesterday when Sherri Brown heaved the final shot from just inside the arc and watched as the ball bounced in and out of the rim, falling into the hands of the Caseys' Jessica DePalo. The buzzer sounded, and that was it. Brown lay on the Dunn Center floor for a few seconds as the Red Bank reserves leaped off the bench and celebrated with their teammates at center court after the 64-63 victory in the Tournament of Champions semifinal.

Having been the casualty of close divisional games this season, the Willingboro boys' basketball team paused when Holy Cross started a late-game rally yesterday. Willingboro, leading by three points with just under four minutes to play, took time out not only for a breather, but also to think about an overtime loss to Moorestown on Thursday. "We've played in a lot of games that were close like this," center Chris Langhorne said. "We just thought that we have to take this game.