Officially Betnijah, who will turn 16 in October, has yet to beat her mother one on one.

"I beat her one time, but she quit, so she won't let me officially say that I won," Betnijah said.

"She didn't beat me," Yolanda said. "She was leading. I scored and tied the game. But because of my age and everything, I had to sit down. I just had to sit down. I needed oxygen. Neither of us went down. I told her I would rather sit down than fall out."

At the rec center last weekend, Mom had the ball, daughter defending. Yolanda accepted the challenge to hit a jump shot. She backed up to 22 feet, took a couple of dribbles, and shot a 19-footer, her daughter all over her.

After the basketball barely grazed the rim as it fell in, and the whole place erupted, Yolanda walked over to the bleacher and sat down.

"I asked her what she wanted," Yolanda said of taking the jumper.

Her daughter came over smiling and slapped Yolanda's palm and started to sit on her lap but then walked away to get a drink.

"I would say she still has the skills after all these years," Betnijah said later.

"She's still not where I've been, but she's going to get there,' Yolanda said, believing that as soon as Betnijah perfects her jump shot with either hand, the torch will be passed for good. Her daughter will have everything in her, and she will be unstoppable.

Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.