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Lenape girls oust Winslow Township

It was of those moments when a lesson learned in sports offers an equally useful lesson in life:

Lenape's Rena Carabases defends against Winslow's Jada Matthews. (April Saul/Staff Photographer)
Lenape's Rena Carabases defends against Winslow's Jada Matthews. (April Saul/Staff Photographer)Read more

It was of those moments when a lesson learned in sports offers an equally useful lesson in life:

"I think the worst thing you can ever do is upset a woman," Lenape girls' basketball coach Lynn Brennan Monday night after the Indians' 50-32 home win over Winslow Township in the first round of the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. "We have 20 women, and we can take care of war when you upset us."

It's not that the Indians play angry. It's not even that they're all that upset.

But since the beginning of the season, Lenape has not been able to forget all of the comments that they were rebuilding this year, that they wouldn't be successful after the graduation of 2,000-point scorer Christina Foggie, that they were a .500 team.

"We used all of those remarks about how we're only Foggie's team and we lost our superstar to basically give us the momentum," Brennan said after her team improved to 19-7. "Basically we took all of that and we've been using it ever since we started in the summer.

"And Christina is the first person to text us and say, 'Win for me.' "

Fifth-seeded Lenape advanced to play Cherokee, a 37-30 winner over Shawnee. The fourth-seeded Chiefs will host Lenape on Wednesday.

The Indians have beaten Cherokee twice this season, most recently a 43-39 decision on Feb. 17.

"I think we can go all the way," said freshman Cierra Nichols.

Nichols paced Lenape with 12 points. The 5-foot-2 guard connected on 3 of 4 three-pointers in the first half.

Brianna Wylie also turned in a strong performance for Lenape, netting 10 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.

Twelve of Wylie's rebounds came in the first half, when the Indians outscored the 12th-seeded Eagles by 24-13.

Brennan said her young team's understanding of the game has improved immensely. She describes each one of her practices as a kind of "basketball school."

Nichols offered a personal example of her team's budding attitude.

"I'm actually getting a lot more confidence in my shot," she said. "I've been working on it a lot outside of practice; my dad's been helping me. And I think that's what is really giving me more confidence."

The team has been steadily gaining confidence all season - and it has shown in recent wins over Washington Township and Timber Creek, the No. 6 team in The Inquirer's top 10.

That newfound swagger was just as evident Monday night.

The Indians jumped out to a 10-0 lead on Winslow Township (11-15) and never looked back.

"It was a great win," Brennan said. The victories over Washington Township and Timber Creek "kind of springboarded us into this week. I don't know if we'll beat Shawnee or Cherokee, but we'll give it out best shot and we're going to finish strong."

Winslow Township   8 5 4 15 - 32

Lenape   13 11 12 14 - 50

W: Geneva McCoy 10, Jada Matthews 11, Tashay March 2, Kyanna Filmore 4, Chanel Wall 4, Jocelyn Jones 1.

L: Moira Anthony 8, Advia Campbell 6, Brianna Wylie 10, Cierra Nichols 12, Ashley Young 6, Alexis Sears 5, Rena Carabases 3.