Summer League: Moore is Plenty for Team Black

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Team Black is one win away from repeating as champions of the Department of Recreation's Women's NCAA Summer League after a vintage performance by former Temple star Ari Moore in the opening of the best-of-three finals Wednesday night at Torresdale Boys Club (Linden & Jackson Sts.) in Northeast Philadelphia.

Moore, one of Temple coach Dawn Staley's original recruits after Staley was hired in the spring of 2000, poured in 20 points to lead Team Black to a 68-44 triumph over the Cinderella Team White.

The native of suburban Cleveland was particularly effective in the second half after Team White, the seventh seed, had shaved a 12-point halftime deficit to a mere point before the defending champs decided not to join the victims list that already contained the top two seeds of the tournament field.

"How about Ari Moore," gushed Black's Cynthia Jordan, who was a member of the same class at Temple as Moore. "She looked like an ESPN highlight out there."

Jordan, herself, scored 11 points, while La Salle junior Margaret Elderton had 12 points from four three-pointers, and La Salle senior Carlene Hightower scored 13 points.

Drexel's Nariissa Suber led Team White with 17 points, including four treys, and Philadelphia University's Amanda Brown scored nine points.

White was missing several players who were attending the Dave Matthews concert in the area.

Suber's trey with about 11 minutes left in the second half brought White back into its tournament upset mode when it moved within a point of Black at 35-34. But Hightower countered to start a burst with Elderton hitting a pair of three-pointers and Moore also nailing a shot behind the arc to regain a double-digit lead.

Black can wrap up another title with a win Monday night, also at Torresdale Boys Club at 7 p.m.

The Commissioner's notes: According to David Kessler, this summer's action included 143 players representing over 50 collegiate programs. The average height is 5-foot-9 and the average age is 20.3 years old.

-- Mel