Tornadoes top Allentown in opener

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Allentown’s Kelly Allen eyes the basket as Trenton’s Charnette Phelps moves in on defense during the 2000-01 season opener on Dec. 15.

ALLENTOWN — A tough road test proved too much for the Allentown High School boys basketball team to handle on Dec. 15.

Allentown traveled to Trenton to open the 2000-01 season and put up a fight, but the Redbirds could not get past one of the state’s perennial powerhouses, bowing to the Tornadoes, 52-31.

Trenton was held to three outside jump shots by the Allentown defense, but Trenton was too physical in the paint and worked a successful scoring game inside.

Evidence of that can be found in the lopsided rebounding totals, which showed Trenton with a 41-19 advantage off the boards.

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Allentown High School’s Renee Dickerson (l) and Nicole Stanke battle Trenton’s Charlene Phelps for a rebound during the Dec. 15 season opener.

At halftime the Redbirds were within striking distance of Trenton with an eight-point deficit, but their co-captain and starting center, Matt Krantz, was forced to leave the game to attend a school obligation.

The loss of Allentown’s center opened the floodgates for Trenton in the paint.

Nonetheless, Coach Brian Fifield felt his teams played a good game.

"If we can hold Trenton to only 52 points, we can hold a whole bunch of other teams to a lot lower," he said. "It will take some time to come together, but once we do we will be OK."

In the losing cause, senior Paul Buszko scored 9 points while sophomore Ron Gonzales led the team in scoring with 10.

The Redbirds played at Princeton on Tuesday and will visit West Windsor-Plainsboro South Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. During the holiday break, Allentown will play in the Delran Christmas Tournament on Dec. 27-28.

— Keith Hahn