Foggie sparks Lenape girls past Cherokee, 65-47

Lenape had just beaten The Inquirer's No. 3 ranked girls' basketball team in South Jersey but will enjoy Tuesday night's 65-47 Olympic Conference American Division win over host Cherokee ever so briefly.

"For about 10 minutes," said Lenape guard Christian Foggie, whose 35 points sparked the win and improved No. 2 Lenape to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in the American Division.

The reason for the abbreviated celebration is that Lenape plays host to No. 1 Eastern Thursday.

And while that will be another difficult challenge, stopping Foggie might be an even more challenging task. She has the ability to dominate a game while also getting her teammates involved.

One gets the feeling that if she wanted to, Foggie could get 40 points any night. As it is, she is averaging 26.6 points per game.

"We had no answers for her," Cherokee coach Shannon Bretz said. "Man-to-man, zone. It didn't matter. She was unstoppable."

The 5-foot-9 Foggie shot 12 for 22 from the field, including 4 of 8 from three-point range and hit 7 of 10 foul shots. She also added five rebounds, two assists and four steals. No wonder why she will be playing in the Southeastern Conference next season at Vanderbilt.

Kayla Toomer had 11 points, and Advia Campbell added nine for the Indians.

Cherokee (6-4, 2-2) lost the services of Manhattan recruit Monica Roeder, who suffered an upper thigh bruise in the first quarter and appeared for a few seconds in the second period before leaving for good.

The Chiefs still battled back from a 9-point deficit early in the second half to tie the score at 38-38 on two free throws by Amanda Franks with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

At that point, Lenape assumed control for good, closing the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 47-38 lead into the fourth period. Cherokee scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, and Lenape put it away by going on a 16-0 run.

"They came at us, and we stayed composed," Foggie said. "I think it showed how well we are coming along as a team."

Cherokee received a major boost off the bench from senior guard Lindsay DiCaro, who scored a career-high 12 points on four three-point field goals.

Still, it wasn't nearly enough to offset another vintage performance from Foggie.

"She is such a great leader and captain," Lenape coach Lynn Brennan said of Foggie. "She just makes everybody better out on the court."

Tuesday night's game was the front end of a girl-boy doubleheader played before a near full house.

"The atmosphere was great," Foggie said.

Just like Lenape's senior leader.

Lenape   20 10 17 18 - 65

Cherokee   9 16 13 9 - 47

L: Christina Foggie 35, Advia Campbell 9, Brianna Wylie 6, Moira Anthony 4, Kayla Toomer 11.

C: Tiara Mosley 2, Tiffany Turner 10, Amnda Franks 8, Courtney Escudero 2, Monica Roeder 4, Lindsay DiCaro 12, Sara Farrell 9.