Dominique King of Life Center and Brandon Bryant of Riverside High School enjoyed exciting nights on Wednesday.
King joined the 1,000-career point club in Life Center’s 62-61 girls basketball win over Villa Victoria in the championship game of the Penn-Jersey League. The title with Life Center’s third straight. King now has 1,007 points for her career.
Sara Oliviera had 27 points for the winners.
As for Bryant, he nailed a 3-pointer with just four seconds left to power Riverside past Pennsauken Tech, 39-38, in boys basketball.
Bryant finished with 18 points, including four 3’s.
A King’s Tale
Uncle Chris is just going to have to find something else to tease his niece about.
Life Center’s Dominique King-Wimberly has been hearing her whole life from Chris Wimberly how he scored 1,000 points for Rancocas Valley in 1988. You know, back when there were still laces on the ball and they jumped center after every basket.
As of Wednesday morning, the Warriors senior, who generally goes by King for brevity’s sake, had 990 career points heading into the Penn-Jersey League Championship against Villa Victoria. King was averaging 16.0 points per game for the 17-1 Warriors before game time so there was a pretty good chance that there were brisk balloon sales in the Burlington area in anticipation of King’s impending accomplishment.
King’s milestone hit a road block last year when she sat out her entire junior season with an anterior cruciate ligament tear in her knee. Fortunately, King scored varsity 136 points as an eighth-grader. Because Life Center is not bound by NJSIAA regulations like most of the county’s high schools, King was able to start her career a year early.
NJSIAA rules state that high school players are eligible for eight consecutive semesters from a player’s first appearance with a high school team. If Life Center were an NJSIAA school, King’s eligibility would have ended during her lost junior season. Whether it took four years or five, King’s accomplishment is just grand. Take that, Uncle Chris. |
