Wednesday, March 03, 1999

Mason girls ranked No. 1 in nation

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National title 5 wins away

BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mason players are Beth Jones, Jere Issenmann, Dallas Williams, Michelle Munoz, Susan Lippert, Nicole Stein, Erika Flanders, Racquel Ellis, Stacy Stull and Lora Richardson. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        The Cincinnati area is just five wins away from landing its first-ever high school basketball national championship.

        The Mason High School girls basketball team, 23-0 entering this week's district playoffs, today grabbed the No. 1 national ranking in USA Today's Super 25 poll. Mason had been No. 2 since mid-January, but vaulted to the top after No. 1 Copperas Cove, Texas, lost in its state tournament last weekend.

        Dave Krider, who compiles the USA Today rankings, said the Comets will finish No. 1 if they don't lose in the state tourney. The Comets play Sycamore Saturday at district.

        “That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most teams,” said senior forward Dallas Williams, the team's brightest star, who averages 18.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

        Coach Gerry Lackey said the chance to win the national title doesn't change Mason's focus, which has been to win the state Division I championship.

        “We definitely will approach things the same way we have been,” Mr. Lackey said. “(This) is just sort of a distraction in some ways. Obviously it's an honor, but it's just one guy who has never seen us play that says we're No. 1. I don't know how realistic it is.”

        Mason's players knew the No. 1 ranking was coming after reading that Copperas Cove had fallen. Ms. Williams' face lit up when asked about the chance to win the national championship.

        “The only bad thing is the pressure, of course,” she said. “It comes with the territory. We've just got to put it in the background.”

        Mason, upset in last year's playoffs by Dayton Chaminade-Julienne, has won 50 straight regular-season games and 92 straight in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference dating to 1992.

       

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