Shipley Wins Second-Straight Friends Schools League Championship

It didn’t take long—about four minutes. scored the first 18 points and never blinked once en route to a rather easy, convincing 58-22 victory Friday night over Friends' Central at Haverford College to claim the second-straight Friends Schools League championship.

It marked the second-straight league title for the Gators, and their fourth league crown in five years. But Shipley coach Sean Costello is looking at a bigger picture, and the league title game against Friends' Central was just the start of last year’s unfinished business.

Shipley moved to 21-6 overall and will begin the private school state championship next week. The Gators reached the state finals last year, when they lost to Germantown Academy.

"This is definitely the best overall game we played as a team this year," said Gators' sophomore star Aja Ellison. "It's been some time to come together, because we're a young team with a lot of freshmen and sophomores. We're a young team, and we needed some time to get the team chemistry together. The important thing is we're coming together at the right time."

Gators’ freshman Martine Fortune led all scorers with 10 points. Ellison
finished with six, Jordyn Turner added nine, Asia Baker chipped in with seven and Tamesha “Sox” Alexander scored eight. Maria Conyers-Jordan led Friends' Central with seven.

Shipley got off to an 18-0 start, shutting out Friends Central in the first quarter. Conyers-Jordan scored the first point for the Phoenix on a free throw with 7:51 left in the second quarter.

“Friends' Central played us really well the first time,” Costello said. “We worked really well defensively, which has been an issue at times this year. Individually, we’ve done well, but we’re gearing up now at the right time. If we continue playing team basketball, we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”

Shipley is the No. 2 seed in the state private school tournament, behind No. 1 seed Hill School.

“We prepared well for this game, and we were in position to make it an easy game,” Alexander said. “Now I think we have some unfinished business ahead. We’re coming into this year’s state tournament with a vengeance. You can say we had some loose ends to tie up in this game, because we didn’t play as well as we could have in the [league] semifinals. The key for us is defense. This game gave us a boost going into the state tournament. Whoever is there, we’re coming for blood.”