Sports Shorts

The U12 Old Bridge Knights captured first place in the West Long Branch Thanksgiving Tournament, winning all four of their games this weekend. On Friday, the Knights used a 16-2 start to open an early lead over the Bayshore Bandits and never looked back. They were led by Stephen Meigh's 15 and Sultan Aminu's 14 points. Brandon Kutner and Robert Hart chipped in with fine defensive efforts as the Knights won 47-33.

Saturday afternoon, Aminu, Meigh and Billy Andrew paced the Knights with 20, 16 and 13 points, respectively. However, the outcome of the game was in doubt until a strong defensive play by Taylor Casserly, who delivered a big basket in the final minute to secure a 59-54 win over Oceanport. Old Bridge, playing in its second game on Saturday, used a strong start to grab the lead and eventually held off a stubborn Holmdel team to post a 38-27 win. Scoring was equally distributed, but it was big baskets by Max Kellermueller and Robert Abdul and a strong defensive game by Billy Richard that helped thwart a Holmdel comeback.

On Sunday, the Knights used strong backcourt play from Meigh and Andrews to control the game. They led the scoring with 16 and 12 points, along with Aminu, who chipped in 10 but sat out half the game in foul trouble. But it was Larry Pederson's strong play in place of Aminu, and big baskets by Brandon Garcia and Aiden Albrecht, that helped notch the 42-33 victory over Point Pleasant - and the championship. Congratulations go out to the entire Knights team along with coaches Artie Meigh, Ed Casserly and Manny Abdul.

Monroe Township Baseball Association is accepting registrations for the spring 2008 season. Registration fees will be $85 (each additional player in immediate family is $75).

MTBA Buddyball is back and will also be accepting registrations ($25). On-site registrations will be held at the Monroe Township Community Center on Dec. 3 and 10 (6:30-9 p.m.), and Jan. 5 (9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.)

Registration for the 2008 Jamesburg baseball season will be held Nov. 30 6-8 p.m. and Dec. 1 from 9 a.m. to noon at Jamesburg Borough Hall, 131 Perrineville Road, for boys and girls ages 4-16. The registration cost is $40. Registration can be done online at www.jamesburgbaseball.com.

Junior center Kia Vaughn (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 13 points as No. 7/7 Rutgers posted a 45-43 victory over No. 6/5 LSU on Sunday afternoon at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

Matee Ajavon (Newark) and sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince (Brooklyn) added eight points each while senior guard Essence Carson (Paterson) and junior forward Heather Zurich (Montvale) finished with six apiece.

The combined 88 points netted by Rutgers and LSU marks the lowest point total between Rutgers and an opponent since March 2 of the 2001-02 season, when Rutgers defeated Virginia Tech, 44-43, in the Big East Tournament. The 44 points were also the lowest scored in a win since that same game.

With the win, Rutgers improves to 5-1 alltime against the Lady Tigers, stretching the winning streak to three games. Sunday's 45- 43 Rutgers win marked the first meeting between the teams since the Scarlet Knights earned a 59-35 win over LSU in the NCAA Tournament national semifinal April 1, 2007, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

Thanks to her efforts, Vaughn has been named to the Big East Women's Basketball Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday afternoon.

The 6-foot-4 center posted 13 points on a 6-of-8 shooting effort in a 45-43 win over No. 6/5 LSU on Sunday. Vaughn added four rebounds and a pair of blocks to her statistic line.

In addition, the junior held LSU center Sylvia Fowles to just 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting, well below her 19.2 points-pergame average. She limited the All-American player to just eight touches in the Lady Tigers' first 26 possessions.