Mono Shelves Top Senior

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Tue, 12/18/2007 - 08:35 Mononucleosis knocks Elena Delle Donne from the Nike TOC.

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Elena Delle Donne, the top senior in the country, will be at the Nike Tournament of Champions, but will not play in the elite high-school event.

The Connecticut-bound, 6-foot-4 guard had a diagnosis of mononucleosis confirmed late last week. She said she cannot resume play until her enlarged spleen and liver functions improve.

Delle Donne's absence naturally strikes a huge blow at the fortunes of Ursuline Academy, the Wilmington, Del.-based school ranked 11th nationally by ESPN and No. 23 by Full Court Press. Ursuline opens the TOC on Wednesday against Sequoyah of Oklahoma, which is ranked No. 9 by Full Court Press and features point guard Angel Goodrich, a Kansas signee ranked No. 48 in the HoopGurlz Hundred for the class of 2008.

The TOC, held annually in Chandler, Ariz., has been a veritable national showcase for Delle Donne, who otherwise has missed much of the past two summer NCAA evaluation periods. Last year, she decided to take a break from the sport; the year before, a high ankle sprain shelved Delle Donne until the summer-concluding Nike Nationals.

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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He is a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee, Parade All-American Selection Committee, SportsShooter.com (Click for Porfolio), Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, National Press Photographers Association, Online News Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams and previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here. Glenn can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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