Manor's Dorthel Seibles
Reaches Milestone

By Rob Potter
LIVINGSTON MANOR — March 17, 2000 -- With only a handful of minutes remaining in the Section IX—Class D girls’ basketball championship game, which was played on March 5 at Christl Arena at West Point, former Livingston Manor coach Gary Green and a few other spectators began shouting advice to the Lady Wildcats.
They urged the players to pass the ball to teammate Dorthel Seibles.
Seibles, a senior center who averaged 21.1 points a game this season, was obviously a key offensive weapon for the Lady Wildcats.
But the reason Manor supporters wanted to see the ball in Seibles’ hands in the final moments was not in the hopes of making a tying shot or even drawing Manor to within only two or three baskets. (The Roscoe Lady Blue Devils had a commanding lead of 20-plus points over the Lady Wildcats en route to the title.)
“Only a handful of Manor people knew that she was close to the 1,000- point mark,” Green explained.
Seibles swished a pair of foul shots with 6:48 remaining in the game, which cut the Roscoe lead to 39-18 – and pushed Seibles’ career point total to 999. Over the next five minutes, her teammates frequently passed the ball to Seibles.
After missing four free throws in the next four minutes, Seibles again stepped to the foul line with 1:49 showing on the clock. She calmly swished the first shot and the game was stopped momentarily for teammates and coaches to congratulate her for reaching the 1,000-point plateau.
Following the game, Green presented Seibles with a game ball noting the occasion and she received more congratulations from friends as well as Roscoe coaches, players and supporters.
One more successful free throw with 9.9 seconds left in her high school career gave Seibles a total of 1,001 points.
Being a team leader and unselfish player, Seibles said right after the game that she would have opted for the Lady Wildcats to win the sectional title even if that meant she would not reach the scoring milestone.
Two weeks later, the sting of that defeat has decreased and she is happy that she scored that 1000th — and 1001th — point.
“When we saw that (Jeffersonville-Youngsville senior forward) Beth Fanning was close to 1,000 points, we figured I was close to it too,” said Seibles, referring to herself, Green and current Lady Wildcat coach Gail Whaley. “Going into the Roscoe game, I knew I needed nine points. I just wanted to play my best and help our team win and if I didn’t get it, then there wasn’t much I could do.”
While Seibles said she always hoped she could reach that point plateau, it was not her only focus.
As a sophomore, Seibles came off the bench for the 1997-98 Western Sullivan League (WSL) and Section IX champion Lady Wildcats. She netted 249 points on the year. In the title game against S.S. Seward, Seibles converted a free throw with 2.2 seconds left to clinch the 49-48 win.
In the 1998-99 campaign, Seibles split time with Leyna Madison at center for Manor, which repeated as WSL and Section IX champs. Alternating starts with Madison, Seibles racked up 287 points.
“She’s very deserving of this,” noted Green. “When she first came up to the varsity level, she had to work on some basic moves as an inside post player. She worked at this very diligently. Of all the girls I’ve coached over the years, she was definitely one of the hardest workers on a daily basis in practice.”
That hard work paid off and Seibles really stepped up her game this season. As one of only three seniors on the Manor team, she led by example and averaged 13.9 rebounds a game to complement the aforementioned 21.1 points a contest.
“She developed into one of the dominating centers in the league this year,” Green said. “She improved her ball handling and came up with a nice little jump shot.”
“She’s a hard-working kid and a real team leader,” added Whaley. “We reached the sectional final and I’m not sure we would have gotten there without Dorthel. She was a very influential player and brought a lot to the squad, both as a player and a person.”
Whaley also noted that Seibles should continue to be “a good player at the next level.”
Seibles will graduate in June and has been looking at Division III schools where she can continue playing basketball. Academically, she plans to major in secondary education and hopes to be a teacher someday.
Lackawanna Junior College in Scranton, Pa., SUNY Brockport and SUNY New Paltz are among the schools Seibles is considering.
While excited about what the future holds, Seibles really appreciates her teammates and coaches at Manor.
“Mr. Green has been my coach since seventh grade and has taught me a lot,” she said. “He really worked with me and helped me improve my game. Ms. Whaley is a great coach and she is very understanding. I just want to thank them and my teammates for working with me over the years.”