Poor sport or great shooter

~ Rutgers-bound Epiphanny Prince played the entire game and connected on 54 of her 60 shots from the field.

NEW YORK -- Never heard of Epiphanny Prince? That's about to change.

On Wednesday, the prep star scored 113 points in a game, breaking the national girls' record of 105 by Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller and stirring debate about whether it was poor sportsmanship or good shooting.

Prince did it for Murry Bergtraum High School in a 137-32 romp over Brandeis High School. Her team is ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today, and the 5-foot-9 senior guard -- headed to Rutgers next season -- is among the best players in the country.

Routs are sometimes inevitable. There are wide gaps in talent levels, and in New York a team can't stall with a 30-second shot clock.

Prince's performance raises the question: Should she have been given the chance to break the record? Brandeis coach Vera Springer didn't think so.

Bergtraum led 44-6 after the first quarter and 74-11 at halftime.

"It's nothing against Epiphanny," Springer told The New York Post. "I have great admiration for her. This was an adult decision. Why would you do this against a team like ours?"

Springer said her team, which has won only four league games this season and lost to Murry Bergtraum by 93 points earlier this season, stopped playing defense in the second half.

"She didn't earn this," Springer told the Post. "It was like picking on a handicapped person."

Miller set the record for Riverside Poly in California against Riverside Norte Vista in 1982 and still didn't play the entire game.

"My coach, Floyd Evans, took the same heat when he left me in. I could have played another 2 or 3 minutes," Miller said. "That's what this game's all about, special moments in special situations. Instead of people getting their feelings hurt, they should pat her on the back."

When two-time WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie scored 101 points in the first half for Morningside High School in Inglewood, Calif., against South Torrance in 1990, the opposing coach refused to let his team play the second half.

Prince had 58 points at halftime, surpassing her previous high this season of 51.

"At the half, we thought she had a chance to break the record, so we just let her go," her coach, Ed Grezinsky, said.

Prince hit 54 of 60 shots and had only one free throw. She made four 3-pointers, scoring mostly on layups.

"After I scored 29 points in the first quarter, I didn't think much of it," Prince said. "After I had 58 points at the half, and especially after having in the 80s after the third quarter, I just decided to go for it."

Grezinsky used 16 players and said he had four reserves on the court when Prince broke the record.

"It was exciting because the kids realized she had a chance at the record," Grezinsky said, "and they just kept feeding her the ball."