【1997 Archives】

Welcome to our newweeklyseries "Cry of the Week997 Archives" in which we highlight whatever moment made us ugly cry on our couchesthe most in the past seven days.

The University of Connecticut women's basketball team won its 100th consecutive game on Monday night, a record-setting achievement that is many things. The mark is utterly astounding, almost unfathomable and thoroughly impressive.

Cry-worthy, though? For most people, probably not. But memorable moments don't occur in vacuums. That's why UConn's big achievement doesmake the room a little dusty when considered in the context of another story involving basketball and young women this week.

There's a reactionary, sexist line of thinking among many sports fans that has followed the UConn women's team for years. It gets trotted out after every national title and every milestone win: Who cares? Everyone knows the real action is on the men's side.

UConn's achievements do matter, though. They're impressive in their own right, but they're also more than that, for the example they set and the message they send.

With that in mind, let's look at another story that was shared across the web this week but didn't have nearly the high profile of a college basketball team winning 100 straight games. This story features St. John's, a fifth-grade Catholic Youth Organization basketball team from New Jersey.

St. John's had been playing its season with a roster of nine boys and two girls. But then a league director told the team that having girls on the roster was forbidden, according to NJ.com. The team was given a choice: Play its remaining two games without the girls or don't play anymore at all.

So the dilemma was put to a player vote. What happened next, via NJ.com, reads like a movie script.

"Is your decision to play the game without the two young ladies on the team, or do you want to stay as a team as you have all year?" asked parent Matthew Dohn. "Show of hands for play as a team?"

Eleven hands shot up in unison. No one raised a hand when asked the alternative.

Assistant coach Keisha Martel, who is also the mom of one of the girls, Kayla Martel, reminded the team of the consequences. They had been told that playing the girls would mean the rest of the season would be forfeited.

"But if the girls play, this will be the end of your season. You won't play in the playoffs," she warned.

"It doesn't matter," one boy replied and others echoed, before the team began to chant, "Unity!"

In the crowd, supporters cheered along.

Several parents began to cry. 

There may not be a direct line between the women of UConn and the boys and girls of St. John's. UConn players didn't make a big show of couching their 100 straight wins as a victory for women's sports. (Nor should they have; the mark stands on its own merits.) The St. John's fifth-graders didn't reference UConn after voting not to play on without two of their teammates.

All the same, it doesn't take much to see a connection between the two events. The message from UConn is figurative, while the message from St. John's was very literal. But both boil down to the same substance: These girls can play.

That's the message the powerhouse UConn women's hoops team delivered with its 100th straight win Monday. That's the message they delivered with each of the 99 wins that preceded Monday's. And it's the message the UConn women have been delivering since they started dominating college hoops in the 1990s.

The sports world still has a long way to go when it comes to truly respecting women. But the St. John's fifth-graders haven't known a world where the UConn women aren't exalted — and yes, criticized — for their excellence. And those fifth-graders just voted unanimously to stand by their female teammates by sitting out.

Viewed through that prism, UConn's 100th consecutive win on Monday night is enough to have an equality-minded sports fans reaching for the Kleenex.