EAST RUTHERFORD - Vanessa Holden planned on being here all along for what would have been the biggest basketball game of her life in the Tournament of Champions final. The Immaculate Heart senior had every reason to believe her team would complete a perfect season with a TOC coronation before the NJSIAA tournament began, back when no one seemed to care that she had played varsity ball as an eighth- grader in New York.

When the New Jersey basketball season ended Wednesday, Holden was exactly where she expected to be. She was inside Continental Arena and in uniform, just as she had hoped.