UPDATES

SEASON RECAP

We began our Season by playing in the 8th Grade Girls League at THE GYM. The team was a little rusty, however, finished 10-0 and won the League Tournament.

Our next venture was the 7th Grade Boys League. We competed exceptionally well and finished the season with a 7-3 record, losing in the semi finals of the league tournament. It was a great experience to play against the quicker, stronger, faster boys. This helped us become a better defensive team.

In April we played in the Gateway Challenge @ St. Louis Sports Center and won the event, finishing undefeated, however, the championship game was to close for comfort. The team played excellent defense, but was lacking in the offense.

Our next two events were in Springfield, IL at the AYBT. We played 7th grade Highly Skilled or 8th Grade teams and did not lose a game in these two events.

In June we played in the Addidas All American Shootout. This was also known as “WICKED WEEKEND”, as the girls went to the Broadway Musical Wicked on Friday night. The team played well and went undefeated on Saturday and Sunday, however, the Play was the highlight of the event and was the clear winner. It was nice to see the players enjoy themselves in a non-basketball environment.

July 5-8 was the USJN Event in Cincy, OH. We played up a year because they did not offer our age bracket, and then they ended up combining age groups, so we actually played two years up on some games. We went 4-1 over the weekend, losing to a Kentucky team that was two years older. We played great team defense the entire weekend. We had two close games that we pulled out at the end, however, when we ran up against the Kentucky team, we were clearly outmatched.

At the AYBT National tournament, we again played up into the 8th Grade Highly Skilled Division. We ended up going 7-0 and winning the event. The teams’ aggressive defense was too much for the opposing teams.

Our final event was the Wildcat Nationals in Chicago, IL in August. We finished with a record of 6-1, losing to the Rockford Wildcats by two points in pool play. The competition was excellent, with only one game being non-competitive. In pool play on Friday and Saturday, the team did not play well with many lapses on defense and just could not get going on offense. Once the tournament play started the team stepped up and found their passion to win. The quarter final game the defense came together, then in the semi finals the offense started to click. In the semis we played an excellent Wisconsin Playground team that was undefeated for the weekend; you could tell they weren’t used to losing and were frustrated at our teams’ aggressive play. It was a close game till the end in which we came out on top by 4 points. In the Championship game versus the Wisconsin Blizzard, the game was extremely tight through the first half, however, our defense only allowed two points after half time. All eleven played contributed to a stifling defense and a pace that the other team could not keep up with. We ended up winning by 13 points and received quite a few compliments from the opposing team, their fans, and the refs. It was a great way to end the season!!!!