PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. - Team-wise, the most impressive performance in the quarterfinals of the Nike Nationals was All-Ohio's 54-39 win over Boo Williams Summer League which was led by the post duo of Jantel Lavender and Ayana Dunning. The two are the top post prospects in their respective classes and played like it against a strong Boo frontline highlighted by Lynetta Kizer.
The duo’s performance was a great bounce-back after a tough pool-play loss to the Georgia Metros on Saturday evening, during which their offense was limited by stifling defense. Between the two of them, Dunning and Lavender scored 29 points, which was 54 percent of the team's output against BWSL, and grabbed 16 rebounds, blocked two shots and added three assists and a steal.
All-Ohio also held BWSL to 39 points and only Tierra Pratt and Evelyn Lewis managed to score in double figures – 10 apiece – and they were unable to generate much offense in the paint. This was shocking because of the firepower BWSL has offensively, even with Marah Strickland sidelined with an injury. Pratt, Shela White, Kimberly Rodgers – these kids are all well-established scorers.
Joining All-Ohio in the semifinals are its Monday morning opponents, the Tennessee Flight, and The Family and Georgia Metros, which will be playing each other next door.
All-Ohio was ready to roll from the opening tip and got contributions not only from their bigs but also from point guard Special Jennings and wings Liz Repella, Crystal Murdough and Chynna Bozeman. They will have a rematch of the Basketball on the Bayou semifinal on Monday morning when they play the Tennessee Flight, which survived 25 points from Angie Bjorklund and the surprising Spokane Stars.
The Family continued its dominating performances here beating Fencor 80-57 and their perimeter scoring continued its hot streak with three players scoring 20 or more. Led by LaTear Eason’s 22 points and four rebounds as well as Rebecca Gray’s 21-point, four-assist effort the Family was overpowering on the perimeter. The third guard, Skylar Diggins contributed 20 points and three assists.
In the fourth quarterfinal game, the Georgia Metros found a way to slow the tournaments biggest stat stuffer, Iasia Hemingway, who through six games leads the tournament in scoring and rebounding. They sent double teams at her and, behind Maya Moore and Alicia Manning’s combined 31 points, as well as Kelley Cain’s near double-double, the Metros moved on.
Briana Gilbreath of Katy, Texas |
Briana Gilbreath stepped up and played consistently all weekend for the West Coast Elite. She stepped in as a starter when her older sister Stefanie had to sit due to to a high ankle sprain. She never had a huge scoring or rebounding game, but she played very well every single game – defensively, passing, scoring and rebounding. Her game was truly well rounded. She averaged 8.4 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals and was productive every single game.
Another all-around gem was Tierra Pratt, who averaged 12 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 steals while typically guarding the opposition’s best scorer on the perimeter. She continues to make an argument to be one of the top players in her class.
The Fencor Trio of Caroline Doty, Chelsea Shine and Elena DelleDonne fought valiantly during their loss to the Family Sunday evening. DelleDonne and Shine both has 18 points and eight rebounds and Doty had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Four Tennessee Flight players scored in double figures, led by Cetera DeGraffenreid’s 23 points. DeGraffenreid really stepped up in the second half to help the Flight pull away from a Spokane Stars team that lead by as many as 11 in the first half. She had some great exchanges with Stars standout Angie Bjorklund on both ends of the court. She knocked down a big three with around four minutes left to knock the wind out of the Stars as were attempting to muster another comeback. Flight guard and Georgia commit Angela Puleo scored 15 points and hit several of her shots off the dribble, where she has made a living shooting catch and shoot threes. She rose to the challenge posed by the defense overplaying her. Natalie Novosel scored 14 and Tierney Jenkins had 11 points and six boards, continuing her very solid weekend.
Shawna-Lei Kuheu of Alea, Hawaii |
Spokane Stars forward Tara Cronin played well Sunday, coming up big in her team's Gold Bracket clinching win over the Cal Swish. She scored 21 points today in two games and stepped up when the Stars’ second perimeter scoring option, Kristi Kingma, was sidelined with an ankle sprain in the Swish game. Kingma would return and play well in the quarterfinal game against the Flight, scoringeight points, mostly from her trademark pullup jumper.
Shawna-Lei Kuehu of the Cal Storm continued to show that she’s one of the tournament's top scorers during her team’s Silver Bracket quarterfinal win over OGDL. She scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds and finished the day fourth overall in scoring. She had 15 points and six rebounds earlier in the day against All-Ohio. Kuehu has a college body and long arms, which she put to great use at the defensive end. She is a strong finisher who attacks the rim hard and knocks down corner jumpers.
Sky Lindsay had a breakout game for the Liberty Belles who lost their Silver Bracket quarterfinal game to the Fairfax Stars 50-40. She finished with 16 points, most of them attacking the basket while sprinkling in a couple of nice pull-up jumpers and also added 9 rebounds to her day’s work.
Jeanette Pohlen scored 19 points, dished out seven assists, grabbed four rebounds and snatched three steals in the Cal Swish Silver Bracket quarterfinal loss to the Orlando Comets. In the same game Comets wing Jaimie Givens scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to complete the double-double while also getting two assists and two steals in the win. ... Alabama RoadRunners guard Yvonne Anderson had a big game leading her team to a 73-54 Silver Bracket quarterfinal win over the GA/Lina 76ers scoring 23 points and adding four boards. ... The Michigan Crossover’s Ratoria Jones had a big game against the New England Crusaders with 26 points, seven rebound, four assists and a steal but the Crossovers came up short losing 53-57. ... In OGDL’s final pool play game against the WV Tornadoes forward Ifunanya Ibekwe controlled the paint. She scored 20 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, stole the ball three times and blocked two shots to boot.
Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. Chris leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz, Scout.com and Full Court Press (www.FullCourt.com). Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chansen@scout.com.
Glenn Nelson is the publisher of HoopGurlz.com and the editor-in-chief of Scout Media (www.Scout.com), an online sports network and magazine-publishing company and subsidiary of Fox Interactive Media. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girls basketball teams. He previously was a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work also has appeared in several national magazines and books. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). He can be reached at hoopgurlz@comcast.net.
Our Complete 2006 Nike Nationals Coverage Menu:
Stars of Nike Nationals III
The third, and last, in our series of Nike Nationals all-tournament teams, as chosen by HoopGurlz.com.
Stars of Nike Nationals II
The second in our series of Nike Nationals all-tournament teams, as chosen by HoopGurlz.com.
Stars of Nike Nationals
The first of our series of Nike Nationals all-tournament teams, as chosen by HoopGurlz.com.
Determination Wins Nike Nationals
Paced by the extraordinary Maya Moore, the Georgia Metros pushed and paced themselves to claim a title that eluded them last summer.
Day Three Report
All-Ohio, with the top post prospects in 2007 and 2008, leads the charge into the Nike semis.
Day Two Report
The new, improved Maya Moore, a look at prospects and photos from the day's competition.
Nike Nationals Standings
Results and standings from each pool.
Nike Nationals Stats Leaders
See who's tops in scoring, rebounding, assists or blocks.
Day One Report
The return of Elena DelleDonne and Angie Bjorklund, and a look at prospects plus news, notes and photos.
A Coach's Highs & Lows
A photographer's interpretation of what goes through the head of Tennessee Flight coach Matt Insell.
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