Subscribe to Full Court PressGreat Match-Ups On Tap as Nike Tournament of Champions Reaches Semifinals
By Lee Michaelson
Publisher
One thing is certain: The winner of the premiere Joe Smith Division at this year’s Nike Tournament of Champions—and thus, the putative unofficial national champion of girls high school basketball—will be from California. Saturday’s competition produced some of the most exciting games to date, with more on tap Monday in the premiere Joe Smith Division of the Nike Tournament of Champions. This afternoon’s play will feature a showdown between California powerhouses Long Beach Poly and Mater Dei, while on the other side of the winner’s bracket top-ranked St. Mary’s of Stockton, California, will take on Brea Olinda, whose withering press has frustrated opponents in the first two rounds of this tournament.
St. Mary’s lived up to its reputation in Saturday’s game, by far the most exciting of this tournament, taking a 76-73 victory over a tough Tennessee Memphis Central in a game that went down to the wire. Chelsea Gray and Afure Jemerigbe, two of the top recruits in this year’s senior class, notched 20 points apiece to lead St. Mary’s to the win. Six-two junior Kendall Kenyon added 13, and 5-4 point guard Allie Moreno proved her mettle as a sharpshooter, knocking down four treys in the first quarter alone, before Memphis Central adjusted its defense to shut down the perimeter; Moreno still finished with 16 points in the outing.
But Memphis Central had a markswoman of its own in the appropriately named Finesse James, a 5-6 senior guard who drained four treys over the course of the contest, for a total of 14 points. Sophomore guard Nina Davis (5-9) led all scorers with 25 points, and point guard Danielle Ballard (5-8), also just a sophomore, added 16 points ensuring that Memphis Central will remain on recruiters’ watch lists for the foreseeable future.
One thing is certain: The winner of the premiere Joe Smith Division at this year’s Nike Tournament of Champions—and thus, the putative unofficial national champion of girls high school basketball—will be from California. Saturday’s competition produced some of the most exciting games to date, with more on tap Monday in the premiere Joe Smith Division of the Nike Tournament of Champions. This afternoon’s play will feature a showdown between California powerhouses Long Beach Poly and Mater Dei, while on the other side of the winner’s bracket top-ranked St. Mary’s of Stockton, California, will take on Brea Olinda, whose withering press has frustrated opponents in the first two rounds of this tournament.
St. Mary’s lived up to its reputation in Saturday’s game, by far the most exciting of this tournament, taking a 76-73 victory over a tough Tennessee Memphis Central in a game that went down to the wire. Chelsea Gray and Afure Jemerigbe, two of the top recruits in this year’s senior class, notched 20 points apiece to lead St. Mary’s to the win. Six-two junior Kendall Kenyon added 13, and 5-4 point guard Allie Moreno proved her mettle as a sharpshooter, knocking down four treys in the first quarter alone, before Memphis Central adjusted its defense to shut down the perimeter; Moreno still finished with 16 points in the outing.
But Memphis Central had a markswoman of its own in the appropriately named Finesse James, a 5-6 senior guard who drained four treys over the course of the contest, for a total of 14 points. Sophomore guard Nina Davis (5-9) led all scorers with 25 points, and point guard Danielle Ballard (5-8), also just a sophomore, added 16 points ensuring that Memphis Central will remain on recruiters’ watch lists for the foreseeable future.
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Originally published Mon, December 21, 2009
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