FBC Defenders

The FBC Defenders(STONE) finished up the regular season on a tear (3rd Place) as their final standing are as follows; 4 wins 2 losses, played without their regular season head coach (John Stone) for all W 4th Street games. New head coach (Jasmine Lytle) guided the squad the allof the way and has been flawless in that effort. Big thanks the the adults (John Frederick) on the bench as the team could not possibly have done this without you (Jerod, Mrs. Stone, Andrea). The program is so lucky to have people like you! Reason, Season, Lifetime.

Next up for the Defenders @ W 4th Street are the playoffs where they will be the Lady XMEN in the semi-final game @ 9:15 a.m. Hope to see all Defenders family at the game!!!!

It is a hot & steamy summer saturday morning here in NYC as people begin to gather for what would ultimately become HISTORY for a team (and small program with only 2 teams) that seems to somehow show up 10 out 10 times wherever they go. In today’s me, me, me, take what I can world of aau basketball this would seem EXTREMELY odd but yet very refreshing if true. Well believe me it is absolutely, positively, TRUE. The FBC Defenders all arrive in new york this day ready to play there late morning game like they have so many times in the past. Parents and players gathering as if they are in their backyard preparing for a family function. Exchanging hugs and pleasantries like siblings all ultimately making there was to the matriarch of the program. Is this real? Some might think it’s not but for this program it is because of one primary founding principle. The FBC Defenders are a family through and through. Know that and NEVER doubt it, cause for EVERY family that it touches, they do KNOW it is ABSOLUTELY true.

here at the Cage, a world famous venue sitting in village next door to the Blue Note. The bustle picking up now the Defenders are finally up, gametime. Now at the cage fans all know when the Defenders play it will be an exciting game. Especially since they have this extremely dynamic coach who always seems to come with kid never seen before who just erupts at some point in a game. Win or Lose! It is amazing to watch and so the fence outside starts to pack.  The refs call for captains, little minute check, jump ball and the game is on. As the Positive direction team come out they jump on the Defenders from the start. A little startle the defenders take a quick blow but survive it. Remember now that’s nothing for them. Why? Because that who they are and they know it is NOT over yet game just started. Staring into the eyes of one of the Pd players is a kid that really looks like she should be at the short somewhere hanging. But what THEY don’t know is she is smoldering. Up the floor, down the floor they go. And them all of a suddden that same young lady does a quick body check. AM I FEELING, YES, IS IT TIME, HECK YEAH, you see had been asked that at key times in games before by her coach. BUT TODAY SHE IS NOT WAITING FOR HIM. Today it would be her who decides. At that moment she demanded the ball and BANG! Rain a 3333333333! On her way back she thought, that felt good. O crap you guy are in trouble and you don’t even know. Then all of a sudden she smiled. Now running the point for the Defenders is Ashanti Bess. Serving at point due to the abscence of the talented Shari Jones who normally starts. Now Ashanti has been working with Coach Stone to get her mentally to a place where she can KNOW she is a beast. Today she is there so looking this teammate of hers she sees it and thinks OMG. So next few position she is pass her the ball EVERYTIME she can. Who is she? Only the FBC Defenders Rose Classic famous Janissa “let id rain” Delzo!!!!!!! And for a short while at west fourth the sun was out but Janissa began to just make it RAIN 3s. Before the other team could realize the Defenders were right back in it and the team called time. Yelling at her team not to relax the coach made a critical mistake. She told her team not to let up until up by twenty. Bad move as the Defenders heard that and it was OVER!

Final Score FBC Defenders 59    Positive Direction 41    GAME OVER!

High Scorers Jasmine “ol skool” Phelps with 14 pts, Shalette “The Beastie” with 10pts and of course Janissa “Rain” Delzo 10 pts, Tia “Paryana” Kelly 9 brds 4 blks, and final Ashanti “you don’t know” Bess 7 dimes.

Now I know the coach so thought why not say hello. To my surprise the team was coach by Jamine “big pretty smile” Lytle currently the single most hearlded Defenders player of ALL time and sitting quietly on the bench with her making her coaching debut was MRS BRENDA STONE, the coaches wife. OMG!

Another 100 degree scorcher for our third day at Penn State, and the Recreation Center couldn’t have been hotter for our fifth game, this time facing a fellow New Jersey team: Hunterdon United.  The first few minutes of the game were all Walker as she hit for three consecutive 3’s.  More offense rolled in with an assist from Shari to Shalette, who finished with some shake-n-bake in the lane for 2.  Ashanti snatched a steal, went down the floor for 2, and followed up with a 3.  We were off to a good start at 16-5.  The team was executing well on defense, with Shari up top, using her feet.  Walker had a great hustle play diving on the floor and coming up with the ball.  Shalette was playing strong in the post, pulling down rebounds.  Even Shari got in there, fighting for a rebound, then put back, got the foul, made 2 of 2.  Janissa got in on the trend, ripping a rebound away from a taller defender.  Jenean hit for 2 from outside, followed by another 3 from Walker.  The half ended with Defenders leading 30 t0 20.

The parade of 3’s continued into the 2nd half with Shari hitting a 3 from the top to extend our lead to 33-20.  Walker drove strong into the paint.  Ashanti hit another 3.  Shalette contributed strong defensive plays with a block and then a steal.  Erika got in there to rebound, went back up, and got the foul.  Ashanti put up another 3 to give us a more comfortable buffer at 41-26.  Shalette continued to go strong to the basket, got fouled, and made 2 of 2.  Janissa got a steal, put up a shot for 3, missed, but Tia was waiting to rebound and put it back for 2.  Shalette picked off another steal and went down the court for 2.  We closed the game out at 49-30, with a total of nine 3’s.  The team will play a final game on Thursday at 11:30 to determine a 9th or 10th place finish in the Southern Bracket.  Go Defenders.

High scorer was Ashanti with 13, closely followed by Walker with 12.  Ashanti had the high with 5 assists.  Shalette had a high of 8 rebounds.  Tia had 2 blocks.

Everyone arrived relatively intact to State College for the big tournament, though we almost lost a few parents waiting in an extremely long line, in 100+ degree heat, at high noon, waiting for admissions wristbands — and these were the pre-paid ones, no less.  But we all made it, and the team viewed the NCAA video in the Bryce Jordan Center with throngs of AAU teams doing the wave inside the arena.

Our first game tipped off at 6:00 PM, in the Southern Division Bracket IV, against the Chesco Lightning, a Pennsylvania team. Tia got the scoring started, shooting 1 of 2 from the foul line.  The Lighting came through with a 3, which Walker quickly answered with a 3 of her own.  Tia grabbed a rebound and had a put-back to put us ahead at 6-4 in the early going.   With some foul calls against us, we were soon down 6 to 8 with 9:21 to go.  Ashanti had a drive to the basket, miss, which Jas quickly put back up for 2, tying the game up at 8-8.  Good defense led to a ball being tipped out, picked up by Janissa who drove the length of the court and was fouled.  Jas contributed another good defensive play as she prevented a pass into the paint, swatting the ball out.  Defense led to offense once again, with Jas going up for 2.  With good defense on the perimeter, and lots of defensive rebounds, we kept things close at 11 to 12 with 5 minutes to go in the half.  On an inbound X play under our basket, Shari passed to Jas who completed the basket to put us ahead at 13-12.  We continued to have good defensive pressure, particularly in the last few minutes of the half.  We put together some offense with Shalette to Ashanti for 2, Jas for 2 in the paint, and Tia battling for rebounds and a putback for 2 more.  We closed out the half leading 20 to 13.

The second half got started with Ashanti and Walker hitting back to back 3’s to increase our lead to 26 to 13.  A few sloppy passes which led to turnovers, and before you know it we were at 28-22.  A good hustle play by Janean on defense led to a jump ball.  Tia made her presence known in the post with a beautiful rebound and putback, and then another, to bring us to 35 to 26.  Janissa grabbed a steal, and then tripped up while driving to the basket, on her way out of bounds, threw the ball backwards where Jas was waiting to clean up with a 2.  Shalette contributed with a drive down the lane, spin move, up and fouled.  She was also on the receiving end of a give and go from Jas which she put up for 2.  We had another good execution of an inbound play from Walker to Jas for 2 bringing our lead to 42 to 31.  Ashanti hit from way downtown for a long 3, and then Shalette helped close out the game with a monstrous block on the defensive end.   Final Score: 49 to 39.

Jas was high scorer with 15 points, and high rebounder with 10.  Ashanti had 4 assists.  Jas had 2 blocked shots.

The Defenders are looking for players to fill some key positions
for the 2010 AAU Season. If you feel you have the passion and
drive to compete at high levels, then this is the place for you!
AGE: 13U - 16U Girls
DATE: Saturdays, February 27th & March 6th
TIME: 6:30 - 8:30PM
PLACE: St. Mary/ St. Peter Catholic Academy School Gym
175 Somerset Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
CONTACT: fbcdefendersaau@gmail.com
John Stone 732-742-9436
John Frederick 732-501-8244

Hello Fans! Today is day 3 of the tournament and the team is really struggling! I can only tell you that at the half the team was down 35 to 11. The second half was just as bad as the team is struggling right now to get and maintain a rythmn. Final score was 61 to 25, next game at 4:10 p.m. in the White Bldg. Pray for us PLEASE!

Written by: Srednefed, Ghost Writer

Hello Fans! it’s me again, Srednefed, coming to you with today’s games. The defenders played two games today with a lot of similarities and very different results. First game of the day was against the Wescon Fillies. Once again the team started out slowly and somewhat anxious. It would seem that for a team called the Defenders this club wants to be known more for their offense than defense. The team tried to compete with the Fillies shot for shot while playing a rather helter skelter type defense. Unfortunately for the defenders the Fillies loved to run the floor and when they set up simply spread the floor for the drive and kick. Believe you me this made for a very frustrating first half that only saw the defenders take a slim halftime lead. During the halftime break the team got a rather spirited reminder what allowed them to blow open their first game yesterday. D-E-F-E-N-S-E became the focus of the second half and once coach was able to find a rotation that worked the team coasted to a nice victory.

Of course the second game of the day against the NEPA Flames was a whole different story. Unlike the first two games the defenders came out on the attach. This strategy proved to be a good one as they took an early lead in the first half suggesting that this would finally be the game everyone expected from the defenders. But alas it was not to be as the subs were not able to maintain the same level of intensity, focus, effort, and consistency. It seemed that with every substitution there were periods of good play but just not enough consistency to maintain the lead and thus the momentum. A stretch of unforced turnovers, scrambling defense, and lack of intensity, and a willingness to give up rebounds and 3s doomed the game from around the 9 minute mark in the first half through the end of the game. There were stretches of good play and bad play but probably the single most dissappointing thing that I noticed was the giant step backwards as a team. This team has an M.O. of ‘whenever things get tough they turn on each other’. Today’s second game was no different. I sure hope they find a way to pull it together but just looking at how the girls are segmented into their own little groups this does not seem likely.

Tomorrow is another day as hope springs eternal! Goodnight Fans! Thanks for tunning in, see you back here tomorrow with what I hope is a very exciting report!

PEACE

Hello Fans!

Today the FBC Defenders took the floor in the opening game of the Blue Chip - US Invitational at Penn State University by defeating the Buffalo Storm! The game started as if the Defenders were going to crush the Storm by executing their offense to get several open 3s and fast break layups. But after a 7 minute span of sluggish play and tons of unforced turnovers the Defender found themselves in a heated battle at the end of the first half. For some unknow reason the team just could not find it’s rythm offensively and the defense was just plain nonexistent! During the 3 minute half time break, the coaching staff  pleaded with the team to settle down and play defense, Defenders Defense! Still a bit out of sorts to start the second half and a few lineup adjustments the team finally hit is stride and was able to blow the game open behind a tenacious defense and much needed patience on offense.  With a better effort in the second half the team cruised to their first win in the tournament and their next game tomorrow at 10:20 a.m. Stay tuned for more following tomorrow’s game!…….