FBC Defenders

It was a hot and sunny Thursday afternoon, the bustle of 6th avenue raged in the background, as Arizona Pearson emerged from underground at the subway station on the corner of 3rd street and 6th ave in New York City. This is not uncommon for the man who runs the NIKE NYC High School League at W. 4th Street (The Cage). Indeed this looked like just another day, another girls semi-final game, just something to do as it has been done for years. But today’s game would certainly not be just another game. @4:30 p.m. two teams would square off for the coveted chance to advance to Saturday’s championship game. On this day the FBC Defenders were facing a very talented and well coached Baseline team from NYC. The Defenders would go into this contest with only 7 brave soldiers (Jasmine Walker, Shalette Brown, Taryana Kelly, Jasmine Phelps, Erika Hairston, Ariel Donza, and Jasmine Lombard) in uniform but knowing that they were capable of getting a win if they just maintained their composure. As the game began, Baseline jumped out on top 19 to 10 after the 1st qtr. Unprecedented at W 4th Street, both coaches acted like it was halftime and took their teams to the W 4th street end of the court to talk between quarters. Whatever coach Stone said to his team must have stirred something deep in their souls because the second quarter was all about the “Defenders” playing defense and attacking the basket. The score at the half was 30 to 28 and the Defenders knew they were close enough to make a run at the win.

The third quarter started was a nip and tuck kind of quarter and the Defenders finally started making their free throws. Jasmine Walker started to pick up her game and that was exactly what the team needed. Until that point the team had been carried on the offensive end by Brown(9), Phelps(7), and Lombard(6). The play of Erika Hairston, Ariel Donza, and Jasmine Lombard would prove to be key on the defensive end as Baseline suddenly found it difficult to get open looks. But If the team was going to get a win now that the defense was clicking they would need another scorer. After 3 quarters the Defenders found themselves still down 43 to 45. That is when coach Stone asked what proved to be the most important question of the game. He queried “So is this how we are to go out? Is this how you want your last game of this season to end?” The look in every player’s eyes screamed a resounding NO! So coach said to the team if you want to go to the championship, you will have to just go out there and take it! Final score Defenders 63, Baseline 62!

Box Score:
Shalette Brown 21pts, Jasmine Phelps 16, Jasmine Walker 11, Jasmine Lombard 11, and Taryana Kelly 4!

Congratulations to FBC Defenders (Frederick) on a great Quaker City Challenge Tournament!

Both their hard work and TEAM work paid off as they captured Third Place Honors in their Division. After a difficult Thursday night loss to the New York Revolution, the Defenders quickly regrouped and played impressive basketball the entire weekend. Friday’s game against the Philly Freedom started out with a low scoring first half, but the Defenders turned it on after halftime with field goals and free throws falling, leading to a 35 to 31 victory. The team played their next game several hours later versus the Spotsylvania Sting, who led 28-25 at the half. Throughout the game the Defenders (Frederick) had great ball movement, wonderful assists, aggressive shooting, and tight defense, which contributed to the team’s 49-47 win.

On Saturday, they continued their strong team play in a tough, physical game versus the Silver Bullets of Long Island with the final result being a dominant 42-32 victory (their 3rd in a row!!). The girls, who were definitely on a roll and feeling good, quickly shifted their focus to their second game of the day, which was against a tough Tarheels team from South Jersey. While the Defenders played strong and were down by only three points at halftime, the Tarheels turned it on in the second half and won the game 54-41.

We are extremely proud of the ladies of Coach Frederick’s Defenders team who fought hard in every game and ended the weekend with a 4-2 record! We also want to offer our deepest thanks to Coach John Frederick for his amazing dedication and for everything he has done for our girls!!

CONGRATULATIONS to the defenders program as they pulled together to make it to the final 4 in the Pacific Bracket at the 2011 US Invitational at Penn State! In the semi-final game the defenders finally lost one but that is not the real story of the game. They started with only 5 players against the Team Cisco from Quebec City Canada (11 players).  At the half the defenders were down by only 3 pts and Team Cisco realized they were in a dog fight. The start of the second half proved that the defenders were there to win it all but with 10 minutes left (16min half) a player fouled out of the game! Determined to fight until the end, cause that is what defenders do, the FBC Defenders switched to a diamond defense (with only 4 player eligible) and for the next 6mins 30sec the score differential was never more than 5 pts. Can you believe that?! But with 3mins 30sec left in the game fatigue finally overtook the defender and they eventually lost the game by 13pts. On that day the team showed everyone why their head coach refers to all players in his program, he is the founder, as SOLDIERS!!! Yes they lost the battle, but they WON the war! Stay tuned as the player stats will be posted on this website shortly…

Congratulations to Karalyne Brown who announced that she will join the basketball team at Wilmington College! Karalyne a powerful post player for the FBC Defenders (Frederick) team was first seen by the Wilmington staff @ the OGBR Top 64 fall event in Ohio. However the college learned of her presence on the basketball scene through a tip from a school alumni. Who was that alumni you ask? Well it was Cecil Brown, Karalyne’s father who first told the school about his daughter’s potential on the basketball court as well as in track & field events. Coach Frederick took a group of player from the Defenders program out to Ohio in 2009 and 2010 that got rave reviews for their individual performances. She played her high school ball at Franklin High School in Franklin Township New Jersey.

Wilmington is an NCAA DIII school playing in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) and won the NCAA National Championship in 2004. Please join the entire FBC Defenders family as we congratulate Karalyne for her achivement!

The FBC Defenders are very proud to announce the selection of Taryana Kelly to the 2011 Allstar team for the Rose Classic Spring Tournament! Taryana played on the FBC Defenders team that won the Pacific Division by dominating the paint on both ends of the floor. Her selection to the allstar team is validation that this 6′2″ post has arrived! The allstar game is scheduled to be played on Sunday June 5th, 3 p.m., at 300 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Congratulations Taryana! We are all so very proud of you!

Congratulations are in order for the FBC Defenders team as it wins the Pacific Division regular season at the Nike Rose Classic Spring 2011 in Brooklyn, NY finishing 5-0! Jasmine Walker a junior guard from North Brunswick High and Janissa Delzo a junior guard from Wardlaw-Hartridge High leads the team at 16 points per game and 8 points per game respectively. Shalette Brown leads the team in rebounds while Taryana Kelly controls the paint and Ashanti Bess leads the team in assist to turnover ratio. The addition of Shaun Stevenson has given the team a true point guard that understands how to get everyone involved while still contributing herself. This has allowed the team to move Ashanti Bess from the 1 to the 2 or 3 position at certain times in a game to take advantage of her quickness on the defensive side and her deep 3pt shooting. But make no mistake, Jasmine Walker has clearly established herself as one of the best players at the Rose Classic this year. She is doing whatever the team needs from scoring to rebounding to defending. Follow each player’s performance on the stats page at http://www.fbcdefenders.com/teams/2011-team-stats-stone/

Congratulations are in order for Jasmine Lytle who announced today to her Family, high school (New Brunswick), Coaches, and community that she will be attending Hampton University this fall as a Division 1 athlete! Lytle is the first female, full scholarship, division 1 basketball player in New Brunswick School History according to the school. As a member of the FBC Defenders AAU program Lytle joins Jacinda Dunbar and Alexis Scott as the third player in program history to go Division 1 program straight out of high school!

Articles on Lytle’s Signing:

Loyalty Mattered Most to Lytle

Lytle Signs with Hampton University

Lady Pirates Pull Off A Coup

NJ.COM On Jasmine Lytle

Defenders Alumni, Alexis Scott, continues to produce great numbers as she closes in on the end of her Sophomore (red shirt) season. Alexis scored 15 points, 2 assists, and 2 blocks as LaSalle loss a heart breaker to St Joseph of PA in Atlantic 10 action.  Scott is shooting 47% from the floor, 43% from 3 point area, 83% from free throw line, with a season average of 13 points 4 rebounds. Full Story

Freshman Brittany McQuain (Independence, Mo.) and junior Jacinda Dunbar (Edison, N.J.) each posted a double-double, but the Quinnipiac University women’s basketball team fell to Central Connecticut State, 61-58, in a Northeast Conference match-up on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Bobcats drop to 9-6 in conference play, while the Blue Devils improve to 9-6 in the NEC. Full Story