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.
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/