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 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…

Junior Shalette Brown (Franklin High School)

BERNARDS — All the mistakes that traditionally hinder the Franklin High School girls basketball team in big games showed up again Saturday afternoon. The missed free throws, turnovers and wasted possessions added up to a loss — just not for the usual suspect. Junior guard Shalette Brown and senior forward Jordan Thomas scored 17 points apiece as 10th-seeded Franklin used a fundamentally sound effort to upset mistake-prone seventh-seeded Pingry 61-49 in the second round of the Somerset County Tournament.

“Everyone has a new attitude,” said Brown, who also pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds. “We know Franklin has a bad reputation, but we want to show that we have a new look. Franklin can close out teams.”  Read entire article at mycentraljerseydotcom

Lytle Erupts for 33pts and 23 rebounds!

It takes more than one player to win a basketball game, but Jasmine Lytle certainly came close. Despite outscoring the entire Sayreville High School girls basketball team 18-16 in the first half Tuesday night, the New Brunswick High School senior forward needed a boost from a teammate down the stretch.

“She’s a great player, and it’s hard to win games when a girl scores almost as much as your entire team does” Sayreville coach Tara Currie said of Lytle. “She’s an animal who lives off the boards, and we didn’t achieve our goal in limiting her.”  Read More; Jasmine Lytle

So proud of my SOLDIERS!, Defenders(STONE) finished the exposure period (battle baltimore 4-0, metro classic 4-0, Rose Summer Showcase 1-1) strong, 9-1. Congratulations! You’ve had a tremendous season! So Proud! Just So Darn Proud Of Every Player In Program. Defenders(Frederick) finished strong as well, improving with each game down the stretch. When most would have given up, these ladies beat the odds and fought through for victory or near victory, or even defeat, and grew with each game. I love you and am proud of you in ways you just can’t image. You inspire me to fight my way back to 100%. I will accept NOTHING less for myself because you have accepted nothing less. True inspiration!

Coach Frederick and Nicole you have done a tremendous job for the program. The way you guys stepped up when I went down is admirable. Best coaching staff in the world, any level, any pay grade! I will put you up against anyone!

Parents, without your unwavering commitment to me and this program there is no way I could have gone through these past weeks. NO WAY! I thank you one and all for holding together and allowing your girls the opportunity to see how good they could really become. For that I thank you all. I would also like to thank you for working so hard at the fund raisers. Because of that I am able to send those players who have been in the program from the beginning to Ohio at NO registration cost to them! Yes the club picked up the tab for registering 16 players @ $90 each. Also the club paid for the summer league games @ W 4th Street and CAS Douglas combined costed $1,650.

Finally there is Q James. The entire program owes you it’s very life for the 2010 season. You alone save our season because you stepped into the Administrator role and seamlessly guided the program through to this point and made it look effortlessly. I know for certain that is took tremendous effort on your part to manage the defenders commitments and your own. God Bless You! Thank You hardly seems adequate. Much LOVE!

John Stone
FBC Defenders AAU Club

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!

Hey coach, I hope you’re doing well just keeping you updated with the games. Today we had to play 4 on 4 against the PA Storm. We only scored 2 points in the first half to the storm’s 20 something, during the start of the second half the team was motivated by the parents to hustle and play hard. With the help of Parris… J. Branker and Janaysia James to get us scoring, we soon found out that we could actually play a game with only 4 people. I was the teams leading scorer with 8 points, but with 4 or 5 minuets left on the clock Parris J. Branker goes down with a minor knee injury. The game ended 16-33., just as I was geting into a scoring groove, I was upset and then realized that our team was fighting, not only to try to come back and make the game close but to also prove to our parents and coach that we four players have heart and really wanted to play. Today was a good day for FBC DefendersAAU Frederick team.

By Karalyne Brown

The 2010 Defenders program will once again participate in the Frederick Douglas Summer league at 104th & Columbus Ave this summer. League play begins on June 26th and the actual schedule should become available late next week. Stay tuned for more details!!!