NC Heat 4-0 at USJN

#1 posting 7.30.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

USJN SUMMER FINAL
NC Heat will be in the final 8 after going 4-0 in pool play at the USJN Summer Final girls basketball tournament. Games weren't complete but the top seeds will be decided by point differential, max 20 points per game. There were a few games in progress but NC Heat appeared to be headed to a #2 seed with Team Wisconsin Red 17 slightly edging them in point differential. Here is the USJN bracket set up.

The Heat won the first game against Team Excel (Missouri team I think) 51-32. It was a physical, low scoring game with Britt Dyshaw receiving stitches in her chin. Tayler Hill led the team in scoring once again.
Stats:
Tayler Hill, Mpls South 14 pts
Ephesia Holmes, Mpls South 4 pts, 4 asts
Brianna Edwards, Mpls North 6 pts
Megan Nipe, Centennial 8 pts, 8 rebs
Katya Leick, Park-Cottage Grove 11 pts
Brittany Dyshaw, Eagan 3 pts
Rudy Ruffin, Wayzata 3 pts
Mandy Poke, Richfield 2 pts

Game 2 was against OH-SMAC 15 who started with 5 kids but added 2 more as the game progressed. NC Heat controlled the tempo and it was quick, however scoring was slow at the start. It was 5-5 with about 9 minutes left (16 min halves). The game was tied at 21 at half but NC Heat stepped up the intensity and ripped the nets in the 2nd half, outscoring SMAC 48-10. Dyshaw did not dress for this game.
Stats:
Tayler Hill, Mpls South 19 pts, 6 stls
Ephesia Holmes, Mpls South 7 pts, 3 asts
Brianna Edwards, Mpls North 4 pts
Megan Nipe, Centennial 8 pts
Taquoia Hammick, Mpls South 2 pts
Katya Leick, Park-Cottage Grove 14 pts, 13 rebs
Rudy Ruffin, Wayzata 4 pts
Akilah Hudnell, DeLaSalle 6 pts
Mandy Poke, Richfield 2 pts

NIKE NATIONALS
North Tartan is now 0-3.

SUMMER SLAM
No word from Ohio. Here is their page.

LADY CATS AAU NATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Here is Mpls Lady Cat's coach Ahmil Jihad comments on the AAU National experience.

Our trip to Ohio proved to a true test of courage. We had every intention of going down and making a strong impression by playing hard and outworking teams.

Day one, Friday the 13th ( registration day) was truly a nightmare as usual as this process never goes smoothly. AAU really needs to find a better way to register teams or maybe do it online so that tons of people aren't sitting around wasting time on the first day which is really frustrating.

Day 2 -Saturday 7/14 We opened up with a 8 am game against Team Texas which was a very painful game to watch as the officials really restrained us from playing all out Lady Cat Basketball. Which means we were forced into a slow pace half court game where execution and concentration play a huge role in the outcome of the game. Our mental effort was very low and it was very hard to adjust to the officials and the way they were calling the game (5 offensive calls made against us) we ended up losing by four points and learned a valuable lesson on concentration and intensity. One of the toughest things to do as a coach during tournament play is to get the kids to forget about their last performance and focus on the game ahead. Our pool had five teams in it which means we were scheduled to play four games the first two days and for once it really took it's toll on our already small team. During our second game (VA. Richmond U-Turn Warriors) on Saturday night we lost one of our starters (Laura Thomas -Broken Ankle) but won the game by thirty. We we're all hoping that LT's ankle was a minor sprain but we received word during dinner that it was pretty severe and would require surgery immediately. I was afraid that this would mentally deflate our team and hurt our chances of being competitive the rest of the week. Injuries come with the territory and we didn't want dwell on LT's situation but focus more on the opportunity to do something great with seven hungry players

Day 3 - Sunday 7/15 We got up early with intentions to scout Motor City Finest, one of the toughest teams in the tournament who just happened to be in our pool. So we wanted to get a look at them in action and come up with game plan for our afternoon meeting. The game itself was a huge attraction for everyone who was looking for a great game, we tried to contain them and keep the game close but at half they were already up by sixteen their bench proved to be the deciding factor as they subbed eight athletic players at will. We got it down to seven points at one point in the second half but ended up losing by double figures. Our second game on Sunday was against the Mid Atlantic Comets out of Philly. We played pretty decent but again the lack of players really took toll on us as Brianna and Aubrey ended up playing the entire game because we had nobody to break them. So we got our second pool win which was ugly as it gets.

Day 4 - Monday 7/16 We were assigned to the Classic tournament because of our two pool losses to Detroit & Texas. We were matched against a very strong Maryland Flames team who dressed about 15 players deep. Our goal was to out coach them with a barrage of different zone defenses and keep them in limbo offensively. It worked like a dream and the kids started to really pull together mentally. We blew the flames by 26 and loss another starter to injury (Kaylani Edwards aka Kay-k, high ankle sprain). The next game that evening was the Michigan Shock who had one solid post player who gave us plenty of problems but we were able to get her in foul trouble by attacking the basket and went on to win by twenty.

Day 5 - Tuesday 7/17 Our current record is 4-2 and we were scheduled to play the #2 ranked California GBL Rebels who had already been defeated by St. Paul, Mn. which made us feel confident coming into this game. We lost a close battle to GBL and fell apart at the two minute mark so we had to do a gut check and find out if the girls were ready to throw in the towel. They all swore that they wanted to finish what they started and felt they could get it done the hard way by playing two games a day the rest of the way.

Day 6 - Wednesday 7/18 4-3 with two tough games awaiting us, we out scrapped Indy Red and sent them home with our style of tenacious lady cat ball. Next up that same evening was the Maryland Waves who was a worthy opponent, same results from the earlier game as we jumped out on them early and sent them home with a forty point loss. Their parents and coaches paid us a huge compliment right after that game by saying "your kids show more heart and discipline than any team we've seen here this week, they play with passion and go extremely hard " - Warren Carter/MA Waves Head coach

Day 7 Thursday 7/19. Now at 6-3 we had courage but were really banged up physically. We played the Houston wildcats and sent them packing as well by over powering them with our defense. The next game was our final game in Cincinnati as we lost to a very inferior Missouri Cyclones who was clearly one of the teams I would love to play at full strength in the future. We finished up at 7-4 which is very good understanding our situation and I truly LOVE each and every player who participated in this event with us. All eight of them will forever hold a special place in my heart because of the courage they showed during this tournament.
Coach Ahmil

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