Soaring - Again

By Mindi Rice
HoopGurlz Staff
Posted Wed, 12/19/2007 - 19:38 Upset in Oregon, Long Beach Poly looks back to its old self - and on a collision course with Bishop Gorman.

---

STORY BY MINDI RICE; PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Two of the quickest teams in the 2007 Nike Tournament of Champions put on a display of agility and physical play Wednesday in the opening round. Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman and Long Beach Poly of California both advanced to the quarterfinals with strong wins and could be on a collision course for a semifinal matchup.

For Bishop Gorman, the Gaels proved they can get the job done even when leaders Ashley Gayle and Dannielle Diamant aren’t in top form.

"If you had told me before the game that we were going to hold Gael and Diamant to seven points apiece, I would have been thrilled," Christ the King coach Bob Mackey said. “I would have been absolutely ecstatic. And then we just let the guards run wild.”

Indeed, Gayle and Diamant were held to seven points each, but Mackey wasn’t jumping with joy after his Christ the King squad lost, 54-35, to Bishop Gorman. For the first half, the Royals’ big-time tournament experience paid off, as the teams went into halftime at 19-all. But in the second half, the Gaels held Christ the King to just five points, while Oregon-bound guard Darriel Gaynor led a 19-point quarter with seven of her own.

"I think it was the nerves and the jitters," Gaels’ coach Sheryl Krmpotich said of the first half. "We were playing more sporadic. I knew that was going to happen and that once we settled down and played the way we’re capable of playing, it would be a better outcome for us."

Gaynor and Christ the King freshman Bria Smith led their respective teams with 13 points each. It was Bishop Gorman’s first Black Bracket win also in its first TOC appearance.

"They moved our finals to January," Krmpotich said. "Usually our finals are about this time, so we hadn’t been able to go in the past."

Bishop Gorman will face a disciplined Highlands Ranch squad from Colorado. The Falcons advanced with a 46-41 win against Sapulpa of Oklahoma.

In the other quarter of the bracket, No. 4 Long Beach Poly sailed out to a 16-4 lead, and onto a 69-42 win, against Washington D.C.’s H.D. Woodson despite at least three players – junior Monique Oliver, senior Jasmine Dixon and sophomore Thaddesia Southall – battling illness. The Jackrabbits, who took second in the 2006 TOC, had a strong shooting game as well, not relying solely on their inside baskets to fall for a score.

“I know, just from a feeling, that we shot better tonight than we did at any time in Oregon,” said Buggs, of the Northwest Nike Invitational two weeks earlier. “That’s a good thing. When teams collapse and try to take away our inside game, it’s important for our outside shooters to be able to deliver."

Rutgers-bound Dixon and Oliver led the Jackrabbits with 13 and 11 points, respectively. All 16 girls on the Long Beach Poly squad saw minutes in the game.

"It’s good for everybody to get a little taste of that," Buggs said. "But we know as it gets deeper in the tournament, it won’t always be like that."

Long Beach Poly faces hot-shooting Archbishop Carroll from outside of Philadelphia. Carroll beat Punahou, the team from Honolulu, 63-34 in the first round by hitting 11 three-pointers in the game. Poly, which is used to dominating on the inside defensively, will have to adjust for the Patriots’ hot outside game.

---

Thursday's Black Bracket Schedule

 

Quarterfinals, all at Hamilton
Notre Dame Academy vs. Auburn Riverside, 1:40 p.m.
Sequoyah vs. Southridge, 3 p.m.
Bishop Gorman vs. Highlands Ranch, 4:20 p.m.
Archbishop Carroll vs. Long Beach Poly, 5:40 p.m.

Consolation
Lynwood vs. Shelbyville Central, at Perry,11 a.m.
Ursuline vs. Narbonne, at Perry, 12:20 p.m.
Christ the King, at Hamilton, 11 a.m.
Punahou vs. H.D. Woodson, at Hamilton, 12:20 p.m.

---

Discuss This on Our Message Board:

Click Here

---

 

 

Mindi Rice works part-time as a sportswriter at the Tacoma News Tribune and as a barista at Starbucks. She grew up in Seattle, where she attended Roosevelt High School and first found her love for girls basketball by covering the Roughriders for the student paper. Mindi graduated from the University of Oregon in June 2004 with a degree in journalism. She is a member of the Association of Women in Sports Media and the Native American Journalists Association. Her favorite sports to play and cover are basketball and softball and she considers herself a statistics nerd. Mindi can be reached at mindi@hoopgurlz.com.

---