Down, Not Out

By Chris Hansen
National Director of Scouting
Posted Mon, 07/09/2007 - 00:12 Oregon City's final four had to survive an intense, down-to-the-wire day.

---

PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

OREGON CITY, Ore. - Sunday at the Nike End of the Trail tournament was a long and crazy day of hoops that brought to a close each of the four brackets in each divsion of the tournament. In the ultra-competitive National Division the four brackets Diamond, Gold, Platinum and Silver were crowned champions and the four will play Monday for the ultimate prize. The test will be not just competing against great players and teams but how much these players will have in the tank as Sunday's games were gut-wrenching and went down to the wire.

What can be mores suspenseful than overtime? In the Diamond Bracket that's exactly what North Tartan, a Minnesota based team, supplied in their battle with the Tennessee Flight. It took the Flight a little while to figure out that 6-foot 2008 class guard Hannah Draxten can hurt you if allowed to catch and shoot. She knocked down several threes in the first half. North Tartan features Minnesota commit Jackie Voigt, a tough lefty forward who is creative in the paint and has a nice mid range game. In this game her teammate Kiara Bufornd, a 5-11 senior-to-be guard from St. Paul Central High School played the best we've ever seen her play. Her energy level was high and she unleashed her quickness with the ball and her sweet jumper on the Flight.

In the waning minutes it looked like North Tartan had the upper hand, but Tennessee just kept coming at them, sporting their high pick and roll over and over again, getting Lauren Avant going full steam at the cup. The on ball defender continually fought over the screen but that gave Avant the seem she needed to penetrate and create. Not once did the defender slip under the screen and force Avant to shoot a long jumper. That would be North Tartan's undoing as Avant scored going both right and left off the high screens set by LaSondra Barrett and Jasmine Hassell which forced help to come. If there is one player in this tournament you don't want to be forced the help off of it is Candace Wood. The sweet shooting North Carolina commit did what most good shooters do - get ready to shoot. Her feet and hands were ready knowing she was going to get some good looks and a chance to save the day as she did their epic battle with West Coast Elite with her sharp shooting exploits.

Wood sat eagerly in the corner as Avant pushed the ball up the court with her team down 54-57. Avant kept a low center of gravity, gave her defender a quick inside out dribble and exploded straight for the cup and drew Wood's defender in instinctually. The defender must not have realized that they were up three and committed to helping on Avant leaving Wood open in the corner. As soon as the defender left you could tell we were looking at a tie game even before the shot tickled the twine with 11 seconds remaining. But Wood wasn't done yet, on the next possession she stole the ball from with three seconds left and Barrett was able to get a time out called with just one second remaining. The Flight ran a great curl play from the back court sideline in which Natalie Novosel got a running 20 footer up that was dead online but just short of the rim leaving us with a three minute overtime. Voigt would foul out in overtime and Wood would make another clutch play to seal the deal. North Tartan ran one last play down three to Kamille Wahlin but Wood reached up and slapped the shot out of the sky to end the game.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the tournament is the outstanding play of the Tulsa Swoosh. They started the day with their Gold Bracket semifinal game against West Coast Elite and looked impressive in what most would consider an upset. Angel Goodrich and Liz Lay led the way for the Swoosh and not enough can be said for their performances. Goodrich kept her composure and handled the ball pressure and quickness of the West Coast Elite guards and created scoring opportunities for her teammates while scoring 15 points and rarely turning the ball over. Most would expect the 6-1 Lay to struggled against the towering front court of Kelsey Bone, Ashley Gayle and Monique Oliver. Lay apparently didn't get the memo as she scored 23 points in the paint on slashes and postups as well as stepping out and showing off her shooting range. Both players' outstanding, elite-level performances were no fluke as they followed up in the bracket finale against NYC Exodus.

The Tulsa Swoosh, especially Goodrich and sharpshooter Megan Selvidge, were ready to attack from the first tip, taking the NYC Exodus by what seemed like surprise. Exodus came out flat and paid for it, spending a majority of the first half looking at an unfriendly scoreboard. The New Yorkers didn't seem to have their swagger and were frustrated by what was unfolding. They run primarily isolations and screen-rolls and despite the shot creating abilities of star players such as Samantha Prahalis, the shots would not fall.

In the second half things started to change and Exodus changed the game by their defensive energy and finally someone found a way to slow down the three headed monster of the Swoosh. The lead would change a couple of times in the second half and everyone including the infamous Prahalis, who has quite a following among her peers and hoops fans in Oregon now, played with a renewed sense of urgency. They hunkered down and did enough to get through the game despite not playing a complete game.

Another entertaining battle was the Silver Bracket finale between Cy-Fair Shock and East Bay Xplosion. The two teams had distinctly different strengths with Cy-Fair looking to use their high-low game of sisters Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike while East Bay's strength lies in their guard play, especially that of Loyola Marymount bound Alex Cowling.

Early on it looked as if the Ogwumikes were going to be too much for East Bay but through solid defense their easy looks were limited and East Bay took control. Cowling was sensational against all looks of defense. Cowling scored inside against smaller defenders showing great touch and the ability to finish with contact and when the Cy-Fair posts took their turn on Cowling she stepped out and knocked down long rebounds. She is truly a gifted offensive player.

But two of the biggest gifts for some college team were wearing Cy-Fair uniforms and they share not only the ball but their last name - Ogwumike. Chiney looked well beyond her years in showing a host of interior post scoring moves on both sides of the basket. Meanwhile older sister Nneka was outrunning many of the guards in transition and attacking from the high post in the half court. The two together were too much for East Bay and they finished with a 57-52 win to advance to the tournament semifinal. Also advancing from the Platinum bracket are the Cal Swish who cruised against the Spokane Stars in the bracket semis and defeated the Iowa Selects. The Swish won this event last year, beating a tough Fencor team.

---

 

More EOT Coverage

 

---

Discuss This on Our Message Board:
Click Here

---

Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com. He leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz.. Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chris@hoopgurlz.com.