New York's finest had been one of the best teams in the country that had not won anything. Until now. Making up for lost opportunities, Exodus didn't just march through Atlanta like Sherman, they doubled up old ATL, their second victory a major one, 51-41 over East Bay Xplosion, in what amounts to the national adidas circuit championship game on Sunday.

Samantha Prahalis of Exodus

Last week, after a dispute with the three-stripe tournament's organizer, Exodus coach Apache Paschall pulled his team out of a younger age division event, called the director of Showtime Unlimited, a tournament at Georgia Tech, was offered a spot and his charges won that one, too.

"It just made everything that much tougher," Paschall said of his team's last-minute change in plans.

Anyone who has seen the team that should be dubbed The Greatest Show on Hardwood knows that Exodus is not a crew to shy away from degree of difficulty. The root of their tournament dispute was mechanical difficulty ithat canceled their flight after End of the Trail. The team was forced to spend the night at the Portland airport. After travelling cross country all day on the first day of the younger tournament, Exodus was assured by event organizers that their late arrival would be excused, according to Paschall.

However, Exodus arrived to discover that its first game was forfeited.

The Exodus players could not have been angrier than they'd been when they were knocked off prematurely at the Nike Midwest Showdown during the Memorial Day weekend.

"After that, we said we were not going to lose again," said Samantha Prahalis, the tournament MVP and, unofficially, the most entertaining high-school girl's basketball player in America.

Samantha Bilney of EBX

They did lose again, but not until the semifinals of the End of the Trail, the major, non-affiliated tournament during the July evaluation period. And, before that loss, Exodus had dismantled the eventual champs in Oregon, Tennessee Flight Silver, in an exhibition game. Exodus continued its impressive run throughout this event, knocking off FBC, the circuit's former standard bearer, in a barn-burner of a bracket final. "That one felt like the championship game," Paschall said.

In the official championship, Exodus jumped all over East Bay, a California Bay Area team whose core had been together since the sixth grade and plays like it. The New Yorkers survived one run, held East Bay to just two field goals during the first eight minutes of the second half and survived one, last charge led by Alex Cowling, the magnificent Loyola Marymount commit who led all scorers with 13 points, but oddly was not deemed good enough to earn an invitation to the all-star camp that followed the tournament.

Exodus has marvelous talents in Shenneika Smith, the 6-1, 2009 pogostick, and Alexa Roche, the power wing, both of whom play for Paschall at St. Michael Academy in Brooklyn, and Shakeya Leary, a 6-3 forward who handles the ball like a guard, and Krystall "Grandma" Parnell, who returned to form with her rollicking forays to the cup, both of whom play for storied Murry Bergtraum in Manhattan. But the can't-touch-this band leader clearly is Prahalis, the 5 -7 point guard from Long Island. Always worth the price of admission, she scored two with 10:20 left to play by wrapping the ball around her back and quickly between her legs into a jump shot.

"I never tried that one before," said Prahalis, who led Exodus with 11 points. Prahalis says she cooks up her And1-like "tricks" at home with counsel from boyfriend Tybon Williams, who plays at a local junior college, or with her trainer, Jerry Powell.

Krystall Parnell wraps a pass around
EBX defender Abby Bloetscher

For her next trick, Prahalis could make herself reappear in a college uniform out West. She put on quite a show in Oregon City and word got out that she was open in her recruitment to going all the way across the country. Several schools from the West are certain to call when allowed first thing, Monday morning.

"I'm going to be happy if they call," said Prahalis, whose college leaders have been Ohio State and Baylor. "I'm really open to anything. I'll take some visits, and we'll see what happens."

Until then, the magic show goes dark for a week, then reconvenes in Washington, D.C., which seems like a perfect place to celebrate a coronation, even one as overdue as Exodus'.