TAKING A STANCE
CHANDLER, Ariz. – If you’re talking Arizona basketball these days it’s hard not to start with the highly regarded crew from St. Mary’s in Phoenix. The Lady Knights feature high profile performers like Harvard bound Shilpa Tummala, Louisville signee Cortnee Walton and heralded sophomore Courtney Ekmark. If you just want to talk about other Arizona standouts you could bring up Hamilton’s Lauren Evans, bound for Virginia Tech or even Pinnacle sharpshooting guard Sydney Wiese who lit up the scoreboard with over 40 points in the Monday’s opening round of the TOC.
However, no conversation can be complete without including a couple more standouts from St. Mary’s, the 2013 class and the same family. Anybody knowledgeable basketball mind watching Head Coach Curtis Ekmark’s squad will take notice of the tag team catalyst’s for their stifling defense, Danielle and Dominique Williams. The duo, both standing 5-9, is an athletic and aggressive front that causing nightmares for even the most talented backcourts. Both have the ability to control and dictate to ballhandlers as well as impressive quickness and strength that enables them to contain the most athletic of opponents. There’s an obvious line of communication between the two as well as the instincts that can only come from a lifetime spent together on the floor. Adding to their attack is a relentless and all out effort to take away options, anticipate and exploit every misstep and hesitation. Additionally, if there’s a ball on the floor it’s a safe bet one of the Williams sisters will be in the mix to come up with it.
Both have evolving offensive games that allow them to be enough of a threat that opponents cannot afford to ignore them in an effort to lock up their high scoring teammates. Their ball skills get them to them rim and both finish effectively in traffic. Danielle gets out on the break with deceiving speed and Dominique has demonstrated some sharp decision making and passing. There’s obvious improvement in their perimeter shooting that, if it continues on course, should make them a commodity in the recruiting market.
UPSET SPECIAL
Without a doubt the game that left those in the Hamilton High School gym talking after the first day of play in the 2011 TOC was the Cicero-North (N.Y.) win over Bolingbrook High School (Ill.). The three time defending state champs from Illinois had already posted strong wins over Twinsburg (Ohio) and Memphis Central (Tenn.) earlier this season and looked poised to make a run at this year’s Smith Division title. Unfortunately for the Lady Raiders “poise” was not something they demonstrated much of throughout the 32 minute battle with 6-4 UConn bound Breanna Stewart and her teammates from Syracuse.
While Cicero-North can hold their heads high with the win, neither team had much to crow about from the performance standpoint. In a game marked by turnovers, miscues and errant easy shots, the much anticipated match up of Stewart and future Husky teammate Morgan Tuck had few highlights or bragging rights for either to carry with them to Storrs next fall. Tuck broke through with a three to tie the game with just 10 seconds on the clock but Brittany Paul answered with a triple of her own to seal the 43-40 Cicero North win.
The high pressure and assertive defensive effort that has carried Bolingbrook in the early part of the season made an appearance on only a few possessions and could be revealing an Achilles heel of Coach Tony Smith’s squad moving forward. Cicero-North benefited from some timely perimeter shooting but will need to create more isolation situations for Stewart if they’re hoping go home with more than just one marquee win.
