NASHVILLE, Tenn.–After two rounds of play and 160 games the field for the championship round of the first annual Nike Elite Youth Girls Basketball League is set. Back in April 32 programs began competition in four different eight team divisions hoping to position themselves among the top six and claiming a spot in the final round of play. Tip off for the surviving 24 teams will be in North Augusta, South Carolina on July 27. Nike Nationals is annually the most highly regarded and coveted title of the summer for club basketball programs and eight teams who began the competition back in April came up short and will be making other plans to wrap up their July evaluation schedules.
Each team played all other programs in their respective divisions as well as three randomly drawn cross division games for a total of ten contests. Just two programs made it through the gauntlet unscathed. Minnesota North Tartan and the Cy Fair Shock both posted perfect 10 and 0 slates in claiming the Lindsay Whalen and Maya Moore Division top spots. Boo Williams finished at 8 and 2 on top of the Diana Taurasi Division while the Sylvia Fowles line up had three teams produce 8 and 2 marks. The Carolina Flames beat both the Fairfax Stars and the Georgia Pistols head to head while the Stars split and the Pistols dropped both direct match ups. The Spiece Gym Rats actually had the third best record at 9 and 1 but finished behind North Tartan in the Whalen as a result of a head to head, one point loss back in April.
On the other end of the spectrum three teams competed throughout but couldn’t manage to chalk up a single win in either round of play. The Albany City Rocks, Georgia Metros and the New England Crusaders each had the dubious distinction of going “0 for” their first EYBL schedule. The next rung up the ladder had three teams at 2 and 8 and ironically one of them, Essence, still claimed a spot in the 24 team field later this month. Exodus was alone with their two wins in the Whalen Division while Essence and the West Coast Premier finished ahead of the winless City Rocks in the final Fowles standings. Essence claimed the last spot advancing by virtue of their 46 – 42 win over WCP earlier this week.
Performance based seeding will be determined by Nike prior to Nike Nationals as the slate will be wiped clean when the ball goes up in North Augusta. However, there are some factors that could ultimately impact some of the qualifying teams before the scoreboards are even turned on. Four teams will see their roster lose impact players due to USA Basketball participation. Jessica Shepard of All Iowa, Teaira McCowan of DFW, Beatrice Mompremier of the Miami Suns and Central Florida Elite’s Destinee Walker will all be part of the USA U18 team preparing for the FIBA Americas competition the first week of August. North Tartan and the Carolina Flames both have critical players nursing knee injuries with their status for EYBL play undetermined at this point.
Division I coaches are back off the road but will return to the gym again for the second seven day segment beginning July 22nd. Check back over the next couple of days for more EYBL coverage as well as other highlights and standouts from across the first week of the NCAA July evaluation period.
