CHICAGO, Ill.—It’s not often the reality of an event lives up to it’s prior billing. More so, it’s the rare exception when that reality actually exceeds all expectations. While open to an exclusive group of elite club programs, for 14 years Nike Nationals has been the tournament players, families, recruiters and the media/scouting contingent look forward to each summer. What’s more, it’s looked forward to by members of those constituencies who don’t even have a vested interest in the event. The advent of the Nike Girls EYBL three years ago added to the interest and intrigue across the grassroots basketball landscape.
For the second consecutive year Nike conducted it’s Nike Nationals / EYBL Championship within the vast boundaries of the long running and highly regarded Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago. An “event” within an event, if you will. From start to finish the 2018 rendition of club basketball’s gold standard competition raised the bar once again. Beginning with opening night featuring WNBA Chicago Sky players Stefanie Dolson and Gabby Williams to the new KD’s provided by Kevin Durant himself to the wide open championship brackets and play that will be talked about for some time, Nike Nationals 2018 was one for the books.
Nobody saw a 1 and 4 team from round one of the EYBL back in April looming on the horizon to claim their first Swoosh hardware. Nobody anticipated a wall to wall, jam packed championship game featuring two teams with a combined 9 and 11 record across rounds one and two that would keep even KD himself on the edge of his seat through the buzzer beating three that put the All Iowa Attack atop the Nike mountaintop.
Kylie Feuerbach may have finished with just seven points for the game but it will be her three from the deep left corner as time ran out that will be talked about for some time to come. The Cal Storm/Team Taurasi had roared back in the final period to erase a double digit deficit and even take a two point lead of their own with under a minute to play to necessitate Feuerbach’s heroics. The Storm had a chance out of a time out on their previous possession to break a 61 all tie with a wide open look that rolled out providing All Iowa with 38 seconds to create some magic of their own. A personal foul by the Storm removed the differential in the game and shot clocks and Coach Dickson Jensen running the clock down to eight seconds before calling his own time out setting up the winning opportunity for All Iowa. Greta Kampshroeder penetrated from the top off the sideline inbounds collapsing the Storm defense and feeing up Feuerbach to knock down her game winner.
Aubrey Joens led the way in the win with 24 points while Caitlin Clark provided 23 of her own and a defining competitive edge that set the tone for her teammates and the game. The Storm and Coach George Quintero got 15 from Kayla Williams and 14 more from impressive 2021 forward Rayah Marshall. Kaitlyn Chen finished with just eight but all came in the instrumental second half run, including six in the fourth.
The North Tartan EYBL U16 team was short a player that was somewhat instrumental in their success earlier in the Nike schedule. Guard Paige Bueckers is currently with the USA Basketball U17 squad preparing for World Championships coming up in Belarus. Any team is going to miss a player like Bueckers but her teammates provided plenty of evidence that they’re hardly a one man show as they claimed the EYBL U16 title with a 49 – 39 win over a competitive Missouri Phenom team that refused to go away.
North Tartan jumped out early leading 16 – 5 after one but saw their lead reduced to just seven at the half, 32 – 25. Both teams battled across the third and the folks from Minnesota used a 17 – 13 final period to hold the Phenom at bay to claim bragging rights. Lauren Jensen led the way in the win with 18 while Mallory Brake chipped in 8 more. While Phenom had nobody hit double figures they got 9 from Qierra Love and 8 from Ysabella Fountleroy.
Upsets abounded across the EYBL schedule making 2018 one of the most competitive and “up in the air” championships in the history of Nike Nationals. Below are banners for all 32 clubs and the records for their top team across three days in Chicago as well as an action image of one of their players. Of course we couldn’t let the moment pass without an image or two of KD as well. The scores will tell you that the folks in Vegas wouldn’t have been too thrilled with the unpredictable results coming from McCormick place, unless of course you call Iowa or Minnesota home!
