Mission accomplished: No. 15 Riverdale Baptist (Md.) Crusaders win Dick’s Sporting Goods High School Girls’ National Tournament

NEW YORK – Riverdale Baptist left no doubt. The Crusaders were on a mission and completed it Saturday morning.

Chania Ray earned Most Valuable Player honors, scoring 22 points and handing out four assists leading her team to a lopsided 60-35 victory over Fremont (Plain City, Utah) in the Dick’s Sporting Goods High School Girls’ National Tournament championship game at Madison Square Garden.

“Winning here was bigger for me because I’m a team leader and it’s every high school players dream to play in Madison Square Garden,” Ray said.

Fremont (25-3), which won Utah’s Class 5A championship in March, never dug itself out of a 15-0 hole to open the game. Riverdale enjoyed leads of 14, 19, 22 and 28 points, putting an exclamation mark on the title.

It is the Crusaders’ second HSNT championship, having won the title in 2012. They join Dr. Phillips (Orlando, Fla.) as the only two-time winners in six years of the event.

“For Dick’s Sporting Goods to move this game to Madison Square Garden just takes it over the top,” Riverdale Baptist coach Sam Caldwell said. “It was a great event to start and this year it went to another level.”

No. 15 Riverdale Baptist, located in the suburban Washington town of Upper Marlboro, Md., gave the Utahans little breathing room, utilizing a trapping fullcourt press and up-tempo offense that normally resulted in layups.

Besides Ray, who signed with Florida State, North Carolina State-bound Chloe Jackson tossed in 14 points and senior guard Alysha Berry added 11.

Fremont’s lone bright spot was junior Shelbee Mole’s 13 points. Fremont converted only 12 of 53 shots (22.6 percent) and committed a whopping 28 turnovers, thanks mostly to Riverdale’s 1-2-2 press and multiple defensive looks.

“I believe we have one of the best backcourts in the country with Chania Ray and Chloe Jackson,” Caldwell said. “Chania is our catalyst; she pushes the rock up the floor. Chania is known as the “Mad Bomber,” because she has a green light to shoot the three.”

Ray made 3 of 7 shots from downtown, while the team went only 3 of 16, but it didn’t matter.

Each time Fremont mounted a mini comeback, the quicker, longer Crusaders withstood the challenge.

“We wanted to light them up early,” Caldwell said.

In the third, Ray cemented her MVP credentials, scoring seven points and adding three assists. Often times she’d get an outlet pass, sprint past a defender or fire a lead pass ahead for a transition basket.

Riverdale (28-3) carried a insurmountable 45-24 edge into the final period. For the Crusaders, it was a countdown to the championship trophy presentation.

However, Fremont never backed down.

McKenzie Burrows’ jumper make it 27-17 at 7:30, the Crusaders responded with a 10-2 tear. Senior Alysha Berry beat the defense twice on leakouts and Ray blew by with another transition hoop for a comfortable 37-19 lead at the midway point.

Fremont appeared at more ease in the second period, pulling within 10 points, 22-12, at 3:38 when Rylee Thompson converted a putback.

The Crusaders were not daunted.

When Fremont reduced the deficit to nine points, 24-15, on Mole’s long 3-pointer with 54 second left, Ray countered in transition with a trey making it 27-15 at the break. Ray, who scored 12 points in the opening half, made 4 of 8 shots, including two 3s. Mole scored seven points to lead the Silver Wolves.

The Silver Wolves may have been a victim of nerves on the big stage in the first quarter they trailed, 19-8.

“It’s tough to prepare for a team like this on such short notice; they were a more complete than Miami Senior who we played in the semifinals Friday,” Fremont coach Lisa Dalebout said.

It was an inauspicious start for the Utahans and they never recovered. It took Riverdale just 20 seconds to get on the scoreboard when Ray drilled a 3-pointer from the right perimeter. In contrast, Fremont needed 4:34 to break the ice when Kealani Sagapolu dropped in a layup.

After four minutes, it was 15-0, and the rout was on. Khalia Prather was a handful in the lane, hitting three quick turnaround jumpers and exploiting the smaller, slower Fremont posts. Prather left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury but contributed seven points and four rebounds in 11 minutes.

“It was a little overwhelming in the beginning; this is Madison Square Garden,” said BYU-bound Amanda Wayment, who added five points and seven rebounds in her final prep contest.

Semifinals from Middle Village, Queens, N.Y.

NEW YORK – The basic tenets of Defense 101 are simple: Stop the ball.

With the game on the line, Chania Ray of Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) became the perfect foil. Ray took an inbounds pass in the final seconds Thursday, dashed coast to coast with a decisive layup in a 59-58 narrow victory over Edgewater (Orlando, Fla.) in the semifinals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods High School National Girls’ Tournament at Christ the King High School’s Father John Savage Memorial Gymnasium.

“The only thing I knew was to break press, pass to an open player, or take it to the basket,” said Ray, a Florida State recruit.

Ray did the latter to perfection. With Edgewater doubling Chloe Jackson following a timeout, Ray was open along the right sideline. Ray speed dribbled through a porous defense and dropped in an uncontested layup with 2.5 seconds to rally the Crusaders.

Haley Clark had given Edgewater (26-7) a 58-57 lead with 8.2 seconds left. The sleek combo guard unleashed a powerful spin move for the deuce, but Ray squashed hopes of advancing into Saturday’s championship game at Madison Square Garden.

“We just took a national team to the wire; we proved that we belonged here,” Edgewater coach Malcolm Lewis said. “We didn’t stop the ball and a great player made a great play.”

Ray scored a team-high 19 points and handed out five assists. Jackson wound up with 11 points and Khalia Prather cleared 13 rebounds (eight on the offensive glass) as the Crusaders held a decisive overall rebounding edge, 48-36, and 22-11 on the offensive end.

Senior Haley Clark dropped in 13 of her game-high 20 points in the first half when the Eagles led by as many as 15 points at 33-18. Angela Jernigan posted a double-double, with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

“In the second half, they [Riverdale Baptist] found our weakness and just started shooting and getting the offensive rebound on the miss. Prior to that they did most of their scoring from the foul line,” Lewis said.

Riverdale turned up the pressure in the third quarter, with an aggressive trapping defense. Ray dropped in three free throws with 51.4 seconds left in the third, reducing the deficit to 47-39, the closest they were since early in the second.

Things began to unravel for the Eagles, who once led by 16 points in the second half. Prather’s back-to-back short turnaround jumpers provided the Crusaders with their first lead at 53-50 with 3:37 left. Jackson’s passing and leadership during the run were instrumental.

Edgewater’s lead swelled to 10 points, 24-14, early in the early quarter before Riverdale called timeout. The deflated Crusaders walked to their bench, while Edgewater charged off the floor having secured momentum.

Clark’s steal and layup bumped the lead to 26-14 with 4:51 left in the half. After a nearly four-minute scoring drought, Elexus Davis of Riverdale scored inside to make it 28-16 at 3:31. Riverdale’s Ray limited to two points and Jackson only four.

The No. 10 Crusaders shot a woeful 25 percent (8 of 32) and committed 13 turnovers. That after halftime as they clicked on 14-of-30 shots. Edgewater’s Nyala Shuler and Tiara McMillan each scored six points in the opening half. Shuler finished with 10.

Riverdale Baptist, which won the NACA Division I title in March, was outscored 12-2 late in the first quarter and trailed, 19-12.

Semifinal, Game 2

NEW YORK – Fundamental basketball is alive and kicking here.

Just ask Fremont coach Lisa Dalebout.

“I’m obsessed with them,” she said. “We strive to be perfect. We like players dribble and shoot with both hands. We pass the ball together. We defend together and that’s the unique thing about this team.”

Amanda Wayment provided the offense with 12 points and the defense took care of the rest in the Silver Wolves’ 43-33 win over Miami (Fla.) Senior High Thursday in the semifinals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods High School National Girls’ Tournament at Christ the King High School’s Father John Savage Memorial Gymnasium.

Fremont (Plain City, Utah) goes for the championship Saturday at Madison Square Garden against Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) at 10 a.m. (ESPN2).

“We need to play our game and not worry about the atmosphere but will be excited to play there [Madison Square Garden],” senior guard Sydnee Ward said.

Fremont held the lead from start to finish, but things became interesting late.

In the final quarter, Miami cut the deficit to 10 points, 33-23, when Mompremier hit on a hook shot with 5:52 left. Mompremier dropped in two free throws with 1:23 left, making it 39-29, but Miami could not draw any closer.

The Stingarees (31-2) reduced the deficit to six points midway through the third period, but Fremont 9-1 tear to carry a 33-19 lead into the fourth. Ward (eight points) threw in a 3-point dagger and McKenzie Burrows went hard to rim for two, challenging Mompremier in the lane.

Mompremier, a 6-4 center, finished with 14 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked six shots. Miami made 12 of 49 shots for 24.5 percent.

“We knew what they were capable of and did a look job on defense,” said Wayment, a BYU recruit.

The Silver Wolves took command in the first quarter, taking a 10-5 lead. They stretched it to 18-8 by halftime as the Stingarees look discombobulated not playing in an organized since mid-February when the won Florida’s Class 8A championship.

Wayment scored eight points and Ward added five for the Utahans in the opening half. Mompremier, considered a high-major recruit, had one point and four rebounds as Fremont limited her touches in the post.

Miami only connected on 3 of 20 shots (15 percent) and were outrebounded, 27-17, in spite of a height advantage in the paint.

“You can tell these girls from Utah have been playing together for a while. Today we didn’t have a feel or a rhythm,” Miami coach Sam Baumgarten said.

Utah’s Class 5A state champions committed 22 turnovers, as Miami’s quick, athletic guards were bothersome.

“That’s concerning. We need to take better care of the basketball tomorrow,” Dalebout said.