CHANDLER, Ariz.— One of the great traditions of the holiday season lies not in a church, the mall or even at a really bad Christmas party. The annual Nike Tournament of Champions is the gift that keeps giving and each year players, coaches, recruiters and the majority of the girls basketball world look forward to descending on Chandler, Arizona for some of the season’s finest basketball. Day one of the 18th version of the event is in the books and 84 teams have their first game under their belts. Players from 17 states, the District of Columbia and Canada highlight the lineup this year competing in six different divisions over the course of four days of competition.
The opening round in the high profile Joe Smith Division looked somewhat like a Walmart after the Black Friday rush on cheap TV’s. The average margin of victory ballooned to an uncharacteristically high 21.2 point difference over the first eight contests. For complete results for day one in the Smith as well as the other divisions follow the link below for scores and match ups in Friday’s second round.
http://www.niketournamentofchampions.com/events/pdfs/TOCBB14_results3.pdf
Things at Hamilton High School got off on an exciting note with Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) facing Skyline High School (Dallas, Texas).The road was tough from the outset for the Texans as they were without injured standout performer Alexandria Gulley. UConn bound and top 2015 performer Katie Lou Samuelson did her part to make sure the Monarchs capitalized on the opportunity by pouring in 41 points. On her way to that total Samuelson knocked down 10 threes leading the way to a 67 – 34 win and a match up with Fremont (Fremont, Neb.) in round two.
Fremont punched their ticket to round two on the shoulders of future Nebraska Cornhusker Jessica Shepard. The 6-3 power player is ranked third nationally and just to keep pace with Samuelson tossed in 38 points in a hard fought win over Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.). O’Dowd got some quality play from senior Kansas signee Aisia Robertson as well as sophomore Myah Pace.
Parkview (Lilburn, Ga.) had no trouble with overmatched Cleveland High School (Seattle, Wa.) coasting to a 67 – 32 win in the day’s third game. Raven Johnson, a 5-10 junior guard, offered up some impressive play in the win with her athletic drives deep into the paint as well as some good looks from pull ups. Cleveland had no answers for the Panthers struggling to take care of the ball and to find any offensive consistency. Parkview moves on to face Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.) who claimed what might be considered an upset win over Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.). The Tigers claimed the win with a 58 – 49 edge earning a 4:40 tipoff Friday with Parkview.
Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.) did what Poly has always done. They overwhelmed Hillsboro (Hillsboro, Ore.) with intensity, depth and a relentless defense. Jumping out to a monstrous early lead they never looked back and used wave, after wave of pressure to set up a great second round match up with St. Mary’s (Stockton, Calif.) by way of a 66 – 33 win.
Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) provided easily the most exciting game of the day going to overtime before the Thunder nailed down the win for the host state. Both teams had plenty of opportunities to claim the win down the stretch of regulation but turnovers and questionable shot selection led to the additional period of play. It also didn’t hurt DV that the Panthers had no answer for California signee Kristine Anigwe. The 6-4 post looks stronger than ever and has an assertiveness to her play that many of her peers should take note of. Anigwe’s efforts were college caliber and set her apart from the crowd. Dillard had their own force getting impressive play out of junior 5-11 forward Jacira Allen. Allen is physical and aggressive in creating her shots plus has absolutely no hesitation about mixing things up inside.
By virtue of their 68 – 58 win, Desert Vista gets a date with Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) on Friday. The Blaze got a solid but challenging win over host Hamilton High School (Chandler, Ariz.). Crystal Dangerfield offered up an eye opening performance for the crowd as well as the Hamilton defense. The 5-6 early UConn commit scored effectively both from the perimeter and off the drive. Blackman has a deep and experienced roster having won a National Championship last season and held off the feisty, young Huskies 57 – 44. Hamilton 5-11 freshman Maddie Fredricks was effective from the perimeter but created off penetration as well.
The final game of the day was the earlier mentioned St. Mary’s (Stockton, Calif.) win over Southwest DeKalb (Decatur, Ga.). Just like their opponents Friday, Long Beach Poly, St. Mary’s makes a living off their defense. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Coach Tom Gonsalves has a focused, athletic and intense group that forced turnover after turnover leading to an 87 – 56 win. As always St. Mary’s is deep and the roster is actually young with just two seniors. High profile freshman Aquira DeCosta demonstrated some tools that should keep her among the elite in the class as time goes by. Junior wing Kat Tudor had some moments in limited time as did several other players rested down the stretch by the coaching staff. Daisa Alexander was the one consistent scoring threat in the loss for Southwest DeKalb. The St. Mary’s – Long Beach Poly 3:20 game Friday is not one to miss.
