USJN East Coast Clash Recap – By Fran Burbidge and Joe Costa, USJN National Evaluators

WESTMINSTER, Md — Mother’s Day weekend saw 50 teams from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware descend on western Maryland to compete in the second annual USJN East Coast Clash held on the campuses of McDaniel College and Winter’s Mill High School. The event is quickly becoming an early season destination on the eastern travel team circuit.

The championship game results:

16/17: Germantown Lady Panthers defeated the VA Belles, 75 – 40

15U: VA DSA Spartan Elite 15U defeated the Central MD Attitude, 43 – 34

14U: PV Lady Classics defeated the MD Lady Tigers, 47 – 42

13U: Philadelphia Belles (Fabbi) defeated the PA Renegades, 55 – 39

One of the many teams to stand out were Kathy Gillespie’s Germantown Lady Panthers.

Always well coached and talented this GLP team has another successful Summer to look forward too. GLP has many talented future D1 players led by Isabella Alarie 6’3 (Princeton) Alexis Gray 5’6 (Loyola, Md.), 6’3 (2017) Cara Judkins and 6’2 (2017) Victoria Crawford.

Another of the many clubs to display a wealth of talent were the Philadelphia Belles. Their 9th and 10th grade teams both went 3-0 and have D1 talent at every position on their rosters. The 8th grade team coached by Jen Fabbi and Christina Foggie won the championship going 4-0 and also have many future D1 players on their roster.

I would be remiss not to mention the Maryland Belles program led by Tom Gizzi. They are a relatively “young” program that are quickly establishing themselves as one of the premier clubs in the country.

Congratulations to all the teams and players who participated as you all showed that there is a lot of competitive and exciting basketball to look forward to this summer.

Best wishes and have a safe and fun year.

Quick Hitters…

Kimi Evans (2017, 6-2, C, Philadelphia Belles): Big, strong, moves well up and down, post moves are smooth, great at establishing low block position.

Brianna Tinsley (2017, 5-7, G, Virginia Belles): Fast in transition, heads to the hoop, in the halfcourt she has a quick first step, gets to the basket and finishes strong, regularly draws contact resulting in free throws.

Chyna Latimer (2017, 5-10, G, Maryland Belles): Good length with nice mid-range shot who has the ability to get to the basket and finish.

Jasmine Dickey (2018, 5-10, F, MD Lady Tigers 2018): Athletic, quick off her feet, solid post moves, can score inside.

Celeste Taylor (2019, 5-10, G, Philadelphia Belles): Rangy, quick, scrappy, runs the floor and plays hard, all the time. Keep an eye on this one.

Kiyana Jefferson (2019, 5-10, F, Philadelphia Belles): Has done major work in the off season on her game and her maturity, long arms and quick feet allow her to guard anyone on the floor, is developing a strong mid to low post game.

Naomi Shorts (2019, 5-5, G, Philadelphia Belles): Stronger with the ball this year, attacks the hoop to score, takes big shots, anticipates well and is very aggressive defensively.