Decided to dust off the blog and headed over to UST's Schoenecker Arena for the 2016 Inner City Classic All-Star game on this sunny but cool mid-May Sunday afternoon. I've been putting in a lot of hard work on and off the tennis court lately to prepare for the summer tournament season so my body's very thankful for a day off to cover this event.
The two teams for the Girl's contest were divided up as follows:
Team Faith: Head Coach Crystal Flint
Suzanne Gilreath - Fridley (Wisconsin)
Andrayah Adams - St. Paul Como Park (St. John's)
Ashley Bates - Hopkins (Hampton)
Aleya Parker - Apple Valley (undecided)
Tyrah Spencer - Bloomington Kennedy (North Dakota State)
Keyia Parker - Minneapolis Southwest (Waldorf)
Arianna Jones - Osseo (Augsburg)
U. U. Long - Cooper (NIACC)
Khalilah Holloway - Minneapolis Southwest (NIACC)
Lashayla Ponder - Bloomington Kennedy (South Dakota)
Team Truth: Head Coach Tanysha Scott
Nia Hollie - Hopkins (Michigan State)
Kiarra Russell - Osseo (Arizona State)
Camryn Speese - DeLaSalle (undecided)
Abby Wilgers - Benilde St. Margaret's (St. Olaf)
Alaina Jarnot - Maranatha Christian Academy (Monmouth)
Teja Bodden - DeLaSalle (undecided)
Aiza Wilson - DeLaSalle (Presentation)
K'aezha Wubben - Hopkins (Augsburg)
Jazinae Patterson - Washburn (Northwestern)
Tera Nay Lee - Minneapolis Southwest (Tennessee State)
As you can imagine, the concept of defense is not at the forefront in any all-star contest as this is an opportunity for the players to showcase their offensive skills and shooting. An offensive rebound and
putback by Bates got the Faith team out in front 2-0 at the 19:18 mark as the Truth team struggled in the early going to find offensive cohesiveness. A lay-up by Osseo's Russell at the 18:19 mark ended that early drought. Still, a three-point bomb by Como's Adams helped extend the Faith's lead to 9-4 by the 16:17 mark and it looked as if Team Truth might be in for a tough go of it. But consecutive baskets by Hollie and Russell trimmed Team Faith's lead to 9-8 by the 15:05 mark. A Bodden lay-up gave Team Truth its first lead at 10-9 and a jumper by Patterson along with one free throw by Jarnot had Team Truth up 13-11 by the 12:54 mark. Team Faith got a big boost, however, when Apple Valley's Parker nailed a "3" from the left corner that helped spark a mini push to give Team Faith the lead back at 19-17 at exactly the 10:00 mark. Kennedy's Ponder took in a no-look pass for an easy bucket a bit later and before you knew it Team Faith was now up 24-19 at the 9:11 mark. A bit later, Ponder was the recipient of a pretty no-look pass in transition that helped give Team Faith a 28-21 advantage with 7:51 left in the first half. A Gilreath lay-up in transition at the 7:20 mark got the lead to 30-21 before Wubbens finally got the lid off the basket for Team Truth with 6:55 left. Team Faith, however, was not letting its foot off the gas pedal anytime soon as an easy lay-up by Bates got Team Faith a ten-point 35-25 lead with 5:00 left in the first half and that lead was extended to thirteen points at 40-27 with 2:40 left. A Bodden jumper from along the right baseline helped Team Truth bite into the deficit a bit with under a minute left as did her offensive rebound and putback with :10 left but Team Faith still held a relatively comfortable 43-33 lead at the half.
A Holloway lay-up had Team Faith going in the right direction at the beginning of the second half and a Holloway offensive rebound and putback extended Team Faith's lead to 49-33 by the 18:31 mark. Team Truth's Hollie got her team points with her short shot at the 18:20 mark and a Jarnot three-point bomb from the right corner helped Team Truth cut the deficit down to eleven at 49-38. A Hollie drive and finish at the 15:49 mark that drew a foul and sent her to the line for the obligatory freebie had Team Truth back to within single digits trailing 49-42 but a 9-0 spurt by Team Faith; highlighted by scores from Adams, got the lead back to twelve at 58-46 by the 13:45 mark and a lay-up in transition by the always-reliable Bates made it a 60-47 game and now Team Truth was back to the drawing board once again. A short Hollie jumper off the glass helped Team Truth forge a bit of a spurt as they got back to within single digits trailing 63-56 at the 10:06 mark and a Wubben lay-up helped draw Team Truth closer trailing 63-58 at the 9:35 mark and gave cause from Team Faith's Head Coach Crystal Flint to call a timeout to talk about things with her team. A "3" by Kennedy's Spencer helped Team Faith find its way again as they extended the lead back to ten points at 71-61 with 8:00 left. With time starting to become a bit of a factor, the big question for Team Truth coming down the stretch was if they had one more run left in them that could get things close again. A three-point bomb by Hollie from the right wing area with 6:33 left seemed to indicate a positive answer for Team Truth as did a jumper from the right elbow by Jarnot with 5:56 left. An offensive rebound and putback by Speese with 5:01 left helped Team Truth get back to within single digits yet again trailing 76-68 and Team Truth had several opportunities to draw closer but could not cash in when it counted most. Scores by Holloway and Adams got Team Faith's lead back to ten at 80-70 with 2:00 left and a Holloway lay-up in transition with 1:50 left made it 82-70 which effectively extinguished any realistic hopes Team Truth may have had. Free throws by Bates with 1:14 left and a Ponder lay-up with just under a minute left were the finishing touches on a 89-73 victory by Team Faith in a contest that was enjoyed by all participants and fans alike.
