Firecrackers knock off Jersey Cardinals and TeamXpress at US Junior Nationals

16u finishes 3-2 in Platinum Division of USJN, tied for second in pool play

After late games Thursday (4:00 PM and 9:00 PM), in which the Firecrackers fell short twice yesterday, the Mainers had a gut check moment at 9:00 AM Friday against the perennially strong Jersey Cardinals. The Firecrackers showed sound character by coming out with good energy but it didn’t pay dividends as the ball refused to drop into the twine after numerous quality shot opportunities. Trailing 6-0 early, Kelsey Shaw had a freight train finish before Katie Butler made an immediate impact upon checking into the game with an offensive rebound and put-back while having her head band ripped off. Butler scored again on a nice feed from Kelsey Shaw to make it 14-6 but the only other offense they were able to muster was a Mackenzie Holmes spin move and finish to go with 2 Jess Willerson foul shots and the Firecrackers trailed 17-11 at the half due to a 4-24 shooting slump.  Coaches from Duke, BC, American, and Marist all looked bored but the Maine kids righted the ship in the second half.

Heavily recruited Firecracker standout Emily Esposito was held scoreless in the first half but came alive in the second with a fade-away jump shot and long 3 to cut the lead to 20-19. Sierra Tapley was also shut out in the first half but nailed a 3 and 2 of her own and the Firecrackers led 29-24.

This one felt like the Firecrackers were about to bust it open after a Willerson mid range jump shot and another strong finish by Butler, but 2 treys by the Cardinals made the score 32-30 Maine. The next possession featured a Shaw miss but tremendous effort by Mackenzie Holmes to keep an offensive rebound alive by tipping it twice to herself and making a perfect pass out to Cool Hand Sierra Tapley- who calmly drained a 3 to the joy of the Firecracker fans. With the score 37-34 the Mainers set up a back door out of bounds play for Esposito on a perfect pass from Kelsey Shaw but the shot rimmed out and the Cardinals gained possession and called time out with 14 seconds to play. The all-perimeter defensive team of Butler, Fennie, Esposito, Tapley and Shaw took the court and did a tremendous job shutting down the Cardinals, who never got a shot off. Esposito led a balanced attack with 9 points (6 rebounds and 3 steals), Shaw 7(5 rebounds), Tapley 7 (3 assists), with Willerson (3 rebounds/2 blocks) and Holmes 4 each. The game was a relative grind and will not likely be seen on ESPN Classics until the Ice Bowl replay loses its ratings, but it moved the Firecrackers to 2-2 and set up a showdown with TeamXpress (TX), considered by most to be the early pool favorite due to their extreme athleticism and tenacious defense.

This game had a crowd of over 40 (mostly D1) coaches that included Maine legend Cindy Blodgett (now at BU and recruiting Fennie, Esposito, and Katie Butler) and representatives from Villanova, Marist, Assumption, American, BC, UNH, Harvard, George Washington, Bowdoin, Fordham, Maine, Richmond, Manhattan, and Quinnipiac, to name a few.

This was the best start of the tournament for the Firecrackers, who were the more aggressive team from the onset. Kelsey Shaw started the action with a patented drive and then Esposito drained a short pull up before Tapley found a familiar teammate (Shaw) since the 4th grade for a transition pull up and the score was 6-0.  The disciplined half court man of the Firecrackers frustrated the Express, who found Firecrackers rotating to help and causing forced shots or turnovers. Esposito drained a three on the next possession on a great skip pass from Alaina Birkel and then Shaw hit her third consecutive shot good for a 13-2 lead. With the starters (minus Esposito) on the bench, the second wave didn’t ease up a bit. Anna DeWolfe landed a gorgeous floater and then set classmate Mackenzie Holmes up for a basket. Holmes then snatched an offensive rebound and finished softly with her left hand over a 6’2″ TeamXpress defender and the score was 19-3. TeamXpress caught fire in the last 4 minutes, however (4 threes) and the once large lead was cut to six, 21-15.

In the second half TeamXpress dialed up the pressure with full and half court trapping and continued to chip away at the lead. The speed and physicality of the game is rarely seen in New England and was a great experience for the Mainers, though frustrating at times. While the bulk of the first half scoring came from the Firecracker post and small forwards, the second half clutch shots came from the team’s two shortest players. Sierra Tapley was a cold blooded killer late with a momentum changing 3 and a vintage jump shot while Anna “Binky” DeWolfe put on her big girl pants and grew up in front of our eyes with back to back treys when Texas had cut the lead to 3. When Emily Esposito found Jess Willerson open on the block against the half court press the Firecrackers led 34-31. With less than 2 minutes left Texas decided to foul and Tapley coolly drained 2 free throws that never hit rim but Texas converted on a traditional 3 point play to make the score 36-35 with 38 seconds left. TeamXpress called a timeout and this 16u Firecracker team came to the bench for the last time. When coach Clement saw a significant amount of blood dripping down Kelsey Shaw’s arm (she hadn’t noticed) he knew this was the moment to use the Abe Lincoln Band-Aid that he’d been carrying in his wallet all season. Like a good Down-easter, Shaw wiped the blood onto her shirt and slapped the Abe Lincoln Band-Aid on her cut. Given it was a 30 second time out there wasn’t enough time to run outside to rub dirt on it. If there was ever a time to be confident in the game’s outcome, this was it with the team less than 3 miles from the Lincoln Memorial. Clinging to a one point lead, Shaw inbounded the ball to Tapley, who reversed the ball to Esposito, who advanced it to Willerson, who found a streaking Tapley ahead of the pack for a 37-34 lead with 5 seconds left. Time expired with Texas only getting a desperation heave off.

The win moved the Firecrackers to 3-2 and in a 2nd place tie with two other teams but unfortunately they lost the point differential tiebreaker and will not move on to playoffs Saturday. Overall, going 3-2 in the Platinum Division (2nd highest division) with a young team (3 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, and 2 Freshman) was disappointing to the players but they represented Maine well against some outstanding competition. Duke and North Carolina are recruiting one of the players on Lady Charlotte and the Toronto and Texas teams had had several high division 1 prospects each. Over the last few days over 100 college coaches watched the team compete, a direct reflection on the last two Firecracker teams that built much of the program’s reputation with the current players benefiting very much from it and the future players likely benefitting even more.

Friday marked the end of the Firecracker careers for four Juniors. Jess Willerson has been in the program for 5 years and is still undecided for college with Bowdoin, Brown, Amherst, Colby, and Yale all showing interest. Sierra Tapley had 3 Division 2 scholarship offers to go with strong interest from Army and Bryant but chose to accept a D1 scholarship to play for her home state of Maine. Kelsey Shaw is being recruited by Penn and has offers from Assumption, Stonehill, and St. Michaels. Sarah Clement has been in the Firecracker program since 4th grade and was part of the inaugural team. She was unable to play this year due to her torn ACL but was on the bench this week. Sarah has verbally committed to UNH. All four players have made great contributions and will be missed.

The future of the program looks bright, however, with a very strong Junior class (Esposito, Butler, Wajer, Fennie, Birkel, Henderson) and a very strong group of sophomores and freshman.

Thanks to our parents for keeping the kids fed and uniforms washed (Karen Esposito) and thanks to “PrinciPaul” Butler for his efficient and entertaining scorebook work all year. Also, thanks to all the well wishes we received from so many people in Maine this week and all year. Finally, congratulations to the Maniacs, Blue Wave, and Renegades on their good play in DC.