14U Nationals Tournament – Day Four

The 14U Firecracker team emulated the success of the 13U team and advanced to the DII AAU National Championship game. Tomorrow they will try and go one step better and bring the trophy home to Maine. In today’s games the Firecrackers staged some last quarter heroics to nip the Mass Wildcats 44-42 and then stifled the Canadian National team 62-45

Game 5 Recap: Won 44-42

The Firecrackers beat the northeast power Mass Wildcats in a tightly contested game by the score of 44-42 and advanced to the Final Four. Playing another game without their starting point guard Allie Clement, this game once again displayed the depth of the team as they battled the Wildcats right to the end.

The first half was back and forth with neither team leading by more than 3 points. Quick three’s by Starbird (5pts/3 steals) and Shaw (12pts/4 rebs/3 steals) got the Firecrackers off to a good start, but the “Cats”, who started the game in a 1-2-1-1 full court zone press (back to man-to-man), changed their defense to a 1-2-2  zone. This proved to be a successful adjustment as the Firecrackers struggled finding good looks and hitting shots from the perimeter. Our “bigs” – Olivia Smith (10pts/8 rebs), Bailey Cote (3 rebs), Brianne Maloney (6pts/6 rebs) and Nina Davenport (2pts/5 rebs) battled on the interior against the taller frontcourt of the Mass team. As the horn sounded ending the first half, the Firecrackers held a slim 1pt lead (25-24).

As the second half started, both teams struggled and play was inconsistent. The Firecracker defense has been stellar all tournament and so it proved to be once again. The Wildcats entered the game averaging over 70pts a game, but were held to 42 in this contest. Despite this as the second half wore on, the Wildcats slowly began to pull away from the Firecrackers. The Firecrackers continued to have a hard time adjusting to their 1-2-2 zone. This was a defense that they had done well against all year, but on this day the shots were not falling. With eight minutes to play, the Firecrackers found themselves down by 9. For the next few minutes baskets were exchanged and they were unable to make a dent in the lead.

The tough decision in tournaments like this is balancing all the games and energy level. Knowing you have another game after this one, the question becomes when do you press? At the 5 minute mark Firecrackers picked up full court. They got the turnovers they were looking for but could not convert them into points. After timeouts by both teams, the Firecrackers finally started getting some good looks. Still with 3 minutes remaining the difference was 8pts (39-31) and to that point the Firecrackers had only scored 6pts in 15 minutes of the second half

That was all that was about to change. The defense was turned up a notch and the turnovers were converted into points. Camille Giardina stole the inbounds pass for a lay-up. Another steal and an Olivia Smith runner in the lane trimmed the Wildcat lead to 4pts. After another stop on the defensive end, Olivia Shaw hit a 3 to cut the lead to 1pt with just over a minute to play. In the ensuing excitement of Olivia’s shot however a player was lost and the Cats scored on a wide open lay-up.

With 35 seconds to play Ashley Briggs split a double team and passed the ball to Shaw who drilled the biggest of her 3 three-pointers with 22 seconds remaining to tie the game at 42. A loose ball on the Wildcat offensive end resulted in a foul by the Firecrackers. Then as if things were not exciting enough there was a little controversy. The scoreboard indicated that this was the 7th team foul, resulting in a 1 and 1 situation. However the Firecracker scorekeeper (Andrea Smith) got the referee’s attention and explained she only had 6 team fouls. Upon further review, the scorers table had the same thing thus forcing the Wildcats take the ball out on the baseline. The Wildcats called a time-out to talk over what they wanted to do.

The Firecrackers changed their defensive scheme, switching all screens, and on the ensuing play caused a turnover! It was Firecracker ball with 17.4 seconds left. Rather than call a time-out the coaching staff showed confidence in the team and did not allow the Wildcats to make and further adjustments. As the ball was brought up the floor the play was called (High Line Post), but Camille Giardina (filling in for Allie Clement) who plays for the 13u team wasn’t aware of the play and it broke down. With 7 seconds left Olivia Smith stepped off the high post and  set a screen for Ashley Briggs who pulled up for a jumper from just outside the foul line. The ball hit nothing but net with 0.8 seconds left on the clock! The bench and parents jumped to their feet – even the coach! The Wildcats called their last timeout, but the play bounced off a players hand as the clock expired.

This was just an incredible display of heart, staying together, and believing in each other.

Olivia Shaw, who had been in bed for a week prior to coming to Nationals, shook off the rust and stepped up in a big game. She hit 3 three pointers, two in the last minute of the game. Earlier in the game she was boxed out after a shot and hyper-extended her knee. She shook this off and came back and played great defense, in addition to the very clutch shooting.

Ashley Briggs had 3 fouls in the first half and had missed all of her shots prior to the game-winner. In that moment, she had the courage to take the shot, as well as the trust of her teammates. She knocked down the biggest shot of her young career.

Sam Frost played incredible defense and continues to giver her team quality minutes – she is such a competitor. And with Briggs in foul trouble in the first half, Sarah Clement had 2 big buckets to keep the Firecrackers close.

It is starting to get a bit repetitive say this, but the team defense has been really good the entire week. The girls have been playing together for years and they trust each other so much. A lot of compliments have been received both from opposing coaches and college coaches in attendance. The talk about how disciplined the Firecrackers play on defense. In fact, the Wildcat coach and the WNC coach (from the game the night before) both specifically said that no one has been able to shut them down all year like Firecrackers did.

Game 6 Recap: Won 62-45

The unbelievable journey continues. The Firecrackers got the opportunity to play on Court 1, which is the showcase floor with college coaches in attendance. Both Coach Barron (UMaine) and Coach P (Duke) were there cheering on the Firecrackers. After an agonizing day when her participation was totally in doubt, Allie Clement stepped up and played. Not only did she play, she had 20 points in leading the team to a win and into the National Championship game!

This game was never close as our defense frustrated the Canadian National team (they are ranked number 1 in Canada for their age group and at 15U) and overwhelmed them with an offensive display that they had no answer for.

Once again, this was a total team effort which started with incredible defense and ended with unselfish offensive. Great passing resulted in open shot after open shot. Alisha Starbird was on fire and finished with 10 points, and Olivia Smith dominated the paint with 10pts and 12 rebounds. Olivia Shaw continued her hot shooting by scoring 6pts on three long jumpers and the rout was on!

There was no let down, no matter who was in the game, and the energy level that was provided by each player proved to be the difference in this contest. While the game was in hand and not as emotional as game 5 the ladies are so in the games right now it is great to watch. Maloney, Cote, and Davenport just wreaked havoc on the interior and Briggs, Sarah Clement, Frost, and Giardina handled their backcourt pressure throughout the game…once again a total team effort!

Whilst looking to tomorrow playing for the National Championship against the state champion from Ohio, Coach Briggs took a few moments to reflect on how far the team has come.

“When I sat down with each player before the season to discuss their individual goals (in writing), to a person they said win the National Championship. However, it is one thing to have goals and to dream. It is another to have the opportunity to achieve it. The sacrifice’s this team has made – the practice time, the weekends, the individual workouts, the frustration, in and out of confidence…the list goes on and on. The core of this has been together for 4 years. For me, to have the opportunity to see their smiles and genuine love for each other is just an amazing feeling as a coach, and in this situation also as a Dad. It is a lot of nights and weekends away from other family members, but to have the opportunity to compete for a National Championship makes it more than worthwhile. Living in Maine, to have our 13U Firecracker team play in the National Championship game, to have the MBNation team play in the National Championship game, you can’t help but walk around with a great sense of pride on what Maine has done at Nationals. I hope people have a sense of what kind of accomplishment this is to have three teams from Maine compete at this level.

So as we prepare to take on the best Ohio has to offer tomorrow, I want to say thank you to all those that have had an impact on our success. Parents, High School coaches, the AAU Programs in Maine: Me Wave, MBNation, ME Hoops, Icebreakers, and Maniacs – you have made us better and prepared us well for this moment. You all share in our team’s success.”