It’s better to have love than lost but time will tell if it was better to take have taken a whirlwind West Coast trip and lost twice.
Young freshman Linnae Harper goes strong against Mater Dei.
Photo courtesy of James Matthews
made the bold move early Friday morning, less than 10 hours after breezing to a sixth city championship on Thursday night with a 73-38 win over Bogan.
The Dolphins ventured out to take on the No. 3 and 4 teams in the country on successive nights and though her team came up short, 71-58 to Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and 56-49 to Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.),Young standout point guard Kiana Johnson thinks her team will grow from the experience.
After 22 straight wins to start the season, Young dropped to 22-2.
“We can only get better from it,” she said. “We won’t use it (travel and the lack of rest) as an excuse. We’re young and we learned a lot. We have nothing to be ashamed of in losing twice out here.”
Despite the two losses, the Dolphins dropped just three spots to No. 10
“Obviously this wasn't ideal," Young coach Corry Irvin said after her team’s loss to Mater Dei. She was referring to the long travel and short rest. “And I probably shouldn't be so hard on the girls now. But hopefully this will prepare us for the post season. I’m sure it will.”
Both nights the Dolphins showed great resolves, fighting back from double-digit deficits. When they gave up the first nine points on the second night to Poly, a route could have certainly been imminent.
But Young, without a player taller than 5-10, plays tough, scrappy and smart. It should lead them to an interesting matchup with No. 7 Bolingbrook (Bolingbrook, Ill.) in the Illinois state tournament.
Other Xcellent developments:
* Shabazz (Newark, N.J.) and Vincent (Milwaukee, Wis.) enter the rankings after Norcross (Norcross, Ga.) lost once and Cedar Hill dropped a pair of tough games against top Lone Horn State competition.
* One of Texas’ finest high school players ever, Odyssey Sims from No. 10 MacArthur (Irving, Texas) closed out her regular-season career with 26 points in a narrow win over Cedar Hill. {VIDEO_a0fc2c5c-5bb1-44fd-b6bd-e14163f06cc1,floatRightWithBar}* A team on the rise is No. 11 Redan (Stone Mountain, Ga.) which thoroughly defeated a very strong Stephenson squad. Redan takes hold of Georgia’s top spot, especially after a young but extremely talented Norcross was upset.
* Oregon City (Oregon City, Ore.) (No. 15) needed all its many parts to defeat a very strong Clackamas squad, 70-59, in one of the nation’s top games last week.
* Look for the McDonald’s All-American team squads to be announced Thursday on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Xcellent 25 National High School Girls Basketball Rankings
1. (1) St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.), 22-1
Beat Miramonte (Orinda), one of the top 10 teams in the San Francisco Bay Area, 80-44
Duke-bound Chelsea Gray had 17 points, Kendall Kenyon added 14 and Ali Gibson made four 3-pointers for 12.
2. (2) Brea Olinda (Brea, Calif.), 22-2
The Wildcats trailed most of the way against the state’s No. 7 team Troy (Fullerton ,CA), but then allowed just one field goal in the fourth quarter to pull out a 42-37 victory on Saturday. Keitra Wallace scored 12 of her 14 in the second half for Brea Olinda, which has won 16 straight since a 67-66 loss to No. 1 St. Mary’s on Dec. 21.
3. (3) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 24-1
If the Monarchs can take one thing away from Friday’s 71-58 win over then No. 7 Whitney Young, coach Kevin Kiernan would like it to be toughness.
4. (5) Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.), 21-0
The Giants have finished the regular season and once again defense is the key. They allow just 35.2 points per game. Bria Goss is one of the best juniors in the country and leads the team in points (16.0), rebounds (6.9) and steals (3.2).
5. (4) Poly (Long Beach, Calif.), 21-2
Poly once again showed toughness to win 56-49 over a had-to-be-tired Young squad, but not quite impressive enough to hold down the four spot over hard-charging and defending national champion Davis. As usual, the Jackrabbits were ultra balanced against Young as Ariya Crook-Williams had 13 points and Sheila Boykins and Tajanae Winston combined for 17. Poly jumped to a 9-0 lead but could never quite put away an equally tenacious Young squad.
6. (6) Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas), 26-1
Chiney Ogwukike had 28 points, Aarika Reyna 16 and Cassie Peoples 14 in 84-37 win over Cypress Lakes.
7. (8) Bolingbrook (Bolingbrook, Ill), 21-1
One of the country’s top sophomores Morgan Tuck continues to recover nicely from an ACL tear with 20 points and eight rebounds in a 54-41 win over Homewood-Flossmoor to win the Southwest Suburban Blue Division.
8. (9) Bergtraum (New York City, N.Y.), 18-0
Nijah Lacourt, Aziza Patterson and Janicha Diaz Carrion combined for 34 points and Bergtraum hung on to defeat a very good Manhattan Center squad 68-62. Manhattan Center upset Bergtraum last year, ending a 73-game win streak. Must wait a couple weeks to defend its 11-year stranglehold on PSAL title. In meantime, the Lady Blazer face Kennedy and Central Dauphin (PA.).
9. (10) MacArthur (Irving, Texas), 33-1
Odyssey Sims finished off stellar prep regular season career in style with 26 points as MacArthur avenged its only loss, 62-52 over Cedar Hill. Another guard, not Alexis Jones, but Khoria Newman (10 first-half points) also had a big game leading to the big victory.
10. (7) Young (Chicago), 22-2
Would like to see Dolphins play Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly with at least two days rest on neutral courts.
11. (12) Redan (Stone Mountain, Ga.), 23-0
Kierra Page had 25 points as Redan dismantled state’s No. 16 team Stephenson 71-46. It was Redan’s 50th straight win overall.
12. (11) Mt. Lebanon (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 18-2
The bench got a lot of playing times in wins of 75-39, 78-32, 50-33 and 68-19.
13. (13) Hoover (Ala.), 28-1
Hoover jumped to 16-0 lead and cruised to 54-29 win over Oak Mountain as Shannon Steinert made five of six shots and scored 12 points and Tyrese Tanner added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
14. (14) Mansfield Timberview (Arlington, Texas), 30-2
Impressive wins over Joshua (83-43) and Crowley (74-36) and Camille Redmon (17 points) and Meagan Conwright (21) supplied game-high totals.
15. (15) Oregon City (Ore.), 19-0
Needed all hands on board to knocked off 15-2 Clackamas squad 70-59. Jo Paine had 18, Brittany Knighton 16, Alisa Griggs 14 and Taylor Ward 11 in the hard-earned victory. Paine and Knighton added eight rebounds apiece and Griggs seven. Taylor Belmont added eight assists.
16. (16) Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.), 11-0
The Yellowjackets play some mean defense as shown in a 50-30 win over Central Catholic. Country Day has allowed less than 40 in six of its 11 wins.
17. (17) Midwest City (Midwest City, Okla.), 16-2
The Bombers like to play defense. Consider their opponent’s score the last eight games: 34, 22, 35, 32, 40, 33, 33, 35.
18. (19) Neptune (N.J.), 16-1
A tough 54-51 loss to No. 9 Bertraum evidently lit a fire under the Scarlet Fliers who have won seven straight by margins of 73, 27, 46, 66, 41, 40 and 44.
19. (20) Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis, Mo.), 21-1
Here’s an oddity. The Red Knights last week won games last week by scores of 59-47, 59-46, 49-40 and 49-38. Last victory was 68-34 over Jennings.
20. (22) North Little Rock (Ark.), 22-0
Had little trouble with Russellville (92-46) and now have almost doubled its season opponents with 1,564 points scored to 866 given up.
21. (23) Auburn Riverside (Auburn, Wash.), 20-0
The Ravens recorded 66-48 win over Auburn as Mercedes Wetmore, a 5-8 senior, had 25 points Taylor Wofford 16 and Brooklynn Hinkens 12.
22. (24) Lake Taylor (Norfolk, Va.), 20-0
After winning by margins of 72-17, 85-5, 94-25, the Titans had a couple nail-biters, 71-44 over Maury and 62-32 over Washington. Linda Stepney had 24 points and six assists against Washington.
23. (25) Lakeville North (Lakeville, Minn.), 20-0
The Panthers average 65 points per game and allow 40.3. Their last six scoring totals: 65, 60, 65, 69, 67 and 67. Now that’s consistent. Cassie Rochel had 25 points and was 10-for-10 from the line in a win over Chaska.
24. (NR) Shabazz (Newark, N.J.), 19-1
Aliyyah Handford had 24 points and Ka-Diedre Simmons added 16 in latest win, a 78-26 triumph over Bloomfield Tech.
25. (NR) Vincent (Milwaukee, Wis.), 15-1
Team’s only loss this season is 49-48 defeat to No. 8 Bolingbrook on Jan. 31. The Vikings are led by 6-6 center Nicole Griffin, an Oklahoma-signee.
Dropped out: No. 18 Norcross (Ga.), No. 21 Cedar Hill (Texas).
