As far as national acclaim, Whitney Young’s girls basketball season comes down to the next two nights far away from home in California.
The small, but lightning-quick squad out of Chicago is No. 7 nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and tonight the Dolphins (21-0) take on No. 3 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) in the premier game of Mater Dei’s own Nike Extravaganza.
Mater Dei guard Jordan Adams has major chores against Young.
File photo by Dirk Dewachter
If the very young squad, which features just two seniors, can pull that upset, they then get No. 4 Long Beach Poly (19-2) on Saturday. Not only will Young be playing for themselves, but largely the rest of the country, too. There is a block at the top of the Xcellent 25 rankings with California squads, which dominated the Nike Tournament of Champions in December.
The four California teams at the top – St. Mary’s (Stockton), Brea Olinda (Brea), Mater Dei and Poly – have all played each other and the games were all decided by a basket or two.
If Young can score a victory either night, that will likely break up that block party. By all indications, the Dolphins have the team to do it. Young won its sixth Chicago city championship on Thursday in absolutely dominating fashion with a 73-38 win over Bogan.
As usual, the Dolphins had someone different step up, this time Kiana Johnson, a 5-foot-6 junior point guard who drilled four 3-pointers in the first quarter when she scored 14 of her game-high 16. Johnson added six rebounds and three steals and the Dolphins, as they are prone to do, forced 26 turnovers.
Bryeasha Blair, a 5-5 junior, added 14 points and Linnae Harper, a 5-9 freshman point guard, contributed 13 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. {VIDEO_5f18bb6c-aff0-478c-bd92-31fd5ed9dc23,floatRightWithBar}
“From our scouting reports, Young is extremely athletic, tenacious and they can shoot the 3-pointer,” Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan said. “That’s a tough combination to play against.”
The Dolphins lost four starters off last year’s 10th-ranked team that finished 32-2, including three 6-footers. Their tallest players this season, according to their roster, are four girls at 5-10, including sophomore captain Gillian Asque. With 15 players on the roster, the Dolphins are deep and all of them can run. Their 35-point victory Thursday was the largest margin in a city championship game in 12 years. They had to hop on a plane and make a quick one-day trip to Orange County.
“I think we are the best-conditioned team in the state,” Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Our pressure is based off our conditioning and shape.”
Kienan said his Monarchs (23-1) probably haven’t seen the pressure Young will present, except for perhaps St. Mary’s of Stockton, which they beat 66-60 in the championship game of the Nike TOC.
Young must slow down Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.
File photo by Dirk Dewachter
Mater Dei is led by National Player of the Year candidate Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, a 6-foot junior, and sophomore point guard Jordan Adams, who will be under the gun against the Dolphins. The Monarchs are missing two starters, defensive specialist Lauren Rock (out for the year with ACL tear) and its top big girl, Alexys Vaioletama, out indefinitely with stress fractures on both legs.
Mater Dei was No. 1 all season until a 47-43 loss to defending state champion and No. 2 Brea Olinda on Jan. 18. Since then, the Monarchs have won six straight.
“We got outplayed that night and had no excuses,” Kiernan said. “Since then we’ve re-tooled and played very well. We’ll have to play our best (tonight) to get the victory.”
Look for our coverage all weekend here from the Nike Extravaganza.
Xcellent 25 National High School Girls Basketball Rankings
1. (1) St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.), 21-1
Evidently no lasting effects from an ankle injury against Berkeley for All-American Chelsea Gray, who had a game-high 23 points in a 99-60 win over a strong Modesto Christian squad (17-2) last week. Kendall Kenyon had 18 for the winners, who had 58 points by halftime.
2. (2) Brea Olinda (Brea, Calif.), 20-2
Had its second straight competitive game with a 68-54 win over a strong Villa Park team that entered 16-4.
3. (3) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 23-1
Three wins last week included tough tussle with strong Santa Monica team, 69-57. Beat a strong 17-4 Santa Margarita team, ranked 28th in the state, 67-38 on Wednesday. Now prepares for seventh-ranked Young (Chicago) in Nike Extravaganza.
4. (4) Long Beach Poly (Calif.), 19-2
Hardly the meat of the team’s schedule lately after wins of 71-27, 76-20 and 72-19 against teams with combined records of 22-39.
5. (5) Ben Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.), 21-0
After 56-39 win over Franklin Central, the Giants scored huge 58-44 win over state’s ninth-ranked team Carmel as Bria Goss had 17 points and Dee Dee Williams, coming off an ankle injury, added 11. The Giants then rolled over Brebeuf Jesuit Prep 85-38.
6. (6) Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas), 25-1
Chiney Ogwukike, Cassie Peoples and Aarika Reyna combined for 45 points in a 68-32 win over Cypress Creek.
7. (7) Whitney Young (Chicago), 22-0
The Dolphins won their fifth Chicago city championship in six years with a 73-38 victory over Bogan as Kiana Johnson scored 14 in the first quarter and finished with 16 in the game. She made four 3-pointers in the first quarter.
8. (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. The Raiders played without star point guard Ariel Massengale (out with an illness) and top reserve Falon Edwards, out for the year with an ACL tear.
9. (9) Murry Bergtraum (New York City), 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.
10. (10) MacArthur (Irving, Texas), 30-1
Odyssey Sims put on a display they’ve gotten used to in the Lone Star State with 36 points in a huge 67-57 win over No. 23 Duncanville. Sims helped her team come back from a 12-point first-half deficit.
11. (11) Mount Lebanon (Pittsburgh), 17-2
The bench got a lot of playing time in wins of 75-39, 78-32, 50-33 and 68-19.
12. (12) Redan (Stone Mountain, Ga.), 19-0
Without question, the most consistent offensive team in the Xcellent 25. The Raiders have scored between 60-69 points in 13 of their 19 games, including the last four: 61, 64, 63 and 67. Odd.
13. (13) Hoover (Birmingham, Ala.), 25-1
The Buccaneers had their closest game in a month with a 47-38 win over Midfield, which managed just four points in the final quarter. Tyrese Tanner led the winners with 11. It was back to lopsided business as Chardonae Fuqua had 18 points and Kanesha Burch 13 in a 72-21 win over Clay-Chalkville.
14. (14) Timberview (Mansfield, Texas), 28-2
Impressive wins over Granbury (74-48), Stephenville (60-44) and Seguin (62-46) as Maegan Conwright, a 5-9 senior guard, continues to lead the team in scoring at 14.9 per game.
15. (16) Oregon City (Ore.), 18-0
Taylor Belmont had 12 points and 11 assists, and Tiffani Brewer led all scorers with 21 points in a 86-19 win over Putnam. The Pioneers came back with a more competitive 57-40 win over West Linn as Belmont had 10 more assists.
16. (17) 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. (18) Midwest City (Okla.), 15-2
The Bombers like to play defense. Consider their opponents' scores the last seven games: 34, 22, 35, 32, 40, 33, 33.
18. (19) Norcross (Ga.), 17-2
Freshmen Kaela Davis and Diamond DeShields, daughters of former professional athletes, are looking awfully seasoned at this point, which is bad news for the rest of Georgia.
19. (20) Neptune (N.J.), 19-1
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.
20. (21) Incarnate Word (St. Louis, Mo.), 20-1
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.
21. (22) Cedar Hill (Texas), 22-3
After wins by 50, 17 and 41, the Longhorns have big game with previous No. 23 Duncanville Friday.
22. (24) North Little Rock (Ark.), 21-0
Balance is the key for the Charging Wildcats as it showed in 75-34 win over Van Buren. Jerica James led the team with 12 points, Markisha Hawkins and Lexus Williams 11 and Rebnecia Taylor 10.
23. (25) Auburn-Riverside (Auburn, Wash.), 19-0
Had first competitive game for almost a month in 63-49 win over Kentlake as Mercedes Wetmore had 22 points, Kat Cooper 12 and Taylor Wofford 10.
24. (NR) Lake Taylor (Norfolk, Va.), 19-0
The Titans have won their last three games 72-17, 85-5 and 94-25. Earlier they won a game 111-8. If that’s not bad enough, in the Norfolk area last week, Highland Springs beat Armstrong 77-0 – and the Armstrong coach Mike Wilson, whose team didn’t field a team in 2007-08 for lack of numbers, told Hamptonroads.com he didn’t have a problem with it. “I’m trying to teach them the game,” he said. “We pressed man-to-man. We got some steals and turnovers. I want teams to play us.”
25. (NR) Lakeville North (Lakeville, Minn.) 19-0
The Panthers average 65 points per game and allow 40.3. They were right on par with that with over Lakeville South (65-49), Eagan (69-47) and Kennedy (67-41). Cassie Rochel had 25 points in both wins over Eagan and Kennedy.
Dropped out: No. 15 South Broward (Hollywood, Fla.) No. 23 Duncanville (Texas).
