By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
1. Big Houston Showdown Goes to Nimitz
Rarely do girls basketball games draw more than 6,000 fans in Texas, but this was clearly different. This was a showdown not only of Xcellent 25 teams but of the two top-ranked girls players in the country from the class of 2009: 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner (No. 21 Nimitz) and 6-5 Kelsey Bone (No. 17 Dulles). Though Griner fouled out midway through the third quarter, her supporting cast was that much better to pull out a 76-59 5A Regional semifinal. Griner had 27 points, eight blocks, seven rebounds and two dunks. Bone had 26 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. “This was a neat thing to be a part of,” Dulles coach Doug Lechtenberger told the Houston Chronicle. Griner had 22 points, seven rebounds and seven blocks the next night against Bellaire to win the regional final.
2. Sidney, Fairfax Defeated
While everyone assumed nationally-ranked Fairfax and Westchester would meet again, this time for the Los Angeles City Section championship, Taft (25-3) just kept improving. Taft shocked No. 16 Fairfax and McDonald’s All-American Renardo Sidney 67-45 in the semifinals. The USC-bound Sidney, a 6-10 post, had just 13 points while Michael Williams and Justin Hawkins combined for 43 for Taft. Westchester, led by another USC-bound athlete Dwayne Polee Jr. (16 points, 10 rebounds), also moved into the finals with a 71-56 win over Cleveland (Reseda). Fairfax is still eligible for a Southern California Division I at-large berth.
3. Top Dog Bitten Four Times
The girls soccer team at Foothill (Pleasanton, Calif.), ranked No. 1 in the country by ESPN, was at the top of its game for 64 minutes on Saturday. The Falcons looked unbeatable and untouchable. But what occurred in the final 20 minutes of play against three-time defending North Coast Section 3A champion San Ramon Valley (Danville) is still being talked about around the Bay Area. Thankfully, we were there for this report.
4. Old School
The Oklahoman did a terrific piece on the Sooner State's most experienced basketball coaches, including Joe Gilbert (Barnsdall), Jim Walling (Earlsboro), Janith Johnson (Star Spencer) and Jerry Johnson (Bethel) have a combined 134 years of coaching experience in the state and Ryan Aber did a bang up job weaving in their belief, history and philosophies.
5. More Houston, More Ogwumike
The other big news out of Houston was that previous No. 25 College Park (The Woodlands) was defeated in the 5A Region II finals by defending state champion Cy-Fair 71-54 as junior Chiney Ogwumike went off for 37 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks. Ogwumike is the younger sister of Nnemkadi Ogwumike, last year’s MaxPreps National Player of the Year who is now a big contributor at Stanford. Chiney was pretty good in the quarterfinals with 23 points, including a game-winning shot, and 23 rebounds. Cy-Fair (32-3) now looks to defend its state title next weekend starting with semifinal play on Friday.
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National High 5 is a regular feature highlighting the top high school sports news and features on the Net. Let us know if there’s some keen and interesting reads that we’ve missed. E-mail mstephens@maxpreps.com and/or sspiewak@maxpreps.com.
