April Sykes of Essence gets around Brittney
Griner of DFW

"If she blocks you - oh well," said Sykes, the Mouth of the South from Crawford, Miss., and ranked second among 2008 prospects by HoopGurlz.com. "She's tall. She's supposed to block shots."

Just to reinforce, Sykes in quick order backed her way in for a layup, hit a turnaround jumper from the elbow and executed an up-and-under move that led to a three-point play. Tiffany Hayes, a Connecticut commit, already had downed a three when she blew by Griner for a second time. Essence went up by 11 points, just five minutes into the game. The two would combine for 39 points and the game would not again be in question as Essence cruised to a 61-49 victory over DFW on Wednesday to win the overall championship at Basketball on the Bayou.

To pull off such a thorough and, yes, somewhat surprising whopping, Essence had to be astute observers of DFW's semifinal victory over the Tennessee Flight Silver, which had won three straight tournament titles coming into this event. In that one, Griner delivered an estimated 18 blocks and Brooklyn Pope, the No. 14 player in 2008, tallied 23 mostly scintillating points. Essence neutralized Griner with sheer hutzpah, playing you-can't-block-what-you-can't-catch, and took out Pope with a one-two punch of Sykes' physical offense at one end and Oklahoma commit Whitney Hand's never-back-down defense at the other.

Destini Hughes of DFW

All that was left was for Essence to ensure that Griner did not get going on offensive, particularly with momentum-crushing, second-chance opportunities. To that end, Essence played defenders behind Griner, to keep her high up the lane, and had help waiting if she got the ball. A lot of the heavy lifting was performed by Chelsey Lee, who returned to action after resting her tendonitis-wracked knees all week. But even Sykes, perhaps the strongest guard in the country but still only 5-11, took a turn at rooting Griner off the boxes. Griner went scoreless for the first 11 minutes of play and finished with six points.

"The girl is big," Sykes said. "What more can I say?"

The way Sykes orchestrated most aspects of the Essence attack spoke volumes. Sykes set the tone with physically spectacular scores or timely three-pointers, then spent much of the second half leading the defense on wild-goose chases and finding teammates for open looks. Hayes, the tournament MVP who had a game-high 20 points, was a major beneficiary and she, like Sykes, hit a trio of three-pointers. Another was Hand, incidently, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, who had nine of her 12 points during the first 6:13 of the second half to stake Essence to its biggest lead, 22 points.

Tournament MVP Tiffany Hayes

Essence would not even have sniffed the title had it not been for Hayes, the 5-9 whippet from Winter Haven, Fla. Her team was trailing the Louisville Legends by one with eight seconds left in the quarterfinals, but she got Louisville commit Monique Reed to bite on a ball fake and swept to the basket for a game-winning layup just ahead of the buzzer. The game, during which Essence trailed by 12 at halftime, caused the team to "recommit to trusting each other," according to coach Kimberly Davis Powell. That recommitment, plus taking advantage of early foul trouble by marvelous guard Shekinna Stricklen, allowed Essence to get by the Arkansas Mavericks, 67-49, in the semis.

DFW, meanwhile, pounced on the Houston Hotshots 61-43, then took a hotly contested, 64-59 decision from the Flight in which sparks continued to fly between the coaching staffs afterward.

The team from Dallas-Fort Worth seemed to have the goods, between stalwarts Pope and Destini Hughes, the No. 19 overall prospect in 2008, and young Baylor commits Griner and Odyssey Sims, neither of whom will be eligible to compete with the team at Nike Nationals. However, "this was a matchup I wanted bad," Sykes said. And a star with an agenda can never be underestimated.

Essence (61) - Tiffany Hayes 20, Jasmine Wynne 2, April Sykes 19, Crystal Johnson 2, Chelsey Lee, Erica Wheeler 6, Whitney Hand 12, Chantel Hillard, J'quyra Blue.
DFW Elite Black (49) - Brooklyn Pope 8, Odyssey Sims 12, Teranie Thomas 2, Nicole Terrell 3, Kierra Mallor, Destini Hughes 13, Natalia Smith 5, Reagan Soldnier, Brittney Griner 6.

Bayou champions Essence

Click Here [1]