YDF: Semifinal Update

By Chris Hansen
Director of Scouting
Posted Sat, 06/16/2007 - 13:09 Blue and White advance to the Gold Medal game behind some impressive individual and team performances in Colorado Springs.

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PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -As expected the USA White team on the heals of their 3-0 performance in round robin play, breezed past the Brazilian team for a spot in the Gold Medal game. They will move on to face the USA Blue team who, behind a fantastic first half of shooting, took an insurmountalbe lead over USA Red and earned their spot to play the White team for a second time and this time for the Gold.

USA Blue had six players in double figures and everyone on the team scored. They shot an astonishing 54 percent from behind the arc in the first half and stormed out to lead that reached as much as 30 points. They hit a rythym in the second quarter shooting the ball and what started with Alyssa Brewer knocking down three three-pointers in the first half led to Alicia Manning knocking down eight of 11 shots in the game tying for the team high with 18 points. It was a very impressive performance for Manning as she had as effective of a game scoring as she has all week and took only 11 shots. Before the game she said she had been battling some headaches and fatigue from altitude but was able to treat it with whirlpools and Advil. She definitely had a spring in her step.

Also playing her best game of the festival was Alyssia Brewer who finished with 11 points, made three of six three-pointers and mopped up every rebound in her vicinity, finishing with 15 rebounds. She also blocked four shots and they were highlight reel type blocks. In defeat Brooklyn Pope also got in on the block party, twice swatting the shot of hyper-athletic forward Glory Johnson. Also playing well in the loss was DeNesha Stallworth, who's effort and toughness along with some impressive post moves caught some major attention despite being somewhat unknown outside of California.

Tomorrow morning both the Gold and Bronze medal games will be played and these tired superstars will lace them up one more time at nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. All the teams have tired legs but what may be the key in the Gold Medal game may be getting the ball to the bigs inside, which has been vastly utilized. Ayana Dunning, Ashley Gayle and Chay Shegog will continue doing battle inside and will draw the likes of Kelsey Bone, Lynetta Kizer and Monique Oliver.

Note: USA White point guard Ashley Corral was up and walking around this evening after receiving some treatment. She smiled and said she'd be alright after rolling her ankle this morning. Luckily it was not the surgically repaired ankle that was injured and the training staff and treatment center here at the USA Olympic Training Center is on top of it.

 

SATURDAY MORNING RECAP-The Thrill Is Back

After two gruelling, sometimes mundane days here at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, showtime finally arrived. Make that "Showtime," as in Showtime Sammy Prahalis, the sleight-of-hand point guard out of Commack, N.Y.

Prahalis has been the starting point guard on the Youth Development Festival's dominant team, U.S. White, but through the first couple of rounds had been upstaged by her own teammates - Ashley Corral of Vancouver, Wash., and top-flight 2009 guard Skylar Diggins of South Bend, Ind. Not only was the Long Islander's usual inspired magic missing from the flow, she at times looked downright lethargic and admitted feeling such.

Nothing like a three-pointer here, a no-look pass or twisting, contorting finish there to get the juices running again. Almost like an alter ego of the fine but uninspired point guard of the first two days, this was the Prahalis who'd made her mark at New York City playgrounds with her verve and entertaining style. Behind Prahalis' 15 points, six assists and three steals, U.S. White forestalled a monumental upset bid and cruised past the 1-2 U.S. Blue squad 93- 78 on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, Nneka Ogwumike of Cy-Fair, Texas, had 19 points and Minneapolis wunderkind Tayler Hill added 12 as U.S. Red became the third straight squad to manhandle Brazil, winning 87-66.

In addition to overall good judgment, Prahalis demonstrated an exceptional sense of timing. Not only did U.S. Blue jump out to a shocking, 15-point lead after the first quarter, U.S. White suffered a setback when Corral turned her left ankle, likely leaving her out for the rest of the event. Fortunately for the 5-foot-9 point guard, the ankle was not the one that had been surgically repaired in March.

The White-Blue game also saw the best inside play of the event so far, headlined by a clash between the two top-ranked posts in 2008 - Lynetta Kizer of Woodbridge, Va., and Ayana Dunning of Columbus, Ohio. Kizer had nine points and eight boards for the victors, while Dunning four points and 10 rebounds for U.S. Blue. It was a ferocious clash after which the two joked with each other about the physical play. U.S. White also got 13 points from Monique Oliver of Las Vegas and eight rebounds from Kelsey Bone of Stafford, Texas. Chay Shegog of Stafford, Va., had a solid inside game for U.S. Blue with 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

Mostly, Samantha Prahalis is back and the thrill no longer is gone from these games.

A USOC trainer and U.S. White coach Caryn Jarocki examined the injured left
ankle of Ashley Corral

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Glenn Nelson is the publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams. Glenn previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work also has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here. He can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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