There's a big game for Maja this afternoon, so I might as well clear off last week, to keep my karma positive, my mojo flowing, whatever.
Even stranger though, no pics from anything. Good thing that's the reason I show up.
Local Rec League: There was griping about keeping standings to avoid the random seeding issues of the top two teams playing in the first round of the playoffs. A whole system was put in place to report wins and losses. As I delivered the playoff brackets (FYI: and 11-team double elimination tournament is a LOT of games), it comes to light that no one reported game results nor did any other board member pushed the issue. While some potential replacements are waiting in the Biddy League wings, I'll be happy when some of these "well-intentioned" coaches have their kids move onto school ball (Where they'll be promptly cut.)
Millie: Millie's steamroller of a travel team continues to mow down the competition. I droved down 85 minutes to watch them dismantle a team six inches taller than them 49-20, and 12 of those 20 were scored in the last three minutes from one hot shooter. Only advantage of the drive back was that I could stop in at Alchemist's Cove and grab a belated Christmas/new house present for my sister and brother in law.
Locally, it was the Wolfpack's turn to play the worst team in the Kingston Rec league. Despite being down their star shooter, and playing the entire three-player bench for the whole game, it was never an issue, and 35-8 win.
It should have been awkward for Millie, as she was wrapping up the Wolfpack game while her Mt Top teammates were prepping for the a rematch of Back Mountain Holiday Classic against Dallas, but I don't think she cares about the adult drama anymore. She just wants to play and have fun, and she has more fun with her Wolfpack/AAU teammates versus her school friends. We'll see how that turns out, as she may decided NOT to play with Mt Top for the playoffs or future tournaments.
While I still stand by my words that every Dallas game is played hard from tip-off to final buzzer, there was little doubt in the outcome of this one, a 21-6 win. Millie didn't even take a shot, but she was 5-for-5 in single-handedly breaking Dallas' press. She may be done playing 6th grade with her classmates, but she's much more intrigued playing Junior High/maybe Freshmen in a few months... or cheering on her 7th/8th graders who will be her teammate next year.
7th-8th Grade Girls: The Jr High girls had a full yin and yang experience this weekend. 7th grade lost to a comparable Wyoming Valley West team, and 8th grade (3 8th-graders plus the 7th grade team) got shellacked by Valley West's 8th grade team 54-20. Fun fact: Valley West's 8th grade team also play Freshmen, and lost to Maja's team (mostly 8th grade) 45-27.
Sundays games were much better, as 7th grade won 28-12 against Lehman. Lehman's in the same boat as Crestwood, with only a 3-4 8th graders playing, so it was nearly the same match-up and a better result, 26-5, for 8th grade. Between the four games, the bench players got progressively, but my two favorite starters showed why there earned their spots on the starting-five: One averaging 12 points and 10 boards a game, the other with shutdown defense and a confirmed moniker of "Most hated girl in the league," despite only one hard foul.
Maja: Two away games last week, two more wins. A quick drive to Pittston with the slimmed down team produced solid results and a 30-point win. Perhaps my favorite game of the year, plays were executed well and Maja was credited with 6 assists, out of 8 total opportunities. I'm not happy that none of her limited shots went in, but as I talked to her since grade school, on this team, her job is shut-down defense and facilitate the offense.
Everyone was happy for the warm January, because Thursday was sequel to last year's infamous ice-game, where we drove to the furthest school on the schedule during sleet and ice, to see and complete blow-out by Maja's team, but a number of the parents got there late, and never saw the starter's come back on the court.
It was a beautiful drive with the windows down this year, and we had one parent come in after the 1st quarter. Not to worry, because the starter's played the 1st & 3rd, and the bench took most of the 2nd & 4th. There was never a doubt in the 49-11 win, but as a positive, the B & C teams off the bench won the 2nd and 4th quarters, a first all season.
Later today Maja's team will face their toughest opponent all season, the dread Lady Cougars of Hazleton. While there are players from all over the school district, the bulk of that team will come from an 8th grade AAU team that I've mentioned during the spring. From the records I could find, they were 20-4 for the spring, devastating most teams, but oddly losing to mediocre and elite teams. They lost the Cougars 30-29 in the summer league, and just ran out of gas against them in the fall (they scored seven unanswered point in the last 90 seconds to seal the deal). It's kind of a big deal for this year, and the next four, so hopefully next week's rant will be a happy one with just the right amount of ranting.
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