With Millie's season done, and Maja's AAU practices getting pre-empted by JV and Varsity games Tuesday and Thursday, we're simply counting down the last THREE tournament weekends for Maja's 15U team.
This past weekend, the team headed into familiar and annoying territory. The pinnacle of Greek-themed sports complexes in New Jersey.... "Sportika" for the Hoop Group NJ Jam Fest. For a very long time we've had little desire to attend. It's 30 minutes from any hotel, although the only nearby food is a very convenient Wawa. The tournaments have been substandard, with not only total routs of the pool play by Millie's and Maja's age groups over the years, but I believe our current Varsity girls won their their first Varsity tournament at Spooky Nook.... and 8th graders!
I was impressed and relieved to see that not only did Hoop Group attract a number of reputable programs, but a number of "shoe teams" sponsored by the likes of Nike, Adidas, and New Balance. Being a sponsored team doesn't always mean quality.
The format was also different. Gone was pool play, replaced by a bracket conceived by somebody. Four wins gets you the championship. If you lost all your games, you were only guaranteed two. If you won at least one game, you were guaranteed three.
The kids were with their mom and had already arrived at the Jersey Shore for an morning/afternoon of fun before the 7pm game on Saturday. I took advantage of the late time and ventured down to The Portal in Bethlehem for #FreeRPGDay.
I took my sweet time, enjoying the drive down despite the heat wave, and I was very happy there was still plenty of stuff when I got there. a
Even thought the store manager had an "anything goes" approach to the promotion, with no rationing, I held back a little and only grabbed five items, and some dice. I believe I can get use out of all of them.
I took as relaxing a trip to Jersey as I could and arrived with plenty of time to refuel at Wawa and see Maja's team take on the Palisades Elite.
I know we've played them before but they're not on the any of the seasons I kept score. The game was tight, and it involved a ridiculous number of rebounds (39 combined fouls between the two teams) and over 30 free throw attempts (16 went in) to earn a six point win over them.
We returned to the same court at 9pm for the second game. Rather.... we waited until 9:45pm to start and played well past 11pm against one of the teams we trounced in Scranton in early April. That same result would not happen. While some of the girls from the April game were on the roster, they certainly retooled and got a lot better. They went on a 12-2 run late in the game to overtake the lead and held on to win 53-48.
Realizing there were zero hotels available, I took a late night drive into Philly to stay at my sisters place, only to need to leave a 7am to catch their morning game against the NYC Gauchos (a sneaker team) to move into the fourth (championship round).
Things were incredibly close. A total of 17 made 3-pointers in the 1st half alone kept things interesting, although Maja's team was down 33-32 at half.
In the 2nd half, Maja's team outscored the Gauchos 33-9, turning a close game into a 65-42 blowout.
For the afternoon championship we played one of the Nike programs, the Jersey Gemz. It took some searching but I realized we played the same program last year in Atlantic City, with a horribly depleted roster, losing 50-22.
This time it was a grinder in the 1st half, with the Gemz only having a 19-18 lead. In the second half, they built their lead as high as eight, but the offenses traded baskets over and over, until the 3-pointers and a few select steals ate away and that lead, and with less than two minutes remaining, Maja's team was up by four. It was intense, but a 58-50 victory over another sneaker tea (who did have two championships that weekend in other divisions) was quite impressive.
Oh yeah, did I mention their team did it without two players, including the only girl on the team with a D-I offer.
Our Hoop Group PA Jamfest and NJ Jamfest Champions:
School Ball Update: Maja's getting plenty of Varsity time, and Millie's thriving playing JV (mostly with Maja). JV had a chance to win it in the final seconds, Maja hit a crucial shot, but a floor foul in bonus let foul shots win the game. I also got to see the 7th/8th grade team (sans Millie, but full of our unrefined 9th graders) get a double overtime loss. It was the premiere for their 7th grade friend Caitlyn, who plays on the same AAU team. She did everything but sink the crucial foul shots in overtime. She can certainly hang with every other girls they've brought out.
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