While I attended two of the Tigers 12U games on the weekend, I nevertheless was thrilled when Coach Hugo Romero decided to submit a wonderful and detailed report on how his team fared.  Once I read it, I knew that I could tell the story no better, so, without any further ado, here's Coach Romero's report:

 

Saturday Games
 
WT vs. Great Valley Flash - (W) 27 - 24

Down by 7 - 0 early part of the game, half time 12 - 7 but in the second half the WT ignited their defense and offense and went on a 20 to 12 run in the second half to win by 3.  A little rusty in the first half but the hard pressure defense and running game came alive in the second half.  Gritty and hard fought victory.  Balanced scoring.  7 players scored from 2 to 6 pts apiece.  Great Valley, good team.  Leading scorers: Jenna Wolff and Shakira Johnson 6 pts., Amanda Brown-Diaz 5 pts., Katie Dodds 4 pts., Natalia Romero, Rebecca Salter and Amanda Ploener 2 pts. each. 
 
Great defense in the second half and rebounding to swing the game.  Breaking the press led the ballhandling of Natalia Romero, Lexi Cautillo and Jenna Wolff
  
WT vs. York Unity - (W) 49 - 16
 
Slow start against the York Unity team, but after a few minutes, the Tigers took control and basically ran the fast break to an easy victory.  The Yorkers' talent level was not comparable to the WT talent.  Execution and focus is important when you play a team that is not at the same level as WT.  Balanced scoring again from 9 players.

Scoring led by Jenna Wolff 11 pts., Rebecca Salter 9 pts., Shelby Cochran 8 pts., Katie Dodds 6 pts., Alexis Cautillo 5 pts., Shakira Johnson 5 pts., Kathleen Moore and Amanda Brown-Diaz 2 pts. each, Natalia Romero 1 pt.
 
 
Sunday Games
 
WT vs. Chester County Wizards (W) 33 - 26
 
Great victory of a solid and strong Wizards team.  Tigers down by 4 early in the first half, but after taking the lead we never lost it.  At half time it was 16 to 13 but in the second half the Tigers led by 14 pts. but the Wizards had a run and cut the lead down to 5 pts.  During the Wizards run, we became a little stagnant and lost our edge.  We should of put them away, but give credit to the Wizards for coming back and not giving up -- a trade mark of the WT team.  Again balanced scoring - Jenna Wolff 10 pts., Katie Dodds 8 pts., Alexis Cautillo 8 pts., Shakira Johnson 3 pts., Shelby Cochran and Natalia Romero 2 pts. each.
 
Good ball movement and handling from the guards and rebounding by Kathleen Moore, Amanda Ploener, Amanda Brown-Diaz and Katie Dodds.
  
WT vs. South Jersey All-Stars (L) 20 - 36
  
This was definitely the Tigers biggest challenge in the tournament.  The SJ All-Stars had a tall line up and athletic team across the board compared to our girls.  This team was blowing out teams by 30 pts against other 12U teams.  At halftime, we were only down by 7 pts.  We had a lot of good looks and layups that did not go in.  We rebounded well on the Defensive and Offensive but could not buy a basket.  In the second half, they where up by 14 and cut it down to 10 but we did not have our usually strong second half run.  We played aggressive and hard their points did not come easy.  We took away their inside game but they hit their outside shots and free throws. 
 
Scoring led by Jenna Wolff 8 pts., Katie Dodds 7 pts., Alexis Cautillo and Amanda Brown-Diaz 2 pts. each, Rebecca Salter 1 pt.
 
 
Overall I'm very pleased with our first tournament and play by each of the girls.  They played strong and the girls are not selfish and look for the open player. We boxed out well and fought for every rebound and our fast break was solid.  Still need to work on a few items with execution and passing the ball quicker to the open player.  Our approach and play is to be aggressive on defense and force turnovers and fast break as much as possible.  Our team philosophy is to work hard and be the aggressor, never give up and fight for every lose ball on the floor.  We might not be the most athletic team, but when we work hard and execute well, this definitely makes up for that athleticism of other teams compared to the Tigers. 
 

 

Tourney Pics

 

This picture clearly shows what Coach Romero is talking about when he says that the team "works hard to be the aggressor."  Here we see Jenna Wolff in a death grip with a Great Valley player.  Perhaps the best game-action photo of the tournament.

 

Rebecca Salter might have been the fastest runner in a baseline-to-baseline sprint of any girl in the whole tournament!  Blessed with blazing speed and beautiful shooting form, Rebecca is a huge asset to her team.

 

Alexis Cautillo (#13) waits in the blocks between two Great Valley players.  Alexis is an ace from the 3-point arc.

 

Katie Dodds is a first-year AAU player from the CYM Y1 Champion St. Ann's team.  As good as she was for the Mustangs, Tom and I think she's even better for the Tigers.  This was Katie's first AAU tournament, and she couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

 

Kathleen Moore lets a jumper fly.  Look at her feet.  She's a good 6 or 8 inches off the floor!  Coach Romero admires the flight of the ball in the background.  Kathleen is another girl new to the Tiger program.  It did not take her long to have a positive impact on her team.

 

While this may look like a free-throw, it is actually Jenna Wolff measuring off a baseline three-point attempt.  Word on the street is that Jenna might be Padua bound.  She would make a fantastic fit for that program.

 

Another view of Kathleen Moore going into a shot.

 

 

 

Other Delaware Teams:

 

Delaware PAL Wildcats 14U (Amy Rausch), 3 - 1 (11 - 1 overall)

 

Delaware PAL Wildcats 14U (Tom Starr), 1 - 3

 

Delaware PAL Wildcats 13U (Allan Cox)

 

Delaware PAL Wildcats 10U (Steve Colella), 2 - 2

 

Wilmington Tigers 12U (Hugo Romero)

 

Wilmington Tigers 11U (Matt Payne), 2 - 2 (8 - 4 overall)

 

Delaware Lady Sharpshooters 11U

***  The purpose of this page, like the rest of this site, is to promote girls basketball in the State of Delaware.  This is hard to do if individual players cannot be singled out.  However, I will honor all requests by players or parents to remove their/their daughters' names and/or images from this review.  I will also gladly correct any misspelled names, or add names where now I list only a player uniform number.  Just email me. ***