Rams-Lightning Warm-Up
April 19 & 20, 2008
Wilmington Tigers 13U
April 22, 2008
by Jim Charles
The Tiger 13U team is one that I have had a first-hand experience with in the past. In fact, I recruited a couple of the girls to this program back in 2006 when it was a 10U team. Perhaps for those reasons, I should recuse myself from any reporting or commentary on the team . . . . . but I won't.
The West Chester tournament was my first real chance at seeing the team in action this year. (I caught one game at an earlier tournament.) Like many AAU teams, the roster has evolved over the years. In just about every case, the new players are fine additions to the squad and only help to make them better and more competitive.
Over the course of the Warm-Up Tournament, the team won its first game over South Jersey GBC thanks to a great late-game offensive run made possible due to the employment of a triangle motion set. The main beneficiary of this plan was former iPOW winner, Kasey Kirker, who managed to come up with a career high 22 points in the victory.
After that, however, the team ran into some tough sledding, losing their next game to the Great Valley Hawks by a razor thin 27 - 26 margin. On Sunday, the lineup dropped both games by the same exact score -- 39 - 30. The first of these was an all-Delaware matchup against the PAL Wildcats. This game is also "cross-covered" in the team report & photo section of the Wildcat 13U team. Finally, they would face the Chester County Wizards in the getaway game.
The Tiger 13U is a team quite capable of great things. No less than four players on the roster appeared in the CYM Championship Games for their respective divisions. So, why the 1 - 3 result? As far as I can tell, it comes down to movement and "finishing" -- at both ends of the court. You always hear coaches instructing their players to "finish strong" on a layup attempt, for example. Well, I think you have to "finish strong" at everything else, too. Finishing is just as important on defense as it is on a layup. And it is precisely that lack of finishing that I see as an issue with this team. Tiger defenders stay with their opponent to a certain point, and at a critical last second, they drop off. Defense is all about desire and heart. And it's the easiest thing to work on, improve, and ultimately fix than any other area of the game.
Even with the ball, this team could stand to move more. Whether the deliberate style of this offense is due to a natural slowness of the players involved, a general lack of effort, or by design, I haven't quite figured out yet. But at any rate, the girls on this team are both athletic AND intelligent. I think it's within their ability to make great strides (no pun intended) in this area as well.
If these issues are addressed, there is no limit to what this team can accomplish. And, let's be fair. There are some great examples of 13U players on this team who hustle to the utmost degree. First amongst these is new Tiger Marisa Marchegiano. She is a ball of energy who needs no lecture on heart and desire. I wish I could've posted a picture of her, but she never stayed still long enough! (True story.) Another determined newcomer is point guard, Natalie Clark. One of her great strengths is keeping her eyes up and reading the floor.
Of the returnees, there are not one, but two Dynamic Duos. From St. Matthews, we have the Padua-bound combo of Shelby Henderson and Sara Weiss. From the CYM Y1 Championship St. Ann's team, we have former iPOW winners Katie Desmond and Kasey Kirker. Katie's headed to Ursuline while Kasey will join Sara and Shelby at 10th & Broom. The icing on the cake is CYM C Division champ, Jill Lyons, from IHM. Jill is close to 5'11" and provides a valuable presence at low post. Taken together, these girls all have ability coming out their ears.
Tourney Pics
Jill Lyons in the Great Valley game.
There are six Tiger Rookies on the team this year. Brett Perkins is one of these promising new Tigers.
Lexi Stevens (with ball) is in her second year with the Tigers.
Sara Weiss came up with a big game against the Wildcats scoring 16 points and leading ALL scorers. Sara is in her third year with the program.
Tiger Rookie, Natalie Clark, is getting serious minutes and playing with the calmness and composure of a long-time veteran.
Katie Desmond in past years was almost exclusively used as a point guard. These days, with the emergence of other talented 1-guards on the team, Katie is seeing some time at shooting guard or wing.
Jill Lyons shooting a free-throw from an earlier tournament.
Other Delaware Teams:
*** 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. *** DelGirlsHoops@aol.comJim Charles