The ranks of 11U AAU teams in Delaware grew by one this year as the Lady Warriors were launched.  They are part of a club called Team Crossover Elite, an organization that was all boys prior to this season.  I saw them only very briefly at an earlier tournament, but not enough to form a fair opinion.  This time around, I determined to concentrate solely on this team so that I could learn who they were and be able to share this info with all of you.

 

Boy was I impressed with this team!  They play a very disciplined style -- both on offense and defense -- that provides ample evidence that this is a well-coached bunch.  And what a balanced mix!  Yes, they're a little heavy on guards, but so are all Delaware clubs.  The guards they have are great competitors.  Claudia Seemans is about the first guard you notice.  Diminutive in size, but aggressive as any 1-guard gets, Seemans has an awesome court sense and is a generous passer, as her 9 assists on the weekend would attest.  On occasion, she'll dial her own number.  She had 10 points over the course of the tourney.

 

Also running point, and probably playing some off-guard too, is Adrianna Hahn.  She is more in the "cut-and-slash" style, which compliments her teammate, Seemans, perfectly.  Hahn turned in a great tournament scoring 22 points, 8 steals, 7 assists and 7 rebounds.

 

Great as the guards are, it's the Warrior front-court players that separate them from all the also-ran teams.  Sabrina Hackendorn puts it all together on the floor.  Her overall performance gained for herself a well-deserved iPOW award.  You can check out her stats in her iPOW write-up.

 

Hannah Schlegel was the first player to draw the attention of Tigers 14U coach, John Kulesza, when he came over to watch their final game.  Schlegel is calm, cool and collected on the court.  She knows what needs to be done and she does it.  She also has such an array of skills that opponents cannot defensively key on Hackendorn (or any of the other Warrior forwards).  They're forced to play straight-up -- which only puts them right where the Warriors want them.  Schlegel was a force, scoring 24 points over the 4-game weekend.

 

As a team, the TCE Lady Warriors have so much to be proud of.  In their extremely short history, they have achieved a level of competitiveness that would make them the envy of most Delaware 11U programs.  Earlier this season, they broke out of the gate winning their first eight games, even scoring in the 60s on occasion!  This tournament, they only lost to Philly powerhouse, Fencor -- and that game went OT.  Most Delaware teams would consider just staying close with any Fencor team a victory in itself.

 

Conditions at West Chester University were just awful as temperatures climbed into the mid-90s outside, while things were hardly any better in the gyms, which are all without air-conditioning.  But such trying situations go hand-in-hand with the AAU experience.  When I ponder how uncomfortable it was just sitting still watching the games, I could only imagine how stifling it must've been for the players and refs.  The Lady Warriors, showing what they're made of, didn't let the heat wave interfere with their winning ways or their ability to score a lot of points.  In fact, defying all logic (due to the heat), they actually got better as the tournament wore on!  Their closest game was the loss to Fencor 35 - 32.  They would come back on Saturday to beat the Sparks, 42 - 22.  Sunday would see the offense really get cooking with a 54 - 32 victory over the Mid-Atlantic Magic followed by another one of those "Battle of Delaware" games -- this one with the Wilmington Tigers.  They would prevail convincingly over an injury-ravaged Tiger lineup, 41 - 17.

 

This club is making a name for itself and I can only see great things in their future.

 

{Expanded statistics provided courtesy of the Lady Warriors.}

 

 

Random Notes:

 

There were a grand total of 32 games at the tournament that featured a team from Delaware.  Four of these were all-Delaware contests.  The Wilmington Tigers 14U defeated the Delaware PAL Wildcats in what was a rematch of a game played earlier in the season.  The two squads are now 1 - 1 against each other.  While it is true that big names like Lindsey Nichols, Kelly Williams and Sam Bonvetti were all missing from the Wildcat lineup, this shouldn't diminish the Tigers' accomplishment.  There was still plenty of talent present on the PAL roster to make them more than competitive.

 

The other three all-Delaware match-ups were scheduled in the 11U division.  The 11U Lady Sharpshooters fell to the Wildcats (no exact score could be found, but the margin was comfortable).  The 11U Tigers defeated the Wildcats in a nail-biting, come-from-behind game, 39 - 34, after being down 20 - 10 at the half.  And, as mentioned in the main story above, the Warriors beat the Tigers, 41 - 17.

 

 

Tourney Pics

 

There were other Delaware teams at the tourney besides the Warriors.  And other impressive talent.  Here we see Taylor Azer of the 11U Wildcats advancing the ball against Rebecca Peet of the Tigers.  Taylor looks so comfortable with the ball -- like it's a part of her.  I can't wait to see her play again.

 

Shelby Cochran plays for the 12U Tigers.  Shelby's a forward, but possesses a lot of good guard skills as well.  I kind of lost track of this team during the tournament, but I believe they were no worse than 2 - 2 for the weekend, and may have gone 3 - 1.

 

Hannah Schlegel was leading scorer with 6 points in this loss to Fencor in overtime.  You can kind of get an idea of her height by comparing her to the Fencor defenders all around her.

 

Here's Hannah again, jockeying for position to get the rebound.

 

Caroline Davis in close quarters as she tries to simultaneously protect the ball and get a shot off.  A difficult trick to pull off.

 

Renada L'Italien is one of a handfull of girls that play point on this team.  I wish it was possible for all of them to play all the time -- that's how much fun it is to see them run the court.  Renada had an 8-point weekend.

 

The moment of tip-off in the Warriors/Sparks game.

 

Another really good post player, Madeline "Maddy" Waegele.  Where do these coaches find these players?!?  Maddy contributed 16 points to the Warriors' cause in the tournament.  More impressive were her 31 rebounds!

 

Point guard Claudia Seemans launches a three.

 

A nice game action shot of the Warriors on defense.  Renada L'Italien is up top while Rachel Liszkiewicz patrols the wing.

 

The explosive Adrianna Hahn goes hard to the basket at Ehringer Hall in the Sparks game.

 

In this age bracket, I don't know how they get much better than Sabrina Hackendorn.  In this one view you can see all five Sparks defenders either guarding Sabrina or on their way to help.  That's a sign of respect.

 

Adrianna does her best to cool off in the oppressive heat.

 

A wide-angle look at action during the fourth and final game of the weekend -- this, versus the Tigers.

 

Rebecca Peet and Erin Joyce take a moment on the bench to catch their breath before going in again.

 

Megan Doogan readies to enter the game . . .

 

. . . And here she readies to come back out.  Just what Coach Payne needs -- another injured player!

 

Sabrina Hackendorn

 

 

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