Sherwood Park Shootout

St. John the Beloved (JV1) 27, St. Anthony's (JV1) 20

The 17^th edition of the St. John the Beloved Shoot Out at Sherwood Park kicked off Tuesday night with a match-up between host St. John’s JV #1 team and St. Anthony’s JV #1 team. SJB jumped to a 15-4 first quarter lead by pressuring the St. Anthony guards and forcing many turnovers. Lauren Augustynowicz scored the first 6 points for SJB on jumpshots from all over the floor. In the second quarter both teams turned up the defense and at halftime the score was 18-6, SJB. In the second half, St. Anthony’s Alexis Winslow and Julie Kulesza took advantage of SJB mistakes and cut the lead down to 22-14. In the fourth quarter, St. Anthony’s really picked up the pressure defense and forced SJB into quite a few turnovers. After St. Anthony’s cut the SJB lead to 4 points with about 3 minutes to play, St. John’s Kara Dougherty stole an errant pass and went in for a beautiful left-handed layup. That just about put the game away and the Eagles walked off with a hard fought 27-20 win. St. Anthony’s Alexis Winslow led all scorers with 8 points on the game. Julie Kulesza and Angelina Squillace each finished with 4 points for the Tigers. Kara Dougherty paced the Eagle attack with 7 points. Kayla Wolff, Kaylee Bonvetti and Delaney Carey each chipped in 4 points for St. John’s. St. Anthony’s matches up against St. Ann’s on Thursday night at 6:30. SJB will face that same St. Ann’s team Saturday night at 6:30.

Delaney Carey attempts to steal Angelina Degnars' dribble.

Alexis Winslow

Bella Squillace

St. John's Erin Derrick gets a piece of Alexis Winslow's shot.

Kaylee Bonvetti during a break in play.

Kara Dougherty lines up her free-throw.

Two of the game's hardest working players, Breanna Bryant (with ball) and Carly Truitt (defending).

Natale Alessandrini is a promising player for St. John's.

St. Mary's (varsity) 43, Holy Angels (JV) 30

The second game of the night featured a matchup between the JV Holy Angels #1 team and St. Mary Varsity team. Holy Angels has been tearing up the JV division and decided to play up in the varsity bracket of the tournament. For the first half of the game the Angels held their own against the varsity competition. In fact, both teams traded baskets throughout much of the first half. The score was tied at 12 after one quarter and tied again at 21 at halftime. Holy Angel’s Camrie Webster was on fire the first half, scoring all of her 12 points in that frame. St. Mary’s made adjustments in the second half to take advantage of their height advantage and slowly pulled away from the Angels. At the end of 3 quarters, St. Mary’s led 31-23 and cruised through the 4^th to a 43-30 victory. Olivia Tucker (6 points) and Corrie Sterling (7 points in the second half) paced the Angels. St. Mary’s Cara Grzybowski led all scorers with 16 points. Taylor Garbowski added 12 points and Kristin Green dropped in 6 points for St. Marys. Holy Angels will actually match up against Holy Angels - JV vs. varsity - Friday night at 7:45. St. Mary’s has off until next Tuesday when they will face the varsity Holy Angels.

Olivia Tucker

Camrie Webster

“This game took a year off my life.” So said St. Mary’s coach, Tom Starr. And, to some in attendance, the game seemed to take about as long to complete. In all actuality, the game lasted 1 hour, 22 minutes. Not a marathon by any stretch, but it did hold up the start of the game that followed and it did take longer to get through than it should have. Play for both teams was more than a little sloppy and the offensive pace – again, both teams – was very slow. It was not unlike watching a soccer match where the ball goes down one end of the field, play breaks down, the other team gets the ball, brings it back the length of the field, then they lose the ball to the other team, and the process just keeps going back and forth with nobody scoring. Hey! Grade school games are like that sometimes!

This contest could fairly be billed as an “interleague” game. St. Mary’s normally plays in the St. E’s League while All Saints Catholic School is entered in standard CYM. The teams do not face each other during the regular season. This past weekend, we saw ASCS score 40 points in a regular season matchup with St. Anthony’s played with 5-minute quarters. So, it was a bit of a surprise to see the team finish a 24-minute game (6-minute quarters) with only 15. For their part, St. Mary’s is 4 – 4 in the prestigious St. E’s League, so their own output was probably off as well. Both teams have better ball in them, and we think we’ll see an improvement in them in their coming games in the tourney.

If you’re looking for a player of the game, look no farther than the Hawks’ Maya Nana-Sinkam. She led all scorers with 6 points and capped all that off with a great block of a Crusader layup with just 30 seconds left on the game clock that, had it gone in, would’ve tied the score and potentially sent the contest to overtime.

This is All Saints' Alyssa Faville. Only a 4th grader, her energy and love for the game are infectious!

In the varsity nightcap, the St. John’s Eagles faced off against the St. Anthony’s Tigers. After a sluggish start by both teams, St. John’s finally got on the board and held a 9-0 first quarter lead. St. Anthony’s got on the board in the second quarter, but still found themselves down 21-7 at half. St. Anthony’s started strong in the 3rd and applied great defensive pressure. As a result they closed the gap to 22-14 with about 2 minutes left in the quarter. Five unanswered points by St. John’s, including a great Kaitlynn Wolff one handed rebound then put-back, gave St. John’s a 27-14 lead going into the final quarter. Both teams traded baskets throughout the fourth, but St. Anthony’s was unable to close the gap. Lauren Kennedy paced St. Anthony’s with 7 points. Nicole Byrne (5 points) and Mariah Lopez (4 points) also chipped in for the Tigers. St. John’s Megan Mallon led all scorers with 16 points, but 8 different girls contributed for the Eagles. Kaitlynn Wolff added 8 points and Emily Coyle dropped in 5. St. Anthony’s will be right back on the floor Thursday night against IHM. St. John’s will try to remain unbeaten Friday night against IHM. Both games are at 7:45.

Great pic of Ally Byrne with the ball confronted by the defensive roadblock that is Kaitlynn Wolff.

The third night of the Shootout started with a JV matchup between the St. Anthony Tigers and St. Ann’s Mustangs. St. Ann’s jumped out to a quick 12-2 1st quarter lead by putting tremendous pressure on the St. Antony’s guards resulting in a number of turnovers. As they did in their first game, however, these Tigers weren’t going down without a fight and pulled to within 14-8 at halftime. In the second half St. Ann’s used their height advantage to control the boards and as a result got many looks at the basket. Lauren Bailey was particularly impressive in the third quarter grabbing rebound after rebound. She either dished it out to a teammate for a shot attempt or put the ball in the basket herself. At the end of three the Mustangs were up 25-11 and cruised to a 31-18 victory. Having seen St. Ann’s Val Cradler play numerous times this year in the St. E’s league I would say she had an off night but she still led all scorers with 10 points. Isabella Julian dropped in two three’s late in the game to keep St. Anthony’s from getting too close. For the Tigers, Julie Kulesza also dropped in a three and led her team with 5 points. The rest of the Tiger scoring was pretty evenly distributed between Alexis Winslow, Angelina Squillace, Jordan Rook, Angelina Degnars and Carly Truitt. St. Ann’s will face off against St. John’s Saturday night at 6:30. St. Anthony’s will play next Thursday against a team still to be determined.

The last game of the night, a varsity contest between IHM and St. Anthony’s started quite slow and sloppy but got better as the game went on. The first quarter was full of fouls. In fact there were 11 fouls split between the two teams. At the end of one, St. Anthony’s held a 6-5 lead. Because there were so many first quarter fouls, most of the second half was played with both teams in bonus. IHM pulled ahead late in the half when Grace Stauffer dropped in consecutive baskets. IHM had St. Anthony’s doubled, 16-8, at the half. St. Anthony’s wasn’t done though, and during the second half they chipped away at the lead by playing aggressive defense and working the ball around the IHM zone. Mariah Lopez made a superb pass through the lane to a cutting Lauren Kennedy for a nice layup and Addie Runco completed a three-point play to get St. Anthony’s with 4 at the end of three. The fourth quarter saw several lead changes and some excellent basketball. Another three-point play by Isabella Hrivnak pulled the Tigers to within one with 4:46 left in the game. That was quickly answered by IHM’s Nicole Thompson’s basket from about 9 feet away. St. Anthony’s finally took a 25-24 lead with 2:26 left on Melanie Setting’s long bank-shot. IHM’s Caroline Procak answered back 13 seconds later with a short jumper of her own. IHM was up 26-25. With about 12 seconds left, the Tigers were bringing the ball up looking for a chance to win the game when IHM’s Grace Stauffer stole the ball, went the length of the court, jump-stopped to make the defense go past her and put the game away with a short jumper. IHM will be back on the floor Friday night against St. John’s. St. Anthony’s will have to wait until that game to see when they will play next.

Ally Byrne monitors the situation in the background, ready to call for backup if needed.

"I think Carly's still in the building somewhere... CARLY!!! GET IN THERE AND GET THE BALL!"

St. Anthony's had already done their free-throw / 3-point shooting contest stuff on a previous night in the tournament, but as this was IHM's first game, they (IHM) still had to do it. Well, as the IHM girls would take their shots, the St. Anthony's girls (at midcourt) would cheer for them. They applauded when the girls would make their shots. Had I been there, I probably would've cried because stuff like that gets to me. This is the way sports should be. Big props to the St. Anthony's girls!!!

Magdalen got out to a slim 5 – 4 lead after the first quarter, all of their points thanks to forward Natalie DePaulo. Starting with the next frame, SMM’s wonderful point guard, Allie Olmstead, began making her presence known. The score after 3 quarters was in favor of the defending 2011 St. E’s League Champs, 17 – 14. Then, in the fourth, Olmstead put on a show, notching 9 of her 11 points on the night. When added to another DePaulo basket that period, the Maggies ended up with 28 when the final buzzer sounded. The Magdalen defense held All Saints scoreless in the fourth. Top scorers for the Crusaders were Court Brown and Caitlyn Harris with 4 points each.

Friday’s final game paired up IHM against St. John’s. The game started with each team cautiously trying to penetrate the other’s defenses. Neither team had much success at the beginning and as a result the score was 6-5 after one quarter. The scoring pace never really improved from that point on as each team struggled to put the ball in the basket. At the end of the first half it was 13-9 SJB. Each time St. John’s threatened to pull away IHM would hit a key basket to keep the game close. They were down only two, 17-15, at the end of three. In the fourth quarter both teams traded baskets and IHM had an opportunity to tie the game with about 20 seconds left but a Katie Hosey 3-pointer fell just short and SJB’s Emily Coyle grabbed the rebound to secure the 22-19 win for the Eagles. Hosey has been a clutch player for the Spartans late in the game so it was not unusual for her to want the ball and the last shot. Miranda Marini led IHM in scoring with 6 points (2 three-pointers) while Caroline Procak added 5 of her own. Megan Mallon led all scorers, however, by dropping in 15 of St. John’s 22 points. Melissa Houck stated the SJB scoring with a three-pointer early and finished with 5 points. Sarah Brush had an incredible game on the boards for St. John’s. I’m not sure how many rebounds she had but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was double digits. With the win St. John’s clinches 1st place in their pool. Who IHM plays next will be determined early next week as the 1st round of games finishes.

Just as Kat Durbano (St. Mark's) wears the number 3 because she shoots threes, Snoop Melly-Mel wears 32 because she may shoot a 3 or a 2. You just never know! And it's that unpredictability that makes her the weapon that she is.

Two words. Val Cradler. Val is one of those players who could fairly be said to be a “game changer.” She’s got shooting skills. She led all scorers in this game with 12 points, 48% of her team’s total. She’s not afraid of contact, as her 5 fouls this game would suggest. Taking nothing away from this solid St. Ann’s roster, Cradler is nevertheless the best offensive AND defensive player on the team. She’s just at another level. She was the single biggest factor that turned a probable victory for the host team, St. John’s, into a defeat. Even as it was, St. John’s didn’t accept their lot quietly. St. Ann’s held a slim 14 – 13 lead at the half. The next quarter, the third, would be the defining 6 minutes of the contest. All that the Eagles would score was a lone basket by Breanna Bryant (4 points on the game), while the Mustangs would tick off 9 points, and spread out the scoring among three players. Cradler had 4 that period while Delaney Martin had 3 (for a total of 5 on the night) and Lauren Bailey contributed 2. With the score 23 – 15 going into the last quarter, St. John’s had some serious work ahead of them. Cradler would provide a bit of an opening by fouling out with under 3 minutes left, but no St. John’s player could find the basket in that frame except Kaylee Bonvetti, who reeled off 5 of her 7 points on the night. St. Ann’s preserved a 5-point victory.

St. John the Beloved's Kaylee Bonvetti wrestles with St. Ann's Callie Freda for control of the ball.

Kaylee was recently told by a referee that she was "too aggressive." As long as you're not hurting anyone, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BEING TOO AGGRESSIVE IN BASKETBALL. So, Kaylee should take such comments as compliments and positive feedback.

5th grader, Breanna Bryant (right) patterns her play after 7th grader, Annie Brush. Annie is a hero of sorts to Breanna. However, DGB.com found out that the two girls had never really met before. So, we put the two together on the spot. Annie told Breanna, "You really sank those two shots!" ...Which proved that Annie had paid attention to Bre's game and remembered both of her baskets! Right now, there might be a little girl in 2nd or 3rd grade who will pick Breanna as her hero someday. And if we can, we'll put 'em together.

Saturday’s night game featured a match up between the two Holy Angel’s teams. Though the final score wouldn’t indicate this it was a very enjoyable game to watch. Of the 20 girls on both teams, 16 had at least one point. After a relatively close first half, 16-10 at halftime, the varsity Angel’s team used their height and experience to pull away in the third quarter and built a commanding 30-13 lead going into the 4th. The JV Angels refused to give up however, and put pressure on their opponents up and down the floor. Corrie Sterling led the JV Angels with 7 points including some nice jump shots in the 4th quarter. Kendra Warren, Kendra Schweizer, Olivia Tucker and Nia Anderson each had two points for the JV Angels. Mackenzie Scully led the Varsity Angels with 8 points. Bridget McLaughlin, Abby Dean, and Kylie Quirk each added 6 points while Maddy Tullier and Grace Lange added 4 each. The Varsity Angels will face off Tuesday night against St. Mary’s. The JV Angels will face St. Anthony’s Thursday night at 7:45.

SMA JV 22, SMM JV 21

After trailing most of the game, St. Mary’s JV team turned up the defensive pressure late and pulled off an incredible come from behind win against a tough St. Mary Magdalen team. Down 21-14 going into the fourth quarter St. Mary’s pressured the Bulldogs up and down the floor all the while chipping away at Magdalen’s lead. Maya Nana-Sinkam scored 6 of her team high 10 points in the fourth quarter including the go ahead basket with 1:53 left. It was Kyra Kiakas who may have saved the game for St. Mary’s however when Allie Olmstead appeared to have a wide-open layup only to see Kyra come from behind for the block with 35 second left. St. Mary’s would hold on for the 22-21 win. In addition to Maya’s 10, St. Mary’s was led by Katie Szczerba with 6 points. SMM shared in the scoring with Allie Olmstead leading the team with 5 and Jenna LaPira adding 4 points of her own. Grace Rouff and Gina DiCicco each dropped in 3 points for the Bulldogs. Magdalen plays St. Ann’s in the semifinal opener tonight at 6:30. St. Mary’s will take on St. John’s in the other semifinal game tonight at 7:45.

Holy Angels Varsity 32, SMA Varsity 17

Bridget McLaughlin, 9 points, and Grace Lange, 7 points, led a balanced attack as Holy Angels topped St. Mary’s 32-17 in the final varsity game of pool play. In all 9 girls scored for the Angels as they cruised to 2-0 record in their pool. Sarah Metz and Kylie Quirk each added 4 points to the cause. For St. Mary’s, Cara Grzybowski (7), Hannah Garbowski (6) and Claire Kochie (4) scored all their points in the contest. Holy Angels will take on IHM Friday night in the first semifinal game; St. Mary’s will be matched up against St. John’s.

Mackenzie Scully uses her hair as a mask to disguise her identity from her St. Mary's defender.

Once again, it was the Val Cradler show! This time around, she had a whopping 17 points as she basically put the Mustangs on her back and carried the team to victory and to the tournament finals. Delaney Martin had 6 for St. Ann’s, but no other player had more than one 2-point basket.

For Magdalen, Allie Olmstead has been having a great tournament. Tonight, she led her team with 9 points. Natalie DePaulo and Emma Spadaccini had 4 each.

The difference in the game was, quite simply, the talent of Cradler. Consider, too, that each player has to sit out a full quarter in this division. Val sat out the second quarter. So, her 17 points were accrued in 18 minutes of game clock. Nearly a point per minute!

Will St. John’s find a way to contain her in the finals? If they want to win, they’ll have to figure out a way to limit her effect on the scoreboard. The magic number might be 8 or 9. If St. John’s can hold her to single digits, they might have a good shot at winning the game. Easy to say. Harder to do.

Jockeying for position are Magdalen's Allie Olmstead and St. Ann's Isabella Julian.

This game was one of the very best in the tournament so far. As St. Mary’s had an obvious height advantage over St. John’s, it seemed that it would simply be a matter of time, and maybe not much time, before that differential would decide the game.

Early on, a pattern developed where it seemed neither team wanted to win very badly. While St. Mary’s moved the ball well up and down the court, they missed a ton of shots. St. John’s, for their part, declined shooting the ball in obvious shot situations and made poor passes resulting in turnovers. Somehow, though, the Eagles held an 8 – 4 lead after the first quarter.

The second period belonged to the Lady Hawks as they bested the home team, 4 – 2 to make the overall score at the half, 10 – 8, St. John’s.

In the third, the score would tighten still further, and with 1:28 to go in the quarter, a St. Mary’s layup would give them the first lead on the scoreboard since the opening basket of the game. Going into the final quarter, it was now 14 – 13, St. Mary’s.

In the final, nail biting 6 minutes of the contest, Kara Dougherty of St. John’s, who hadn’t tickled the scoreboard at all up to this point, nailed two crucial, “momentum” baskets that helped the St. John’s cause greatly. Erin Derick added another huge bucket. St. John’s was on a roll, at one point, stretching the lead out to 21 – 14. St. Mary’s would try to reel in the host squad, but poor shooting, which had plagued the team most of the game, would hamper their efforts. Five big free-throws in the fourth – 3 by Kayla Wolff, 2 by Kaylee Bonvetti sealed the deal and closed off any late minute hopes for St. Mary’s.

For the Hawks, Aryana Easterling had 5 points. Nicole Marcon and Nina Giakas had 3 each.

For the Eagles, Kayla Wolff had a breakout game scoring 11 of her team’s 24 points. This included seven made free-throws! A lot for a player at this level. Kara Dougherty had 4 points. Delaney Carey had 3.

As per the most recent regular season update, Holy Angels was in a tie for 3rd place with a 4 – 3 record. IHM was just 1 game back of them at 3 – 4. It seemed that Holy Angels wasn’t just favored, but heavily so. By all appearances, they have more “name” players and their bench runs deeper. In spite of this, IHM pulled off a neat little 3-point win and punched their ticket to the Shootout Finals.

Early on, the game was going according to the script. Holy Angels broke out to an 8 – 4 lead in the first quarter on 2 baskets by Sarah Metz, 1 by Grace Lange and 2 free-throws by Molly Drach. Neither team did much at all in the second quarter, but IHM made up 2 points to bring the game to a 9 – 7 score at half, still favoring the Angels.

The third quarter picked up the two-sided lack of momentum that came to the fore in the second. Each team scoring a lone basket in the 7 minutes.

So, the game headed into the fourth with Holy Angels still clinging to a one-basket lead. Finally, both teams began making buckets. It almost became a scoring fest. For IHM, Nicole Thompson came up big in the frame, hitting a three-pointer and collecting 4 more points at the foul line. All of her points were scored in the final quarter. Jessica Casino would chip in 3 points and Katie Hosey another 2 to give the Spartans 12 points for the period. Holy Angels would have nearly as good a quarter as the first, but they could not match the pace of the IHM late-game scoring blitz. When the buzzer (a very loud buzzer, I might add) sounded, IHM was sitting on a 3 point advantage and an underdog win.

This game had a very "playoff hockey" atmosphere. Here, Molly Drach of Holy Angels tries to keep the ball out of the eager IHM player's hands.

After falling behind 8-7 after one quarter, the St. John’s Eagles used a 15-0 run in the second to take command of the second semi-final game Friday night and cruised to a 44-31 victory over St. Mary’s. SJB’s Melissa Houck and Kaitlynn Wolff led all scorers on the night with 10 points each. Six of Wolff’s points came on consecutive layups in the fourth after St. Mary’s had cut the lead to 34-29. Annie Brush, Haley Langan, and Sarah Brush each added a basket and a three-pointer for the Eagles. Nine different girls scored for St. Mary’s led by Hannah Garbowski with 6 points. Taylor Garbowski, Natalie Shannon, Claire Kochie, and Kristin Greene each added 4 points for St. Mary’s. With the victory, St. John’s earns the right to face IHM in the Finals Saturday night.

At this level, 15 points in a single quarter is something to crow about. And that’s how many points the Eagles cobbled together in the final quarter. Unfortunately for them, they scored a grand total of 9 points in the prior 3 quarters combined. By contrast, the St. Ann’s offense peaked in the 2nd and 3rd quarters – the heart of the game, if you will – where they were able to come up with 24 points in 12 minutes of game clock. It took the Mustangs half the time to accumulate two dozen points than it took St. John’s.

Val Cradler, who would win JV Tournament MVP (who else?), sat out the second quarter. When that quarter began, St. John’s was only down 3 points. And with Cradler off the floor, it was a golden opportunity to attack the score. But, two St. Ann’s players, Anna Roszkowski and Louisa Spinner, had other ideas. They combined for 10 points, and in the process, widened their team’s lead to 9 points at halftime. St. John’s best chance seemed to have slipped through their fingers.

The third quarter was either a beautiful dream (if you were rooting for St. Ann’s) or a terrible nightmare (if you were a St. John’s fan). St. John’s managed just two free-throws from Kaylee Bonvetti as their entire output for the quarter. St. Ann’s, meanwhile, answered with 14. The game entered the final period 30 – 9, St. Ann’s.

The 4th quarter featured a valiant rally by St. John’s, which was marked by 5 Eagles scoring at least a point. Their 15 points in the quarter allowed the team to make the magnitude of the loss much more respectable. Final score: 35 – 24.

For St. John’s, another nice game for Kaylee Bonvetti (7 points). Kara Dougherty matched Bonvetti’s total on the game and was named to the all-tournament team. Erin Derick had 4 points.

Throughout the tournament, I have been documenting what a terrific player Val Cradler is. And, to be fair, she is what you notice first about this team. But, upon repeated viewings – much like a favorite movie – you begin to see things you didn’t notice at first. One big thing was the play of Anna Roszkowski. She scored 6 points in the Title Game, and probably had a lot to do with her team scoring another 10 or so. I saw her showing leadership and directing Mustang player positioning throughout the game. An on-court coach, for lack of a better term. She’s been an unsung, but very deserving hero for the ‘Stangs. Another player that grew on me during the tournament was the aforementioned Louisa Spinner. She has a trademark look, sporting, as she does, a long-sleeved undershirt that colors her arms blue all the way down to her wrists. This apparently has no deleterious effect on her skills as she’s always in the mix of things. In this big game, she scored 8 points, all off field goals. In fact, she had more baskets from the floor (4) than any other player in the game, including Cradler (3).

Like "Elena" and "Adrianna", the day is coming when #21 will simply be known as "Val" with the last name being unnecessary. St. John's Lauren Augustynowicz tries to pick her up.

When you get to the Title Game, you can expect the intensity to go through the roof.

The great Anna Roszkowski prepares to launch a shot. Kaylee Bonvetti attempts to prevent it.

Three of the game's best, left to right, Kaylee Bonvetti, Louisa Spinner and Kara Dougherty.

Kara Dougherty was huge in the Semi-Finals, and she had a nice night in the Title Game, but it wasn't enough to conquer St. Ann's.

Kaylee told me that she didn't like any of the pictures of herself on the website. This one kind of captures her personality.

The dynamic duo of Megan Mallon (15 points) and Kaitlynn Wolff (9 points) paced a balanced St. John’s attack resulting in a 36-29 victory over IHM in the finals of the 17^th Annual Shootout at Sherwood Park. After a rather uneventful first half, where it seemed that both teams were feeling each other out and both teams missed numerous shots, things picked up in the third. The Eagles of St. John’s jumped out to a quick 7 point lead to start the half, but consecutive baskets by Nicole Thompson cut that lead back to 3. Another SJB run led by Megan Mallon and Annie Brush pushed the lead up to 8 and that was how it would stand going into the fourth. Quick baskets by Sarah Brush and Kaitlynn Wolff made it 33-21. IHM would fight back and baskets by Grace Stauffer and Nicole Thompson would get them close but time ran out on the Spartans comeback attempt. IHM was led by Grace Stauffer’s 8 points (including 2 three-pointers). Katie Hosey, Emily Stuebing and Jessica Casino each dropped in 4 points. Annie Brush (6 points), Sarah Brush (4 points), and Melissa Houck (2 points) rounded out the scoring for St. John’s. This is the fourth championship for St. John’s in the last 10 years, the last one coming in 2008.

Rappin' Annie B. also plays defense. Here, she gives a hard time to IHM's Nicole Thompson.

JV All-Tournament Team: Julie Kulesza, Maya Nana-Sinkam, Nicole & Caitlyn Harris, Kara Dougherty, and Val Cradler (Tourney MVP). Not present: Allie Olmstead.

The Spartans pose with their IH Emmy! (I've been waiting 5 years to use that line!)

In all seriousness, though, they were a great story coming out of the Shootout. They surprised a lot of people making it to the Finals.

Varsity All-Tournament Team: Kaitlynn Wolff (Tourney MVP), Megan Mallon, Nia Anderson, Grace Stauffer and Bridget McLaughlin. Not present: Cara Grzybowski

Chip Mallon - The man who never lost a fight! You give the Shootout its unique "atmosphere."

The Extended SJB Family - All the moms and dads who work the tournament and give of themselves to make the Shootout the best CYM Tournament around. Thanks for the hospitality extended to DGB.com since 2009.

Gabby Julian - Gabby dropped by the DGB "booth" during one of the last nights of the tourney.

Nicole Short - A real SJB superstar! Dennis & I coached Nicole in AAU ball for a few years starting in 2001. It was GREAT catching up with her at the Shootout.

Mr. Waltz - I can never remember his first name! For the purpose of this story, we'll call him "Mike." Anyway, Mike always has a good thing to say whenever he sees me, and I really appreciate it. Even when I bust on Charter! He doesn't hold it against me!! The least I could do is remember his name.

The Players - Without you, there's nothing. No, "GET OFF THE COURT!!" from Chip. No chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven. No great plays. No awards ceremonies. You guys are what make it go!