Home Page - Girls 14U Cori Davison

• The Journey

  AAU Nationals 2010

  Orlando, Fl

  On Sunday, the 4^th of July, the MN Suns U14 team boarded a plane to Orlando to compete in the 2010 Division I National tournament.  At the 2009 U13 National tournament in Ohio, this same group of 11 girls took 6^th place in the country.  The girls wanted to finish stronger this year and worked hard toward that goal.  The only change to this year’s line-up is Kyla Schmidt is 100% back from her ACL injury last season and Courtney Schiffler is out with an ACL injury.  But, as Kyla did last year, Courtney has been an instrumental member of the team attending all practices, taking stats, and providing positive leadership and encouragement to the team.

  The 2010 season started in Chicago at the Windy City Classic where the team was moved up to the U16/U17 division.  The Suns went 3-2 and finished strong for their first tournament appearance against great competition.  The district qualifier was next and the Suns pulled out 3 wins with an average margin of 40 points.  In the Minnesota State Tournament, the girls continued their quest to remain undefeated in Minnesota.  They beat MN Stars-Bebo in the opening game and then in the semi-finals they took down #1 ranked MN Stars-Smith 70-43.  The championship game was the closest yet, but the Suns prevailed, defeating the #3 ranked Metro Stars 69-57 to become the MINNESOTA STATE CHAMPS!  The team then traveled to Iowa for their last warm-up before nationals.  After playing 6 games in less than 30 hours (shorthanded with 3 players missing), the Suns continued their winning streak and won the Ames Midwest Classic championship.

  With the #5 Seed in the U14 National Tournament, the Suns were confident they would come out strong in pool play and get a nice draw in the championship bracket.  That they did.  The Massachusetts State champion, Visionary Basketball, was the first opponent in pool play.  With 18 points by Kelly Olzenak, another 14 by Erin Stromen, and Allison Cordes assisting many of those points, the Suns pulled off their first Orlando victory 83-63 (95 free-throws were shot in this 2 hour game).  Next up was the Miami Lady Bulls.  Although very athletic, the Lady Bulls were not disciplined enough to hang with the Suns.  With 5 players in double digits, the Suns won 83-43.  The last pool play game was against the Connecticut Mavericks.  With a balanced team scoring effort, the girls took 1^st place in the pool with a 68-25 win.

  There were 40 teams in the tournament and the top 20 joined the MN Suns in the Championship bracket.  The Suns received a bye so their first bracket game was to secure the Sweet 16 t-shirts and get to the Elite 8.  Their opponent was the North Texas Blaze.  At this point, the Minnesota sun was shining bright in Orlando and shots were falling.  Angie Davison and Kristina White each hit five 3’s and combined for 41 points and Onye Osemenam pulled down 15 rebounds to advance to the Elite 8 with a 67-55 victory over the Blaze.  The competition was starting to ramp up.  The Missouri Dream Team (up next) had already knocked off  the #6 Lady Blue Devils and the #4 Tennessee Team Hustle. Claire Thomas found the bottom of the net, scoring 10 and Angie Davison 11 (all 21 in the second half) to crush the dreams of the Dream Team and capture those Final Four Jackets and one nice piece of hardware!  Reaching the Final Four and improving on the 6^th place finish from 2009 was high priority for the Suns, but with the National Championship game now so close, the Suns were reaching for higher goals. "Sharp Shooter" Kristina White nailed four 3’s to finish with 16. Madison Ordner sealed the deal with 10 straight points in the second half off of multiple passes and key steals from Kyla Schmidt to defeat the Norfolk Xpress in the semi-final game 62-55 and move on to the national championship game.

  At 5:30 on Saturday, July 10^th, the Suns took center court at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the heart of Disney to play for the U14 National Championship.  A team made up of several players that did not even play much varsity on their high school teams; a group of girls that realize the power of teamwork and selflessness.  The Suns had already accomplished so much more than anyone expected and were now 36 minutes away from a national championship. The Suns faced Indiana’s Spiece Gym Rats. A very talented and well coached group that resembled non other than themselves.  As one might expect, nerves set in on the big stage.  The Suns went 1 for 22 from the floor in the first half, but went 10 for 12 from the charity stripe, ending the half down 12-30.  The half-time chalk talk was more about relaxing than anything else.  The second half would prove to be a different story.  Onye Osemenam came out strong against the top Purdue recruit center, pulling down rebound after rebound and hitting 100% of her free-throws!  Erin Stromen nailed 3 back to back to back 3’s.  Chelsey McGee took over the game with her leadership, basketball IQ, and athletic ability to put on a show.  The Suns won the second half of the game 36-34, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the slow start and poor shooting in the 1^st half.  The Sun’s would go on to lose the game 48-64 and finish 2^nd in the 2010 National Tournament.

  The Orlando Nationals was a great experience and the basketball games have helped the Suns learn what they need to work on as well as how far they’ve come.  Yet the true memories will come from all those off-court experiences:  Coloring Pooh pictures on the airplane and having the stewardess scold the coach, singing karaoke with the Florida U17 baseball team, the team pasta parties and swimming with the alligator (Gladdis), watching replays of the games with the bear hug on Claire (no foul?), Chelsey’s amazing look-off pass to Madison, and the parents cheer of "start the busses", Chelsey’s mystery birthday and the ice cube fights at Planet Hollywood.  Splashing and swimming in the decorative fountain in the middle of Downtown Disney, getting to know both the boys from Brazil as well at their traditions, and spending a week in Florida with the best basketball family in the country!

  Congratulations Ladies on an amazing journey and best of luck as you travel to Kansas and then back home to Melt-down to finish the 2010 AAU season.

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