Photos: 1. Shannon Bell, Shot Callers; 2. Mandy Saintz, Bothell Select; 3. Lady Wolfpack swarm Emerald City; 4. Courtney Perez, Pasco Dawgs; 5. Ashley Corral, Oregon Xtreme (defended by Ashley Todd, Lady Wolfpack); 6. Madison Yakaboski, Jokers Wild; 7. Tabitha Tomlinson, Jokers Wild; 8. Candace Chambers; 9. Kristi Kingma; 10. Maggie Henley, Emerald City, and Shannon Wood, Lady Wolfpack; 11. Michelle Jenkins; 12. Danielle Love, Hotshots, and Brittany Craven, Lake Stevens; 13. Tom Wyles, Lake Stevens; 14. JoAnne Love, Hotshots; 15. Glenn Nelson, NW HoopGurlz; 16. Megan Hoisington, HoopGurlz
SEATTLE, Feb. 15 - Though this area's select ranks do not often appear to be suffering from any withering self-image, there are times when a region wants to look in the mirror and find a familiar face smiling back.
Today in fact was one of those days and, in a reversal of the first annual HoopGurlz Challenge in 2003, when two teams from California and one from Oregon invaded the Furtado Center to claim bragging rights, the titles stayed home.
First the Lady Wolfpack from Mill Creek felled bigger, somewhat more ballyhooed Oregon Xtreme 39-26 in the 8th Grade championship, then the Tukwila Reign escaped the clutches of the Moses Lake Thunderettes 50-49 in the 7th Grade title tilt.
As part of the tournament, players, coaches and parents attended the Sonics-Warriors game on Tuesday, afterward taking team photos on the KeyArena floor. Sonic guard Luke Ridnour graciously posed with the girls and signed autographs afterward.
Leah Thompson of the Rubicon Cougars won the 8th Grade division of Saturday's Hot Shot contest and Kelly Sutherland of the Moses Lake Thunderettes won the 7th Grade division with a contest-high 23 points.
Baden Sports, Believe It Sports, Steve Lindemann Photography and the University of Washington women's basketball program teamed with HoopGurlz.com and the SuperSonics on the 2004 Challenge, the second annual event held during the NBA All-Star break.
As expected, a powerful 7th grade field produced much drama on Championship Sunday. Two games were decided in overtime, including one in which Natalie Davis sank a last-second free throw to secure a 35-34 Advantage victory over Mt. Baker. And the final four was split tantilizingly by the Cascades Mountains with the Reign and Shot Callers representing the Puget Sound and the Pasco Dawgs and Moses Lake standing in for eastern Washington. Each of the semifinal games was decided by six or fewer points.
In the final, Moses Lake, the defending Inland Empire regional champs, controlled much of the game behind Jordan Loera, their diminuitive 5th Grade point guard, and Sutherland, who scored a total of 45 points on Sunday. However, trailing by as many as 10 points in the second half, the Reign charged back behind overwhelming athleticism and scored the winning basket with seconds to play.
The Reign, a team with national aspirations after logging an AAU Division II championship last summer, was paced throughout the weekend by Brittany Gray, who notched a tournament-high 27 points against Pasco in the semifinals.
The Lady Wolfpack's coronation was far more orderly. They cruised through their pool, maxing out on every victory. The Xtreme was equally impressive, though they did have to survive some NBA-distance three-pointers from Madison Yakaboski to get past Jokers Wild.
Led by their brilliant point guard, Kristi Kingma, the Wolfpack overcame some early, frigid shooting to methodically take apart the Xtreme, whose inner-clock was set by hyperkenetic point guard, Ashley Corral.
Corral, Davis, Gray, Kingma and Loera were named to the all-tournament team, selected by the Northwest HoopGurlz, along with Tiffany Idler of the Pasco Dawgs, Nichole Jackson of the Shot Callers, Jori Skorpik of the Tri-City Triple Threat. Six of the eight selections were point guards, testimony to the outstanding, often eye-opening guard play throughout the tournament.
Most eye-opening of all, perhaps, was that the home-grown talent kept most of the accolades to themselves - until next year, at least.
Complete Results, More Photos and More
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