Jasmine attacking the Matrix Kelly guarding the point guard

Rocket Flames looses opener with the Matrix The Rocket Flames played their fist game of the winter league season, losing against the Arlington Matrix 40-18 , in a game played at Montrose Christian High School in Rockville, Maryland. The game started with a good pace for both teams, but the Rocket Flames couldn't break the full court pressure from the Virginia team. "We went back to the old habits of throwing the ball away and that cost us the game" said Coach Tony White after the game. Indeed, the girls tried to break the full court pressure defense dribbling too much and using the right side of the court only. The few times that the girls used lateral passes, the Matrix had to retrieve to their zone defense. The Matrix, on the other hand, were effective on running fast breaks from defensive rebounds. With a very evident height difference (at least three Matrix girls were 5'5), they were always looking for opportunities to run the ball in counter attack. Babette Sanmartin lead the scoring sheet with seven points (3 baskets and 1 of 5 FTs), followed by Kelly Markham (5 points, 1 of 4 FTs), Adjowa Prinka, 4 points and Quinn Moore (1 basket). The game became very physical in the second half, with some girls getting bruises in a very intense game, despite the score difference. The MAG league, according to its director, Joe Dunston, is the biggest girls-only league in the US, with more than 50 teams in 4 divisions. Each division has two groups (East and West) with teams playing opponents from its own group and the other group as well. The game was played at Montrose Christian, a private high school that has had one of the best (boys) basketball teams in the US, over the last 5-10 years. Montrose Christian is a recruiting-school, whose coach, Stu Vetter, has been named National Coach of the Year twice by the USA Today ( ’85-’86 & ’97-’98). They have had players like Linas Kleiza (playing for the NBA Denver Nuggets), Greivis Vasquez (Venezuelan playing point guard for U of Maryland), Uche Echefu (Florida) and probably the best, Kevin Durant, who played for the Longhorns (University of Texas) only one year as a freshman and then drafted by the Seattle Supersonics this year, number 2 overall. This coming week, the Rocket Flames will face the Patuxent Silver Stars from Columbia, Maryland again at Montrose Christian at 4:35 pm. In other games, the 96/Classics (Green) beat Damascus (Warfield), DC Heat defeated the Silver Stars, Owing Mills Tigers lost to Lady Hoop and both Sol teams lost their games against Dream Makers and the Sure Shots.

MID-ATLANTIC (MAGNBL) WINTER LEAGUE 2007 - 2008

Schedule (Home Team is listed first, wears white uniform).
League play resumes January 5, 2008. Weeks 3-4 will be posted on or before 12/31/07!

Tip Off	Week I, Sat 8 Dec 2007	Site
9:15 AM	Classics/Green v Damascus Cougars/Warfield	SSI
10:30 AM	Sure Shots v Team Sol Gilbeaux	SSI
11:30 AM	Arlington Matrix v Flames/White	Montrose
12:00 PM	Owing Mills Lady Tigers v Lady Hoop	Langdon Park
12:45 PM	Classics/Chili v MD United Lady Ballers	Montrose
3:15 PM	DC Heat v Silver Stars	Montrose
4:30 PM	Team Sol - Daniels v Montrose Christian	Montrose
Tip Off	Week II, Sat 15-Dec-07	Site
9:30 AM	Team Sol Gilbeaux v Classics/Green	Langdon Park
11:30 AM	Arlington Matrix v MD United Lady Ballers	Montrose
12:45 PM	Sure Shots v Team Sol - Daniels	Montrose
2:00 PM	Owing Mills Lady Tigers v Montrose Christian	Montrose
2:30 PM	Classics/Chili v Damascus Cougars/Warfield	Langdon Park
2:45 PM	DC Heat v Lady Hoop	SSI
4:30 PM	Flames/White v Silver Stars	Montrose

Pools

EAST	WEST
Team Sol – Daniels	Team Sol – Gilbeaux
DC Heat –Nolan	Pax River Silver Stars
95/Classics – Chili	Arlington Matrix – Butler
Lady Hoop - Booth	96/Flames (White)
Maryland SureShots	95/Damascus Cougars
Maryland United Lady Ballers	96/Classics –Green
Dream Makers	Owing Mills Lady Tigers –Thompson
Columbia Ravens	Winchester Rising Stars

The tournament will be played at the following gyms:

• Langdon Park Community Center located at 2901 20th St. NE Washington, DC 20018
• Emery Community Center located at 5701 Georgia Ave. NW Washington, DC 20011
• Northwestern High School located at 7000 Adelphi Road Hyattsville, MD 20782
• Montrose Christian School located at 5100 Randolph Road Rockville, MD 20852
• Silver Spring International School 313 Wayne Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910