Annandale vs Cardinals at the PV Winter League final.

Six games this weekend! Six games are scheduled this weekend for the Rocket Flames girls at the Capital Sports Complex in District Heights, MD. The first game, at the early hour of 9:00 am will be against the 95/Classics team coached by Melvin and Pam Gilliam. This is the same team that the girls beat in the Flames Fall League, when it was coached by Carl Travis. The second game (immediately after the first one) will be against the U10 Fairfax Stars coached by Bob McCormick. This is a very strong team that recruited (from Team Sol) one of the best players in the Potomac Valley Area. This team has size, speed and hustle. They captured the gold medal at the Super Regional in Hampton Virgina, by an astounding combined score in the five games of 317-85 and qualifiying for the AAU national tournament, to be held at Disney World in Orlando. The third game (and the last one for Saturday) will be against ABGC (Annandale Boys and Girls Club). This team, from Virginia, won the Potomac Valley Winter tournament organized by the Classics and the Cardinals and held at Redland MS. This is a team with size, speed and good shooters. On Sunday, the girls start again against a Classics team. This time, they will face the current AAU Potomac Valley Div II champions, coached now by Christina Haywood. This is a team that has beaten us several times in the last 12 months, and we want to stop that!!. Next game is against Fencor, from central Pennsylvania. Fencor is one of the largest and most successful Girls’ AAU Basketball Clubs in Pennsylvania and has been in existence for over 20 years. The name came from a company called Fencor Graphics that was an original sponsor. Last year, they won the Middle Atlantic District Championship with a victory over the Philadelphia Belles. They won their pool at AAU Nationals in Orlando, beating the TN East Stars 38-19, dispatching the Michigan Motor City Suns (28-20) and crushing the South Carolina 76ers 45-20. In the championship bracket they stumbled and lost to the North Carolina Queen City Jewels (31-28) and were kicked out from the tournament with a tough loss against the Ohio Hoopstars 42-35. Fencor A team in 2007. Finally, at 5:45 pm, the girls will face the Vogues Regional Team coached by Joe Yoder. This is the same team we beat twice at the 2007 PVAAU regionals but defeated us in one of the Flames tournaments in the Fall. This tournament will serve to prepare our girls for the Division II AAU qualifier to be held in Montgomery County, in two weekends: May 10-11 and May 17-18.

The Schedule for the Flames (subject to change) is as follows:

Court	Time	Home Team	Away Team
Saturday 4/19
5	9:00 AM
5	10:15 AM
6	3:15 PM
Sunday 4/20
6	10:15 AM
6	2:00 PM
6	5:45 PM

Click on the logo to see the YBOA schedule and Pools.

Rocket Flames at March Madness (Game 1)

Front Row (L-R): Jaz, Maddi, Dom, Kelly.
Back Row: Meghan, Quinn, Sydney, Adjowa, Bubbles. Missing: Cameron.

Quinn guarded by a Lady Cougar

2008 Flames March Madness: A Roller Coaster weekend Gallery from the 2008 March Madness Flames Tournament In a weekend with ups and downs, the Rocket Flames ended on a high note, with a huge game against the current Maryland Division I champions, the Baltimore Cougars. In the girls’ last game, Quinn Moore triggered a reaction in the second half with her first three pointer of her career. Fouled in the attempt, she converted the free throw, for a very unusual 4-point play at AAU U-11 level, or any level whatsoever. Those four points brought the Rocket Flames within four points (25-21) with three minutes to go in the second period. Then it was Cameron Kelso’s turn to put a great defensive performance and take a charge from the Cougars’ point guard. The final score (28-23) shows how close the team was to shock one of the best teams in Northern Maryland. Sydney lead the scoring with 6 points, followed by Quinn and Adjowa with four, Madeline and Jasmine with 3, Kelly and Cameron with 1. The weekend had started in great shape with the Rocket Flames beating the Arlington (VA) Hurricanes 24-22 behind 12 points from Babette. Then a couple of tough losses against the Vogues (40-21) and the Fairfax Stars (44-7) were difficult to swallow. The game against the Vogues was contested, despite the huge margin, with the girls playing hard against a very disciplined and well-coached team. Against the Vogues, Quinn and Adjowa had five points each, while Sydney, Kelly, Madeline and Dominique added two. Babette and Cameron contributed with one free throw (1 point). The Fairfax Stars were too strong and too fast for our girls. They took an early lead scoring 8 points in the first 40 seconds, mostly from fast breaks. In this game, Jasmine scored a three pointer, Adjowa added 3 points and Babette added 1. In the U11 Championship game, Mike Baker’s team beat the Vogues 46-36 rotating very well his 13-girl roster against a very savvy team, who had defeated the Fairfax Stars 41-40 a couple hours earlier. In Division II, the title went to the Southern Maryland Lady Steel, defeating in the final the Arlington Matrix 37-26. Finally, in the U10 bracket championship game, the Fairfax Stars team demolished the Vogues 78-7. In the game for the third place, Team Sol beat the Flames (Tullis) National team, 36-30 in a very exciting game.

Kelly scores off Babette's inbound pass

Rocket Flames silence the Hurricanes With a fine performance from Babette (12 points) and strong rebounding from Sydney Poretzky (10 rebounds) the Rocket Flames beat the Arlington Hurricanes 24-22 at the Capital Sports Center on Saturday morning. It was a good game for the Rocket Flames with a renovated roster, getting ready for the YBOA qualifiers next weekend in Baltimore. All girls contributed in fighting for rebounds. Besides Sydney, Dominique grabbed 5, Kelly 4, Quinn and Adjowa 3, Babette and Meghan 2 and Jasmine and Maddie 1 each. The game started with the Rocket Flames hitting first, with 3 baskets from Babette taking an early lead 6-0. The Hurricanes tried a full court press that was broken with good passes and speed from our girls. The Rocket Flames also attempted a foul court press having similar results, so both teams went back to zone defense. In the second half, coach White instructed his players to play man to man which went well for most of time. But at the end the girls were tired, after a very physical game, and the Hurricanes got closer 22-19. Yet, a great defensive rebound by Sydney, and the ensuing pass to Adjowa sealed the game for the Rocket Flames, 24-19. The Hurricanes kept pushing in the last seconds, scoring one free throw and one basket, to trail only by two points, but it was too late and the Rocket Flames got the win. In the scoring sheet, Babette had 12, Sydney had five points, Kelly had four, Adjowa 2 and Dominique 1. The Rocket Flames continue this evening at 7pm facing the strong national team from the Vogues organization. The Vogues team is coached by Jeff Benjamin, According to the Vogues web site "his philosophy on coaching at the AAU level is to put a lot of pressure on the opponent with team defense and to control the ball on offense with good ball movement. Every player on the team gets an opportunity to play in most games to help contribute to the success of the team." In 2005, Jeff became an assistant coach at Paul VI High School . He helped the JV team to a 17-2 record for the season and first place in the WCAC conference. He remains an assistant coach at Paul VI.

Click here to see March Madness' Brackets

Dominique in 2007 vs St Jude

Tough schedule for Rocket Flames this weekend Last year, the Rocket Flames lost the March Madness final against Team Sol in a close game played at Georgetown Prep. This year the picture is pretty different. First, the tournament will be played at the magnificent Capital Sports Complex. Second, the Rocket Flames will be playing in the Division I bracket with a lineup of the strongest Division I teams in the area. This will be another tough test for the girls, who will be playing under the new Age Determination Date (ADD) and Grade Based Approach. This means that all teams can have girls born on or after July 1st 1995. We have four girls (Adjowa, Babette, Kelly and Dominique) who are actually playing up (they were born after July 1st 1996). However, the girls are used to play bigger, older girls and are prepared to the challenge. Coach Tony White said "This will be a tremendous challenge for our team and it will be an excellent learning opportunity. It will help to bring the new girls to the team and start the Spring Season against very strong teams." The Division I bracket has 9 teams, four in Pool A and five in Pool B. Pool A: Philly Freedom (Garner), Flames (Baker), Boo Williams (Moore), Sure Shots (Mallory). Pool B: Fairfax Stars (James), Virginia Hurricanes, Vogues (Benjamin), Rocket Flames (White), Baltimore Cougars (Burroughs) . The Fairfax Stars (Gold) is the current PVAAU Division I champion. The Fairfax Stars want to redeem themselves from the disappointing performance last year at the Nationals in Orlando, where they lost their first 3 pool games ending up in the consolation tournament (called the "Classic"). They would win the next five games to win the Classic's trophy, though. Coach James, from Chicago, IL. who is in the United States Air Force with over 23 years of service, currently stationed at the Pentagon is the Fairfax Stars coach. The Fairfax Stars competed in the Boo Williams Super Regional Tournament in Hampton, VA., this past weekend (14-16 Mar), resulting in a Gold medal performance, qualifying the team for the 2008 AAU National Tournament in Branson, MO. Playing with only 9 players and only together for less than two weeks from tryouts, the team went undefeated throughout the tournament. In pool play, the Fairfax Stars started off on fire, clicking on all cylinders averaging 60+ points per game, with 30+ point victories versus Boo William Red Tide II, Norfolk Xpress I, and Virginia Xplosion. In the championship game, the Fairfax Stars won a hard fought battle versus the host Boo William Red Tide I. With a lead of 15 points with several minutes to go, the Stars finally fought off a late surge to win by 3, 50-47. The Vogues from Virginia, finished fourth in the PVAAU Division I qualifiers last year, beating the Western Fairfax Mustangs and Team Sol, but losing all the following games against Flames (Baker), the Fairfax Stars and the Virginia Cardinals. The Baltimore Lady Cougars (current Maryland AAU champions) went to the Nationals last year and had a good performance on Pool play, winning three games and losing only to the Cincinnati (OH) Legends by one point. The Cougars would loose to the Indiana Family 28-20 in the playoffs. They recovered to beat the Fairfax Mustangs 32-18 but couldn't pass the next hurdle, the Queen City Jewels from North Carolina with a final score 42-28. Meanwhile, the Division II bracket of the March Madness includes 8 teams in a single elimination tournament. The teams are the Hoopsmart Giblin, Arlington Matrix (Paul), Columbia Ravens (Hitesman), Lady Steel (Subocz), York Unity (Duchek) and three Flames teams: 96/Jankowski, 96/Morley and 95/Roberson.

March Madness schedule

Saturday, March 29th
Tip off	Home (White)	Away (Black)	Court
9:00 AM	Fairfax Stars - James	Balto Cougars - Burroughs	6
10:15 AM	Flames - White	VA Hurricanes - Sampson	6
2:00 PM	Vogues - Benjamin	Balto Cougars - Burroughs	6
2:00 PM	VA Hurricanes - Sampson	Fairfax Stars - James	1
5:45 PM	VA Hurricanes - Sampson	Balto Cougars - Burroughs	6
7:00 PM	Flames - White	Vogues - Benjamin	6
Sunday, March 30th
9:00 AM	Vogues - Benjamin	VA Hurricanes - Sampson	2
9:00 AM	Fairfax Stars - James	Flames - White	1
11:30 AM	Flames - White	Balto Cougars - Burroughs	5
11:30 AM	Fairfax Stars - James	Vouges - Benjamin	6
2:00 PM	Championship Game (Winner Bracket A vs Winner Bracket B)		6

Spring Season starts at St. Andrews

Spring Team at St Andrews Episcopal in Potomac, MD.
Missing: Dominique.

Pictures from Classics Jamboree (15-March-2008)

Rising Stars Winter 2008 Playoffs

4th Chesapeake Div.	Sun Mar 2 @ 1:20 p.m. Seneca Valley HS 27-21	1st Potomac Div.	Sat March 8 @ 6:15 p.m. Bauer Drive CC 45-7	Sun March 9 @ 12:10 pm Einstein HS 31-23	Championship game Sun March 16 @ 1:30 PM Watkins Mill HS 48-34 (Rocket Flames winner)
5th Potomac Div.
2nd Chesapeake Div.	Sun Mar 2 @ 1:20 p.m. Einstein HS 26-10		Sat March 8 @ 7:15 pm Bauer Drive CC 31-19
8th Potomac Div.
6th Chesapeake Div.	Sun Mar 2 @ 2:30 p.m. Einstein HS 38-6
3rd Potomac Div.
1st Chesapeake Div.	Sun Mar 2 @ 2:30 p.m. Wootton HS 28-20		Sat Mar 8 @ 5:15 PM Germantown CC 26-24	Sun March 9 @ 4:50 Pm Paint Branch HS 27-19
7th Potomac Div.
5th Chesapeake Div.	Sun Mar 2 @ 12:10 p.m. Northwest HS 25-12
4th Potomac Division
3rd Chesapeake Div.	Sun Mar 2 @ 4:50 p.m. BCC HS 34-22	2nd Potomac Div.	Sat Mar 8 @ 4:15 PM Quince Orchard HS 22-19
6th Potomac Div.

Kiara Colston shoots from the corner

Rocket Flames get a ticket to the RS Finals In a low-scoring game, the Rocket Flames prevailed and beat the Holy Redeemer Cardinals 27-19, advancing to the Rising Stars Finals. The game was played at Paint Branch HS in Burtonsville, Maryland. The Cardinals played one of their best games of the season, keeping the Rocket Flames flying low, trailing 11-7 at half time. In the second half, the full court pressure of the Flames girls got Holy Redeemer in trouble, forcing them to several turnovers, extending a lead to eight points (21-13) at the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was played with intensity, both teams scoring six points, ending on a positive note, especially for Holy Redeemer that had a very good season. The Rocket Flames winter season will end this Sunday at Watkin Mills. Incidentally, four Holy Redeemer players will be joining Flames teams during the Spring Season. Raley Hinton will play for Lisa Morley, Christine Morin is joining the Rocket Flames, while Abby Buckingham and Liz Gittings are with Bernie Jankowski team. Kiara had seven points (one three-pointer, one basket and 2/2 FTs) and two assists for the Rocket Flames. Babette also had sevens points (2 buckets and 3/5 FTs) and one assist. Danielle had six points (3 buckets and 0/2 FTs). Jasmine and Dominique had 2 points each and Natalie added one (1/2 FTs). Janel had a couple of assists and Dominique added one as well. For Holy Redeemer, Christine Morin had 8 points (2 buckets and 4/4 FTs), followed by Raley Hinton (2 baskets and 0/4 FTs). Abby Buckingham (1 basket), Kayla Nalls (2/2 FTs) and Liz Gittings had two points apiece. With this result, the Rocket Flames will face the Freedom Fever at the Rising Stars Winter League Final at Watkins Mill High School on Sunday 16th at 1:30pm.

Abby Buckingham (Holy Redeemer) vs St. Bernadette's Flames Johnson's vs Jankowski's Raley Hinton (Holy Redeemer)

Rocket Flames shut down JH Rockets Saturday's (8-March-2008) gallery The Rocket Flames clinched the Rising Stars semifinals beating the Juwan Howard Rockets 22-19 at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, MD. The Rocket Flames had a difficult game against a team they had beaten by 27 points (44-17) in January. The JH Rockets had their full roster and had all the intentions to knock down the Rocket Flames. But the Flames played a solid game in defense and were able to fight off a second-half surge from the JH Rockets to hang on to the win. The game went slow the first couple of minutes, until coach White put Dominique in play. Her energy changed the tempo of the game, giving the Rocket Flames a 9-0 lead with baskets from Adjowa, Dominique and a three pointer by Jasmine. It looked like a one-way game but the girls coached by Joel Poretsky kept working hard on defense and the score finished 15-5 in halt time. Sydney Poretsky opened the third quarter with a basket (15-7) and Babette scored a layup to give the Rocket Flames their biggest lead of the game (17-7). Then, the Rocket Flames stalled and the JH Rockets scored 10 unanswered points to tie the game at the end of the third quarter. The trend continued in the fourth quarter, with the Rockets taking the lead 19-17 with another basket from Sydney Poretsky. The Rocket Flames finally reacted with Janel Brown converting one free throw (19-18). Jasmine White stole the ball, and was fouled to have a 1 on 1 free throw, missing it. Sydney couldn’t convert a 10-foot shot. In the ensuing attack, Kiara Colston made a nice assist to Adjowa who converted a basket (19-20) to give the Rocket Flames their lead with 1:10 left in regulation. Then Adjowa would make a free throw to finish the game 22-19. For the Rocket Flames, Adjowa had 13 points (6 baskets a 1 of 2 FTs), Dominique 4 (0/2 FTs), Jazmine 3 (one three pointer), Janel 3 (1 basket 1 of 2 FTs) and Babette 2. Lauren and Danielle had 0/2 FTs. Kiara, Danielle, Babette, Jasmine, Dominique and Janel had one assist each. At Germantown CC, the Holy Redeemer Cardinals stunned Lisa Morley’s team 26-24 with a superb team effort and great hustle. Abby Buckingham had a big game scoring 12 points for Tom Morin’s team. It was a big surprise, with the 8th seed (Holy Redeemer) beating the 4th seed (Flames/Morley). The Cardinals never trailed during the game, taking a 22-15 lead in the third quarter but 3 baskets from Kaitlyn De Hoff and Grayson McPhee made a one point game (22-21) in the fourth quarter. It was a great game for the Redeemer girls, after a disappointing loss early in the day to St. Bernadette at the CYO finals. Holy Redeemer will now face the Rocket Flames at Paint Branch in the Rising Stars semifinals. Flames/Jankowski didn’t have an easy game either. They faced Flames/Johnson’s a team that is showing good moves and great defense. Johnson’s fought very hard the first three quarters, getting very close (17-14) from baskets from Ellie McPeck and DJ Johnson but Jankowski’s girls shut them down and finished 31-19 in a game played at Bauer Drive CC in Rockville. In other games, Freedom took care of business finishing the Maryland Lightning 45-7 in a game where coach Steve McLallen rotated all his players. The Freedom, a team with size, speed and good shooters is clearly the favorite to take the trophy. Rising Stars Semifinals (today, March 9th, 2008): Freedom Fever vs Flames/Jankowski @ Einstein HS, 12:10PM Holy Redeemer vs Rocket Flames/White @ Paint Branch HS, 4:50pm

Madeline Merkle's lay up against St Jude.

JH Rockets, Lightning and Cardinals advance in RS Playoffs Gallery from Rockets vs St Jude Gaithersburg Rec League (Grizzlies) gallery The Juwan Howard Rockets playing a great team effort beat St Jude 34-28, advancing to the next round of the Rising Star playoffs. Lead by Madeline Merkle, Cameron Kelso and Sydney Poretsky, the Rockets never trailed, and played very good defense, neutralizing the St Jude tall girls with a zone defense and hustling in defense against the fast breaks of the opponents. First quarter ended 12-4 for the Rockets and half time 23-18. Sydney Poretsky lead the scorers with 12 points, followed by Cameron Kelso and Madeline Merkle, each with 5. Stacey Koutris (8) and Kelly Kuzma (6) were the top scorers for St. Jude. The JH Rockets will face the (Rocket) Flames on Saturday at 5:15pm at East County CC. The Maryland Lightning also advanced to the next round, beating the Poolesville Falcons 27-21 in a game that went very close until the last three minutes when the Lightning outmuscled the Falcons, using their size and strenght. The Lightning will have an uphill battle on Saturday, facing the undefeated Freedom Fever from Carroll County. The game will be played at Bauer Drive CC in Rockville. Holy Redeemer had a great game against the Sting, winning 28-20 after trailing 15-12 in the first half. "The girls were exhausted after a big CYO playoff win but played hard and pulled away late. We had balanced scoring and outrebounded a bigger team" said Cardinals' coach Tom Morin. Sting's coach (Steve Srebnick) said after the game: "We were ahead and simply, could not put the ball in the basket after that..." Jankowki's Flames didn't have a problem trouncing Cabin John 38-6 in a lopsided game, where the referees stopped making calls once the Flames had a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. The third quarter started 25-2 with the Flames dominating all the aspects of the game.

Dominique controls the ball after a steal.

Rocket Flames beat Johnson and get ready for playoffs The Rocket Flames finished the regular winter season defeating the improved Johnson's team 28-18 in a game played at Einstein HS in Wheaton, MD. The girls started very slow against a 3-2 defense finishing the first half 12-9 with several missed layups. The third quarter was decisive for the Rocket Flames, with good offensive moves from Danielle and Dominique, getting a comfortable eleven point lead (22-11). It was a good defensive effort lead by Dominique who was very agressive in the full court pressure and the man to man defense. Adjowa and Jasmine had six points, Dominique, Babette and Danielle had four points and Janel and Natalie had 2 apiece. The girls showed some rustiness in their free throw shooting, (no practices in almost a month) with only 2 out of 14 (for a season low 14%). Babette and Jasmine had two assists each and Janel had one. Adjowa and Babette had a pair of blocks while Dominique had 6 steals and Lauren had 3. In the Chesapeake division, the Bethesda Shooting Stars shocked St Jude and finished on top of the standings, sending St Jude to the third place. The Sting beat Cabin John, finishing second in the Chesapeake division and the Poolesville Falcons beat Clarksburg to jump up two notches and finish fourth, ahead of Clarksburg and Cabin John.

The girls at Comcast Center watching the Terrapins against Virginia and celebrating Quinn's 12th birthday.
Picture courtesy of David Moore.

Rocket Flames say goodbye to MAG league

In a very close game (despite the final result 42-29), the Rocket Flames played their last MAG game at the cavernous Langdon Community Center in DC facing the 95/Damascus Hornets.

The Rocket Flames played great defense during most of the game, ending the first half ahead 15-13.

In the ensuing seconds of the second half, the girls took their biggest lead of the game (19-15) but the Hornets replied with five points (20-19) to never trail again in the game.

The main key was Damascus' 5'10 center, Becky Barret who was able to take some close shots to the basket. She was held on a tight leash during the first half, but she became lethal in the second half, finishing with game-high 14 points.

Damascus had three girls in its roster (Becky, Anna Warfield and Claire Relly) who played with the Flames in the Spring of 2004 under the coaching of Art Forney when the team had 95s and 96s. In the Fall of that year, the team would be disbanded with the 95 girls going with Art and others leaving for the Classics. Babette, Kaitlyn DeHoff and Jasmine Reed stayed with the Flames.

Our girls worked very hard on defense the first half, allowing only 15 points to Damascus but the Hornets played a solid game in the second half scoring 27 points and advancing to the second round of the MAG playoffs.

This was a strong game for the Rocket Flames, who were lead by Kelly Markham 12 points (4 buckets and 2/8 FTs), followed by Adjowa with 6 points (0/4 FTs), one block and game-high 12 rebounds.

Babette added 4 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds and one block. Dominique also had four points, with three steals and 4 rebounds.

Jasmine contributed with 3 points from 3 free throws (3/6 FTs) one steal and one rebound. Lauren, Natalie and Quinn all had a great game playing agressive D. Nice work!.

The Rocket Flames will play today their last game of the Winter Season, before the playoffs. They will face the Flames/Johnson at 1:20 at Einstein HS.

Games this coming Sunday, February 24th:

• Flames/Johnson vs Rocket Flames @ Einstein HS, 1:20 pm
• MD Lightning vs Flames/Morley @ Wheaton HS, 3:10 PM
• Holy Redeemer vs Flames/Jankowski @ Northwest HS, 4:50 PM
• JH Rockets vs Freedom @ Paint Branch HS, 4:50 PM

Freedom tops Rocket Flames The Freedom Fever from Carrol County, MD snapped Rocket Flames' 8-game winning streak with a strong performance from Anna Hresko (14 points) in a game played at Fairland CC on Sunday evening. The Rocket Flames played very hard but couldn't resolve the Freedom's 1-3-1 zone defense throughout the game. The Freedom was ahead most of the game (half time 9-8) but the Rocket Flames took the lead 14-15 in the third quarter. Rocket Flames' stronger rebounder, Adjowa Pinkra, fouled out. She had only four fouls but an error in the table made her sit for the rest of the game with 3 minutes left in the third quarter. Then, the Freedom scored nine unanswered points to take a huge lead to finish the third quarter 23-15. Janel Brown made a layup (23-17) in the fourth quarter, but the Freedom converted three free throws to increase the lead to nine points (26-17). But the Rocket Flames kept pushing, with a full court pressure and man to man defense. Kelly stole the ball, passed to Babette, who was fouled. She made the first free throw (26-18) and Kiara grabbed the rebound off the second free throw. The ball went to Jasmine who converted a three pointer to shorten the difference to five points with only 2 minutes left (26-21). The momentum looked favorable to the Rocket Flames but the Freedom had a couple of runs that sealed the victory and secured their first place in the Winter League regular season. Three Rocket Flames were sick or injured (Danielle, Natalie and Morgan) and Lauren couldn't make it, so only eight girls were available. Jasmine lead the scorers with 8 points (2 baskets, 1 three pointer and 1/2 FTs), followed by Kiara and Kelly (4 points each), Babette 3 (1 basket and 1/2 FTs) and Janel (2 points). With these results, the Rocket Flames, seeded #2, will play the winner between the Bethesda Shooting Stars (Chesapeake - 3rd Place) and the Lightning (Potomac - 6th Place) on Saturday, March 8th at East County CC. In other action around the Potomac division, Holy Redeemer lost 26-21 to Flames/Morley. "Same old story we were tied 20-20 with three minutes left and couldn't finish" said Coach Tom Morin after the game. Kayla (Holy Redeemer's big girl) had seven points and her best game of the year while Christine Morin scored nine. Flames/Jankowski beat the JH Rockets 48-25. Games this coming Sunday, February 24th: Flames/Johnson vs Rocket Flames @ Einstein HS, 1:20 pm MD Lightning vs Flames/Morley @ Wheaton HS, 3:10 PM Holy Redeemer vs Flames/Jankowski @ Northwest HS, 4:50 PM JH Rockets vs Freedom @ Paint Branch HS, 4:50 PM

St. Jude beats the Sting and secures the Chesapeake Division St. Jude beat the Sting 27-14 in the Chesapeake Division, with a win that practically secures their first seed for the playoffs. Christine Mabry had eight points, Kelly Kuzma had 5 and Stacey Koutris had 4 assists for St. Jude in a game played at Montgomery Blair HS in Silver Spring. The Sting didn't have their strongest rebounder (Aliza Kantor) and that made a huge difference for St Jude, dominating the rebounds in both boards. The first half ended 20-5 for the Catholic school. With this result, St Jude will face the #8 seed in the Potomac Division at Wooton HS on March 2nd at 2:30pm.

West beats East in MAG All Star game Gallery from the All Star Game The All Star West, including three Rocket Flames players (Jasmine, Adjowa and Kelly) beat the All Star East 56-34 in a game played at Montrose Christian HS in Rockville, MD. The West dominated the whole game, with more teamwork, speed and overall defense. The First half ended 28-13 for the West, who included players from Winchester Raising Stars, Patuxent River Silveer Stars, Classics/Greene, Damascus, Arlington Matrix, Team Sol, Dream Makers and Rocket Flames. For the Rocket Flames, Adjowa had 8 points (4 of 5 FGs) and 4 rebounds. Kelly had 2 points (1 of 5 FGs), one steal and one assist. Jasmine had 2 steals. For the East Team, Kiara Colston (representing DC Heat), had 1 point (1 of 2 FTs), 3 missed FGs and 2 steals.

Three Rocket Flames go to All Stars game The MAGNBL announced the players for the All Star game. Kelly, Adjowa and Jasmine were selected to the Western conference All-Star team. The All Star game will be played on Saturday at Montrose Christian HS and will start at 4:00pm. There is a fee of 6.00$ for adults 12 and over and 3.00$ for children under 12. Children 3 and under are free. Let's come out and support our girls. This recognition would not be possible with out all working together and supporting each other. All the Rocket Flames should be very proud. In other MAG team news Kiara Colston will be playing on the Eastern ALL Stars team as a representative of her other team. (DC HEAT) The MAGNBL playoffs will resume on Saturday February 23 vs the Damascus Cougars time and location TBD. Hard Work, Pays Off!

Babette drives to the basket... ... and so does Kiara

Rocket Flames and Freedom Fever on collision course Gallery from last weekend The Rocket Flames and the Freedom Fever won their 7th and 8th games, remaining unbeaten and looking forward for their match on Sunday afternoon at Fairland CC in Burtonsville, MD. The Fever took care of business with a couple of victories, 32-17 over Lightning and 30-11 over Flames-Morley. The Rocket Flames had a tough opponent when they faced Holy Redeemer on Saturday night at Bauer Drive CC. Playing good basketball and contesting every ball, the Cardinals stayed close most of the game and kept the Rocket Flames to only 24 points, their lowest score in the winter league. The first half ended 20-10 with both teams unable to score a single point in the third quarter. The final score (24-16) showed how improved the Cardinals are now compared to their first game against the Rocket Flames when they were trounced 57-12. Dominique lead the scorers with 6 points, followed by Jasmine and Babette with 4, Kiara and Natalie with 3 and Adjowa and Lauren with 2 each. The Rocket Flames beat the MD Lightning on Sunday, a team that includes Megan Payne and Jillian Gottlieb, girls who were in the original Flames team in the Spring of 2004 along with Babette, Kelly Prange, Lauren Green and Kaitlyn De Hoff. In other league games, Jankowski's girls played great defense against Morley's and won 25-10 on Saturday. On Sunday, CeCe Nazzal hit a 6-foot baseline shot with 4 seconds left to sink Johnson 31-30. Johnson's team have added a few good players and played a good game but remains at the bottom of the standings with a 1-7 record. The JH Rockets collected two victories over the weekend. On Saturday, they beat the Flames-Johnson 19-13 in Overtime. Cameron Kelso (8 Points) and Sydney Poretsky (6) lead the scoring for the Rockets. On Sunday, the JH Rockets had a collective effort when Maddy Taylor and Charlotte Cunningham scored five points apiece and Sydney Poretsky had a great game grabbing 17 rebounds. In the Chesapeake division, the Sting recovered from last week loss and beat Stephanie De Celis' Clarksburg 32-31 in a double overtime. Aliza Kantor scored 16 points for the Sting, 4 of them in overtime. The Rising Stars League continues on Sunday (February 27th) with the following matchups: Flames/Jankowski vs JH Rockets at Wootton HS (3:40pm) Rocket Flames vs Freedom at Fairland CC (4:50pm) Flames/Morley vs Holy Redeemer at Einstein HS (4:50pm) Flames/Johnson vs MD Lightning at Watkins Mills HS (6:00pm) Rocket Flames finish 0-8 in MAG Regular Season Meanwhile, in the very competitive MAG league, the Rocket Flames played the Lady Hoop from Stafford (VA). The Lady Hoop is the same group of girls that played last year as the Stafford Express and reached the finals at the AAU division II in Florida. In a game played at the Langdon CC in DC, the Rocket Flames played very hard against a very experienced team, challenging the virginians and finishing only 11 points behind (42-31). The girls committed 39 turnovers, but despite those errors, stayed close most of the game, hustling in defense and challenging every shot from the strong Lady Hoop. Kelly lead the scoring with 15 points (including a three pointer), Adjowa (6), Babette (3) and Dominique, Lauren and Jasmine with 2. Quinn added one free throw. The Rocket Flames (seeded #7) are now paired to play seed #2, Mike Warfield's Damascus Cougars in the MAG playoffs on Saturday, February 23rd. Will they be able to cause a major upset? We'll see!! The winner of this match will face the winner between the Winchester Rising Stars and the 96/Classics (Green).

Rocket Flames keep rolling at Rising Stars The Rocket Flames won their 6th game at the Rising Stars winter league, beating the Flames/Jankowski team by 31-26, a game played at Northwest HS in Germantown, MD. On Saturday's game, at the MAG league, all of the girls showed extreme toughness and never gave up against the MD United Lady Ballers. Kelly, Adjowa and Babette played especially tough. "I think they all gave 110% and I was very proud" said Coach White after the game. In other games around the county, the Sting, the only undefeated team in the Chesapeake Division, lost against the Bethesda Shooting Stars 19-16. The game was played at the very new, shiny and bright gym at Clarksburg HS on route 355. The Shooting Stars were ahead all the game by 6-8 points, but a furious reaction in the fourth quarter by the Sting, including a three pointer by Taylor Srbenick, made the game very close with less than a minute to go. The Stars kept the ball in the dying seconds and took the victory in a game played on Sunday evening. For the Sting, Taylos Srebnick scored 8 points (1 3p, 3 baskets and 1/2 from FT) and Aliza Kantor added 4 points. The strongest team in the Chesapeake division, St Judes, coached by Jim Kuzma, trounced the Poolesville Falcons 38-14, while Clarksburg (coached by Stephanie De Celis) beat Cabin John 15-11. In the Potomac Valley League, played at Mt Vernon HS and Redland Middle School, the 8U Classics won their first game in their short career, beating the Metro Lady Stars (from Laurel MD) 22-21 in a nail-bitter. The 8U Classics, coached by Carl Travis, started just this winter and collected their first win with an impressive victory over a 9U team. The 8u Classics include Babette's sisters in their roster. They transferred from the Flames at the end of the Fall Season. Babette's sisters Meanwhile, Babette played for Steve Weissenburger team in the Gaithersburg Rec League. Steve's daughter (Stephanie) played with the Rocket Flames one season in the Spring of 2005 when the Rocket Flames added eight new players (Mindy Coronado, Janel Brown, Andie De Celis, Natalie Sebeck, Aliza Kantor, Simone Bloom, Jasmine White and Stephanie herself). Babette's team in the Gaithersburg Rec league

Morgan scores two points vs Morley's Babette challenges Jennifer Welch

Rocket Flames win 20th consecutive Rising Stars game (*) Gallery from last weekend The Rocket Flames continued undefeated in the Rising Stars league beating Lisa Morley's Flames at Wheaton High School. Unfortunately, no individual scoring information was provided from the table. Morley's girls were a tough opponent, though. They kept the Rocket Flames within a short distance for most of the first quarter but our girls' full court press was too much for Morley's team who didn't have their playmaker, Grayson McPhee, in the game. With this victory, the girls won their 20th consecutive game in Rising Stars competition. Their last loss was against the '95 Freedom team at the Rising Stars playoffs last winter. The other undefeated team, the Freedom Fever, beat Flames/Jankowski easily 48-15. The first half ended 18-10 for the Fever. The Fever backcourt players dominated the second half and overwhelmed the Flames girls, to win their fifth game in a row. Tom Morin's Holy Reedemer lost 18-14 to Flames/Johnson and the MD Lightning beat the JH Rockets 31-29. In the MAG league, the Rocket Flames lost to Team Sol, in a very intense game played at Northwestern High School. The girls went ahead 4-2 in the first half and stayed close in the scoreboard but a full court pressure by the Sol team broke their resistance. The girls went back to the habit of dribbling and trying to break the press in a hurry, giving away easy points to a team that could have been beaten. With this result, the Rocket Flames are sitting comfortably at the bottom of the standings, with only two games left in the regular winter season. The girls will face the MD United Lady Ballers on Saturday 3rd at Bishop McNamara and the Lady Hoop team the following saturday at Taft School in DC. On Saturday, February 29th, the girls will be playing in the MAG playoff game facing the Seed #2 in the West Conference. The seed #2 is being disputed between Damascus, the Winchester Rising Stars, the Arlington Matrix and the Pax River Silver Stars. The Rising Stars League continues on Sunday (February 27th) with the following matchups: Freedom vs Flames/Johnson at Blair HS, 12:10 Rocket Flames vs Flames/Jankowski at Northwest HS 2:30pm JH Rockets vs Flames/Morley at Wheaton HS 4:10 pm Holy Redeemer vs MD Lightning at Seneca Valley HS, 4:50pm (*) 10 Games in the Summer League, 5 games in the Holiday Season tournament and 5 more games in the 2008 Winter League.

Danielle sidestepping vs the JH Rockets Action at the MAG league Team Sol, our next week rivals at the MAG league

Two wins at the Rising Stars and one loss at the MAG league Gallery from last weekend The Rocket Flames played three games this past weekend with similar results as the past 3-4 weeks: Two wins at the Rising Stars and one loss at the MAG League. The game at the MAG league was against the Winchester Stars, a team of 7th graders from Winchester, Virginia. Although playing an older and bigger team, the girls played with intensity and never gave up. "I'm proud of the effort that the girls put in this game, it showed how well they can play against more experienced girls" said Coach White after the game. On Saturday, the girls faced Bernie Jankowski's team, whose girls took an early lead 4-2 in the first couple of minutes. The Rocket Flames put more pressure on defense and were able to take the lead at the end of the first quarter 16-10. Good defense was the key, and the girls extended the difference to nine points (25-16) at the end of the half. The third quarter was decisive with seven points in a row, against only one basket from Jankowski's to finish 32-18. The fourth quarter was played at a furious pace, with the girls scoring another 14 points vs 8 from Jankowski's to finish 46-26. The refereeing was (surprisingly) subpar from the men in black and white. Little effort to hustle and have a better view of the plays to make the right calls fouls. At this level, it's disappointing to teach good defense just to see the girls being whacked when they drive to the basket. Danielle Spencer had eight points (4 buckets), followed by 7 from Janel Brown (2 baskets and one 3 pointer) and Kiara Colston (3 baskets and one free throw). Adjowa and Babette added six points (Adjowa missing one FT and Babette missing 2), Jasmine and Dominique adding 4 each (from 2 baskets) and Lauren and Quinn 2 points (1 basket). For the losing side, Alexis Nettles had 16 points and Janessa Fountrey had eight. Jankowski's team would recover on Sunday with a comfortable win over the Lightning 28-18, without Alexis Nettles, playing tough defense throughout the whole game. The game on Sunday against the Rockets, played at Wootton HS, was a one-way game, with the JH Rockets having only five players available. To make things worse for the JH Rockets, their top scorer and rebounder (Sydney Poretsky) twisted her ankle early in the second quarter and didn't play for the rest of it. She returned in the third quarter and finished in an heroic effort with game-high 15 points for the losing side. The refereeing in this game was pretty good by Joel Chasnoff and Jackson Williams. In other games, Holy Redeemer put some resistance to the Freedom Fever in the first quarter but succumbed 40-15. On Saturday, the Cardinals had collected their first victory in the Winter League, beating Flames/Johnson 26-24 in overtime. The Rising Stars League continues on Sunday (January 27th) with the following matchups: Lightning vs JH Rockets at Wootton HS (12:10pm) Flames/Morley vs FLames White at Wheaton HS (3:10pm) Flames/Jankowski vs Freedom Fever at Paint Branch HS (3:40pm) Flames/Johnson vs Holy Redeemer at Einstein HS (3:10pm)

Freedom and Flames keep winning at Rising Stars

The Rocket Flames had another easy game beating the Flames/Johnson 47-8 at Magruder High School in Gaithersburg on Sunday evening. Jasmine White and Kelly Markham lead the scorers with 13 points apiece.

On Saturday afternoon, the Rocket Flames, with only six players, played their fourth game at the competitive and physical MAGNBL league, losing against the Damascus Hornets, a '95 team coached by Mike Warfield.

Meanwhile, at the Rising Stars League, Bernie Jankowski's Flames beat the Holy Redeemer in a thriller. With less than 2 minutes left, the Cardinals led 21-17. Marie Jankowski hit a 17 footer and then a running jumper to tie the score with 33 seconds left.

CeCe Nazzal stole the ball and hit a driving layup with 8 seconds left. Then Alexis Nettles blocked the final shot to seal the win, 23-21 for the Jankowski's girls.

The Freedom Fever from Carroll County beat the Damascus Ligthning 40-10 in their second game of the Rising Stars Winter Season. The Fever played a full court pressure that suffocated the Lightning in a game played at Blair HS in Silver Spring.

Another Flames team (Morley's) had a tough game against the JH Rockets. Morley's girls were ahead the entire game, mostly by 10 points but the Rockets made a run at the end to loose only by two points.

The Rising Stars Winter league continues this weekend with eight games on Saturday and Sunday.

The Rocket Flames, looking for their first win in the MAGNBL Leauge, will play the Winchester Rising Stars at Montrose Christian HS in Rockville at 2pm on Saturday.

Adjowa shooting off an offensive rebound Lauren looking for a teammate

Rocket Flames beats Holy Redeemer in Rising Stars opener Gallery from last weekend The Rocket Flames played their fist game of the winter league season, beating the Holy Redeemer Cardinals with a convincing 57-12 score. The girls started at full throttle with Babette completing a three point play and Jasmine on fire making her first four shots. All the girls played great in defense despite the big difference in the score board. Jasmine lead the scoring sheet with twelve points (5 baskets and 2 of 4 FTs), followed by Adjowa (10 points), Natalie 8 (3 Baskets and 2/2 FTs), Babette 7 (3 baskets and 1/1). Kelly, Lauren, Sydney and Danielle had four points apiece while Morgan and Janel added 2. The girls improved their free throw percentage with a 62.5% (5 of 8 FTs) and played the full court pressure very effectively in the first half. It was a very scoring game for the girls, second only to the 58-8 victory over the 95/Flames (Roberson) team at the 2007 Flames Fall League . In other games, the Freedom Fever made its debut beating 41-26 the Morley Flames. "It was pretty competitive game despite the 15-point difference. We got down a little early but managed to come back and pull away gradually" said coach Frank McLallen after the game. Bernie Jankowski's Flames beat the fourth Flames team in this league (Flames/Johnson) 41-16 in a game where Jankowski's played man to man most of the time. Finally, the Damascus Lighting beat the Juwan Howard Rockets 28-16 in a game played at Seneca Valley High School. This coming Sunday, the Flames/Morley will face JH Rockets at Wootton HS, the Lightning will face the Freedom Fever at Blake HS and Jankowski's Flames will play Holy Redeemer at Northwest HS. Our girls will play the Flames/Johnson team at Magruder HS (4:50pm). The Rocket Flames also played on Saturday at the cold and dark Langdon CC gym in Northeast, DC. The girls lost to the 96/Classics with a 34-24 score (19-12 at half time). It was the third consecutive loss at the MAGNBL league and the girls' third consecutive loss against the team coached by Bobby Green.

Sydney Poretski, JH Rockets Grayson McPhee Raly Hinton, Holy Redeemer.

Rising Stars (Potomac Division) Winter Season Outlook Germantown, MD 1-Jan-2008. Eight teams are lined up to compete in the Potomac Division of the Winter Rising Stars Basketball league. Five of these teams played in the Summer league, with the Freedom Fever (Sykesville, MD), Lightning (Damascus) and Flames/Johson (Silver Spring) replacing the 97/Classics, Waldorf and Poolesville in this edition of the very competitive RS league. The League starts this Sunday with two Flames facing each other (Jankowski and Johnson), the Freedom facing the Flames/Morley, the JH Rockets facing the MD Lightning and the Rocket Flames playing the Holy Redeemer Cardinals. The league will finish its regular schedule the last week in February. Then, these eight teams will be paired with the teams from the other divisions (Chesapeake and Patriot) in a single-elimination playoffs to crown a champion in the middle of March (Madness). The Rocket Flames will play this winter with girls their same grade (6th) in the top division (Potomac). Last year, they played-up with then-six graders in what became a very humbling and learning experience for the girls. But now is time for them to collect the dividends and play with more confidence. "I want to use the Rising Star winter season to give an opportunity to some girls to play and see how they develop in a comfortable situation." said Coach Tony White from Ocean City MD. The 6th grade Freedom Fever hail from the Freedom travel program in Carroll County. With 13 players on the roster, the Fever will randomly suite 10 players per game and of course bring everyone to the playoffs. Many of the Freedom players are two or three sport athletes and only play basketball in the winter. There are several Freedom girls who play year-round basketball with the Blue Ridge Force who competed last summer in Reno, Nevada at the AAU grade-based nationals. Both the Freedom Fever and the Blue Ridge Force 96 team are coached by Frank McLallen and assisted by Shawn Johnson. The Juwan Howard Rockets, coached by Joel Poretski, have some new players, but the core of the team remains the same. The JH Rockets made their debut in the Summer League, and finished very hot, winning their last six games. The JH Rockets played at the Rising Stars Holiday tournament last week loosing all the games. "We were not well prepared, we didn't have practices and some of the girls were not available, but we expect better results in the Winter League" said Joel Poretski to RocketFlames.com. The team is lead by Sydney Poretski and Cameron Kelso. Juwan Howard, incidentally, is now playing for the Dallas Mavericks, after moving from the Houston Rockets to Minnesotta and then to Dallas. The Holy Redeemer Cardinals are bringing a revamped team with former Flames' players, Elizabeth Gittings, Raly Hinton and Kayla Nalls as well as top scorer Christine Morin. Coach Tom Morin has been working pretty hard to make a competitive team out of this CYO team. They just played the Rising Stars Holiday tournament finishing with a 1-2 record. Lisa Morley and Joe Welch are back with their Flames team who has found in Grayson McPhee a great playmaker/shooter for the team. Lisa's team beat the Rocket Flames 24-22 in the Flames Fall League, for the first time in more than a year, showing big improvements in their ball-handling and overall defense. In Jankowski's team, the frontcourt is dominated by Alexis Nettles, a girl that knows how to use her body in positioning close to the basket. She has a sky-hook shot very difficult to stop. When fouled, Alexis is lethal at the free throw line. Other players to watch are Bernie's daughter, Marie, who has a nice long-range shot and Cece Nazzal who is very quick on fast breaks. The Maryland Lightning is the same Damascus team that played in the winter league last year (Patriot League) finishing with a 2-4 record. The team is coached by Linda Kauffman and migth ruffle some feathers and upset some teams in this tournament.

Rocket Flames retain Holiday's title

December 23rd. The Rocket Flames won the 2007 Holiday Tournament held at Georgetown Prep, Rockville, Maryland playing the Championship game against the Lady Steel from Waldorf, Maryland.

It was a very intense game, against a team with good shooters and tall girls. The starting lineup was Jasmine, Dominique, Sydney, Babette and Adjowa.

The Lady Steel tried to suffocate the girls with a full court pressure in the first few minutes of the game. But the girls were able to beat the Steelers pressure with good lateral passes, dribbling only when needed and making good decisions on how and when to move the ball.

Once the full court pressure was broken, the finishing touch was made by Adjowa who converted four consecutive baskets to put the Rocket Flames ahead 10-2 in the score. After that, the Lady Steelers stopped their pressure and went to 3-2 zone defense.

In the meantime, the full court pressure by our girls was paying dividends, creating problems to the girls from Prince George's County. All the Rocket Flames girls played hard in defense, diving to loose balls and hustling on the unforgiving surface of Georgetown Prep basketball facility.

The first half ended 16-11 for the Rocket Flames. In the second half, Coach Tony called Rachel to put pressure on the Lady Steel ball handlers. Later on in the game, Lauren and Dominique would take turns to pester their point guard with good results.

The Lady Steelers kept pushing, always trailing by 4-6 points. With five minutes left, and trailing by four (28-32) they decided to try the full court pressure again. The first time, we lost the ball but in the next two posessions our girls showed their improvement in handling the pressure and attacking the front court.

Two more baskets from Natalie and Sam gave the Rocket Flames a huge margin (38-28) with only two minutes left. Coach White called a time out and told the girls to keep control of the ball and secure the game. But the girls wanted more points, and the Lady Steelers retaliated with 3 points to get 36-31 with 30 seconds to go. A good defensive move by the Rocket Flames defense created an easy layup for Babette to put the icing on the cake, 38-31 and take the trophy home.

Adjowa lead the scoring with 12 points, followed by Jasmine (5 baskets 0/2 FTs), Sam (6 0/1 FTs), Natalie and Babette (4 points each) and Danielle 2 (1 bucket).

The girls will play the Rising Stars Holiday Tournament, their last outing this year. Their first game is against St. Bernadette at Bauer Drive Community Center on Wednesday at 6pm. On Thursday, the girls play at 11:10 a.m. against the Howard County Youth Program (HCYP) Sharks at East County Community Center.

Depending upon these games, we would play on Friday either at 7;20 p.m. or 8:20pm.

Now let's see if the Redskins can make the playoffs!

Merry Xmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah and Feliz Navidad to everyone!

Pictures from First day at Georgetown Prep

Rocket Flames advance to Championship game

The girls got a ticket to the Championship game with convincing victories over the 97/Flames National team (51-18) and 96/Flames Jankowski (42-17) in games played at Georgetown Prep in Rockville.

In the first game, against the 97 National team, the girls dominated the tempo of the game from the beginning. All the players scored at least one basket, with Jasmine leading the scoring with 17 points (1 3pointer, 4 baskets and 4 free throws), followed by Adjowa 8 (4 baskets), Janel 7 (2 baskets, 3 FTs), Morgan and Sydney (2 baskets each for 4 points), Babette (3 Fts) and Dominique, Rachel and Lauren 1 basket each.

The game against Jankowski was played at 7pm. The coaching staff was concerned about the girls being tired after a long day, but the girls were fresh and ready to play. Once again, Jasmine lead the scoring with 15 points (6 baskets and 1 three pointer), Adjowa 9 (3 baskets and 3 FTs), Babette 6 (3 buckets), Sam Spencer 5 (2 baskets and 1 FT), Sydney 3, (1 basket, 1 FT) and Lauren and Rachel 2 points each.

The Rocket Flames will face the Lady Steel from Columbia Maryland at 12:45. The Lady Steel won its bracket beating the 95/Flames Roberson team 28-26 and Olney 41-15.

Other results:

95/Flames Roberson - Olney 42-10
Ravens - 95/Flames Hall 26-19
Classics Chili - Crush 33-35
96/Flames Jankowski - 97/Flames Tullis 44-38

Pictures from First day at Georgetown Prep

Rocket Flames to defend title at G'town Prep

The Rocket Flames will play this weekend at Georgetown Prep, in Rockville Pike, Bethesda. The girls will be defending the Holiday Tournament title they won last year beating in the final the 96/Flames Jankowski team at Silver Spring.

Originally, we were not scheduled to play this tournament, but thanks to the our Lady of Lourdes (the team) we were asked to fill in. The team won't have some of the players but coach Tony is confident that the team will be able to have a good performance and defend the title won in December 2006.

Our girls are paired in Pool B with the 97/Flames National team coached by Tullis and Jankowski's. In pool "A", there are three teams as well: The 95/Flames Roberson, Maryland Lady Steel and the Olney Warriors, coached by Larry Boyd.

On Sunday, the top seeds from each pool will play for the championship at 12:45 while the Runner-ups will play earlier at 11:30.

The teams in third place will play at 9:45am.

Full Schedule

SATURDAY
Time	Home Team (White)	Away Team (Dark)	Court
9:00 AM   Pool A	Olney Rising Star - Boyd	Flames - Roberson	1
9:00 AM   Pool B	Flames - Tullis	Flames - Jankowski	4
11:30 AM   Pool A	Lady Steel	Flames - Roberson	1
3:15 PM   Pool B	Flames - Tullis	Flames - White	1
4:30 PM    Pool A	Olney Rising Star - Boyd	Lady Steel	1
7:00 PM  Pool B	Flames Jankowski	Flames - White	1
SUNDAY
9:00 AM	3rd Place Pool A	3rd Place Pool B	1
11:30 AM	2nd Place Pool A	2nd Place Pool B	1
12:45 PM	1st Place Pool A	1st Place Pool B	1

From the U of MD Game a few weeks back

Click on the picture to see the gallery from last game at the Institute of Notre Dame (Baltimore).

Map to Notre Dame

Rocket Flames travel to Notre Dame (Baltimore) The Rocket Flames will play three games this weekend in Baltimore, MD. The games will take place at the Institute of Notre Dame located at 901 N. Aisquith St., Baltimore, MD 21202 (www.indofmd.org) The games will be held at Marion I. Knott Gymnasium which opened in 1992 as a gift from the Knott Foundation. It is home to the Notre Dame's Basketball, Volleyball, and Badminton teams, and their Cheerleading squads. It serves as well as an indoor practice area for their outdoor sports during the winter or in inclement weather. We have one game on Saturday, 17-Nov-07, which begins at 5:00 p.m. Please plan to be there by 4:30 p.m. Wear your WHITE uniform (and bring your black uniform just in case.) We have two games on Sunday, 18-Nov-07. The first game begins at 10:00 a.m. (please arrive by 9:30 a.m.) and the second game begins at 2:00 p.m. (Please arrive by 1:30) Wear your WHITE uniform for both of these games as well (and bring your black, just in case.) Directions to Game: Take I-95 North to Rt. 395; make a right onto Pratt St. (Go through downtown); make a left on Central Ave.; make a left onto Ashland Ave. Gym and parking lot are located at the corner of Ashland and Somerset inside of gate. Gym is down the stairs on the left.

Rocket Flames beat 95/Classics

Coming from behind, after trailing the first half 15-14, the Rocket Flames made an impressive come back and beat the 95/Classics team coached by Carl Travis 39-17.

Inspired by a magnificent effort by Dominique and Kelly on defense, the girls rallied in the second half outscoring the Bethesda team 24-3, with a strong defense and agressive moves in offense.

"This was a nice game to watch. We started slow but the defense made the difference in the second half" said Assistant Coach Mauricio Sanmartin after the game. He was subbing for Head Coach Tony White who was unavailable, as well as his daughter Jasmine.

"The girls were more patience breaking their full-court pressure, making good passes and dribbling only when needed. On the other hand, they were suffocating Travis' team and making good drives to the basket" added Coach Mauricio to RocketFlames.com.

Adjowa, Kelly, Babette and Dominique lead the scorers with 9, 8, 7 and 6 points respectively, followed by Natalie with 3. Morgan and Quinn added 2 points. With this game, the Rocket Flames finished the Fall Season with a 5-6 record (see all results below).

Three Rocket Flames girls (Jasmine, Babette and Adjowa) will attend the Adidas showcase in Chantilly this weekend and the following weekend the whole team will travel to Baltimore to play at the Institute of Notre Dame tournament.

In other games this weekend, the 97/Lady Tigers from Baltimore beat the 96/Flames Morley 32-27 in Overtime. Grayson McPhee, played a great game for Morley's tying the game in regulation 25-25 with a nice 12-foot shot with 5 seconds left. But the Tigers had more offensive tools and overmatched Morley's 7-2 in overtime.

Rocket Flames 2007 Fall Season results

Fall Record: 5-6

Saturday, Sep 22		L 23-37
Saturday, Sep 29		L 23-27
Sunday, Sep 30		W 58-8
Saturday, Oct 6		L 26-41
Sunday, Oct 7		W 55-36
Sunday, Oct 7		W 35-28
Sunday, Oct 14		L 22-24
Sunday, Oct 14		W 34-26
Sunday, Oct 21		L 28-32
Saturday, Oct 27		L 25-35
Saturday, Nov 3		W 39-17

Eleven teams lined up for Mid Atlantic League

The Team Sol organization, lead by Saladdin Reese and Joe Dunston, announced the teams that have been enrolled in the MAGNBL winter league to be played on Saturdays.

Our girls will be in a very competitive bracket with the best teams from Maryland and some new teams from Virginia. The organizers are expecting five more teams to complete two pools of eight teams each.

The full line-up (as of 31-October) is as follows:

DIVISION C -DI 11u / DII 12u SATURDAYS

1. 96 Team Sol -Gilbeaux (Potomac Valley DI AAU)
2. 97 Team Sol - Gary Daniels (2nd in Nation Division I AAU)
3. 96 DC Heat (Qualified DI AAU Nationals)
4. 96 Owing Mills Lady Tigers (2nd in YBOA Nationals)
5. 95/96 Arlington Matrix (Potomac Valley AAU)
6. 95/96 Classics/Green (Potomac Valley DII AAU Champion)
7. 96 Rocket Flames -White (Potomac Valley DII AAU Runner-up)
8. 96 Lady Hoop-Booth (VA AAU DII 2nd Place)
9. 95/96 Damascus Cougars (Coached by Mike Warfield)
10. 96 Maryland Sureshots (Maryland AAU DI 2nd Place)
11. 95/96 Pax River Silver Stars (Maryland AAU)

Paige made her first two points

Rocket Flames drop two The Rocket Flames played two difficult games over the last two weekends, loosing against the 95/Flames Hall and the Virginia's 95/96 Tar Heels. Last week, the Flames faced the 95/Flames Hall and played very well against an older team. The Rocket Flames went ahead 28-25 with two minutes to go but Hall's team put pressure and tied the game with 45 seconds left. Our girls couldn't score and the game went to overtime. In the OT, the girls couldn't find their rythm missing all their shots while Hall capitalized and scored 4 points to take the game 32-28. Natalie had an excellent game attacking their zone defense, netting 6 points while Jasmine was very productive from the perimeter, leading all the scorers with nine points (4 baskets and 1/5 FTs). Kelly had seven points (3 baskets and 1/7 FTs), Quinn added 4 points and Babette 2 points. Lauren and Dominique missed two free throws each. Against the Tar Heels, we did give this game away, with numerous turnovers and unforced errors. The Tar Heels is a very good team with a mix of 95 and 96 girls, gathered for the Flames Fall Season. But we had some individual highlights. Rachel played very well on defense, Babette showed her usual toughness, Jasmine was agressive on offense and Paige showed good effort on both sides of the court. First half ended 20-11 and the final score was 35-25 for the Virginian team. Kelly lead the scorers with 7 points (3 baskets and 1 of 12 from the free throw line), followed by Jasmine (1 basket and 2/2 FTs). Paige made their first basket with a nice 15-footer and Natalie added two points as well. Sydney missed two free throws. In other games, the Mavericks beat Damascus 30-26 and Jankowski beat Morley 24-21 after trailing most of the game. The Rocket Flames will play their last game of the Fall Season on Saturday at 1pm facing the 95/Classics coached by Carl Travis. On November 17-18, the team will go to Baltimore to play at Institute of Notre Dame's tournament to get ready for the very competitive MAGNBL winter league and Rising Stars league.

Rocket Flames win one, loose one The Rocket Flames beat another older team on Sunday afternoon, this time the Holy Child team from the Catholic School in Bethesda. The girls continued with some of the problems they had earlier in the day versus Lisa Morley’s team but a stellar performance by Jasmine White sealed the victory for the Rocket Flames with a final score 34-26. The Rocket Flames hustled in defense and were very effective covering the Holy Child shooters but struggled with the zone defense and executing the counter attacks, making unforced errors and giving away easy points. But a win is a win, especially against older, bigger and heavier girls. And the girls enjoy those victories with special fondness. Jasmine White had 18 points (career-high), from 7 buckets and 4/4 from the free throw line, followed by Adjowa with 10 points, Kelly 3, Babette 2 and Dominique 1. The girls had played another game early in the morning, against the 96/Flames coached by Lisa Morley and Joe Welch. The girls didn’t play a good game, having problems solving the full court pressure, missing lay-ups and attacking Morley’s zone defense. The final score was 24-22, a game that started at 8am. It was the first defeat against another Flames regional team in more than two years. In other games, 95/Flames Roberson beat Sting 24-16 and 95/Flames FMV beat 95/Flames Hall 23-18 in overtime. Next week, the Rocket Flames play another Flames team, the 95/Flames coached by Mike Hall at the Discovery Center in Germantown at 1pm. Coach White will not attend the game, so Mauricio Sanmartin will try to keep his unblemished record (2-0) as Assistant Coach.

Jasmine & Adjowa Babette attacks the Holy Child

Rachael looks for the basket against Alexis Nettles Quinn converting one of her 10 points in game 1.

Rocket Flames win two at VYC in Darnestown See VYC's Gallery In a very long day, the Rocket Flames won two games at the Victory Youth Center in Darnestown. After losing on Saturday against the Frederick Mavericks, the Flames team was hungry for a victory. And two they had. In the first game, the girls started agressive and went ahead quickly, lead by Kelly's speed (8 points in the first quarter) and strong defense from Dominique, Jasmine and Natalie. The first quarter was favorable for the Rocket Flames 17-4 and the lead got bigger (27-6 at half time) from strong full court pressure in a very nice team effort. The third quarter was an interchange of baskets, the Rocket Flames outscoring Jankowski 20-14 to end the quarter 46-21 with Babette scoring six of them. In the fourth quarter, the Jankowski girls outscored our girls 15-8 but that wasn't enough to scare the Rocket Flames who beat Jankowski for the fourth time in less than a year, this time with a final score of 55-36. Quinn (career high 10 points) was very effective on the boards as well as Kelly and Babette with 10 points each as well. They were followed by Natalie and Adjowa with six. Dominique added five and Sydney and Jasmine added four points each. For Jankowski, Alexis Nettles had 12 points and Sizzi Nazzal, Reily Hinton and Marie Jankowski had 4 each. The second game wasn't easy. After the long game vs Jankowski (4 quarters of 8 minutes, stop clock), the girls looked tired, while the Sting were rested and ready to fight. The Sting went ahead 6-2 thanks to two buckets from former Rocket Flame Aliza Kantor. The first quarter ended tied 6-6 and the second quarter was 12-11 for the Rocket Flames. The game turned very physical but the Rocket Flames didn't balk. Strong offensive rebounding by Adjowa, Babette, Quinn and Sydney was crucial, while the full court pressure was making the Sting to loose its venom. Lauren was everywhere (as always), despite having played two soccer games in the morning. Morgan and Rachael were also very effective in defense suffocating the Sting and playing good minutes in a game that was supposed to be much easier. Against the Sting, Adjowa had 12 points, Kelly 11, Babette and Lauren four each and Jasmine and Sydney 2 apiece. For the losing side, Aliza Kantor lead the Sting with 10 points. In the first game of the triple-header, Jankowski's beat the Sting 44-29 with Alexis Nettles scoring 20 points and Reily Hinton adding 11 for the Flames team. For the Sting, Aliza Kantor had 11 points and former Classics' Victoria McClure added 10.

Pics from Flames Fall League (07 Oct 2007)

Marie Jankowski vs. the Sting

Rocket Flames can't tame the Mavericks The Rocket Flames couldn’t overcome the physical strength of the Frederick Mavericks and lost 41-26 at the Discovery Sports Center in Germantown. The Rocket Flames put a strong resistance during the first half and the first five minutes of the second, but succumbed against a team with more height and a couple of shooters that perforated our zone defense at ease. Nonetheless, the girls played their hearts out in defense and attacked their full court pressure with good results, especially Kelly driving towards the basket. Our full court pressure worked in the first half, when the girls trailed by just 4 points. Meanwhile, the Mavericks coach (Norman McGaughey) had to reshuffle his girls to find the combination to beat our full court pressure with two of his players in foul trouble. Kelly Markham lead the scorers with 18 points, followed by Adjowa with 6. Lauren, Morgan and Quinn were not available due to other commitments. In summary, it was a good performance for the Rocket Flames against 7th grade girls born in 1995. The Rocket Flames continue today their Fall season with two games at the Victory Youth Center in Darnestown. The first game is against Flames/Jankowski and the second game is against Steve Srebnick’s Sting. Next week, the Rocket Flames play two games on Sunday. An early bird game against Morley’s at 8:00 am and the second game against Holy Child at 2:15pm, both games at Discovery Center in Germantown.

Babette goes high for a layup against Flames/Roberson Dominique is back with the Rocket Flames. See Gallery (29-30 Sep 07)

Rocket Flames beat 95/Roberson See Gallery (29-30 Sep 07) The Rocket Flames beat the 95/Flames (Roberson) team on Sunday afternoon (58-8) as part of the Flames fall league. It was the highest score for the Rocket Flames in an official game, and specially important because it was against older girls. The first half finished 26-4 with the girls on fire, scoring layups and rebounding hard in offense. Defensively, the Rocket Flames played very well on the full-court press, suffocating the 95s with Jasmine, Babette and Kelly in the front, Quinn in the middle and Adjowa blocking and intercepting the runaways of the opponents. In the second half, coach Tony White reverted to a zone defense and then the trio of Morgan, Rachael and Lauren were pestering the Roberson’s guards, disrupting their game and frustrating their attacks. The icing of the cake was a basket by Natalie at the end of the game, when she had the ball at the free throw line, faked a shot, dribbled once and made a nice bucket against their zone defense. It was a feast for the Rocket Flames who scored their first 20 points unanswered. Eleven of the twelve players scored at least one point. Sydney lead the scorers with 12 points (career high), followed by Adjowa (11), Babette (10) , Kelly (8) and Jasmine (6). Also Morgan, Quinn, Natalie, Dominique and Lauren contributed with 2 points each and Paige added one free throw. Rachael did not score this time but played great defense. The Rocket Flames continue their Fall season this Saturday at the Discovery Sports Center in Germantown facing the 95/Mavericks at 9:15am. On Sunday, the Rocket Flames will encounter Jankowski's girls and Steve Srbenick Sting, on back to back games starting at 3:15pm at the Victory Youth Center in Darnestown. Other results from this weekend: Saturday: 95/Olney Warriors – 96/Flames Jankowski 23-14 97/Flames Tullis – 97/Classics Arrietta 23-20 95/Flames Roberson – 96/Flames Morley 22-14 96/Flames Baker – 95/Holy Child 32-21 97/Lady Tigers – 96/Sting 28-24 Sunday: 96/Flames Morley – 96/Waves Hitesman 33-18 96/Flames Baker – 95/Damascus Warfield 32-14 95/Olney Warriors – 96/Sting 27-12 96/Flames Johnson – 97/Flames Tullis 36-10 95/Flames Fitzentreiter – 95/Flames Hall 62-12 95/Classics Travis – 95/Flames Roberson 29-25 96/Flames White – 95/Flames Roberson 58-8 95/Holy Child – 95/Flames FMV 26-24 96/Flames Jankowski – 98/Flames Wilson 32-24 96/Flames Baker – 96/BRYC Tar Heels 37-33 (OT)

Kelly Markham fights for a position against Anna from Damascus. Jasmine attacks Damascus' Claire. See Gallery (29 Sep 07)

Rocket Flames play great vs Damascus See Gallery (29 Sep 07) With the full Fall roster for the first time, the Rocket Flames played a great game against the 95/Damascus team coached by Mike Warfield losing by 4 points, 27-23. Damascus started strong with Becky Barret grabbing huge rebounds and Anna Warfield making nice shots against the Flames zone defense. Coach Tony White shuffled her girls and the team slowly started recovering from the initial difference. In the second half, the Rocket Flames girls tied the game thanks to a full court pressure that created problems for Damascus. Also, the girls were getting more agressive in offense, attacking the zone and creating gaps in the opponent's zone defense. Referees were very strict with fouls and Damascus was highly affected by that circumstance. Unfortunately, our girls didn't capitalize the free throws (except for a perfect 2 for 2 from Morgan) and the game went away in the last minute. But it was a good team effort, against a team that is very recursive, tall and agressive in offensive rebounds. Kelly lead the scorers with 10 points (5 baskets, 0/8 FTs). Babette added 6 points (3 layups 0/4 FTs), Jasmine 3 points (1 basket, 1/2 FTs), Rachael 2 points (1 basket) and Morgan (2 FTs for 2 Points). The Fall league continues today with the Rocket Flames playing the 95/Flames coached by Tom Roberson. Meanwhile, it was confirmed the mini-tournament for Sunday October 7th at the Victory Youth Center in Darnestown. This is the schedule: 2:00pm Flames/Jankowski (WHITE) vs Sting/Srbenick (NAVY) 3:15pm Flames/Jankowski (WHITE) vs Flames/White (BLACK) 4:30pm Sting/Srbenick (NAVY) vs Flames/White (WHITE)

Rocket Flames put a strong performance against 96/Baker

The Rocket Flames played a great game against the team ranked 2nd in the Nation, losing 37-23 in the Flames Fall League played at the Discovery Center in Germantown.

The first half started with the National team scoring 10 unanswered points but the Rockets hit back and trailed only by six points (16-10) at half time.

The Rocket Flames kept a tight defense on the National's best player (Kristen Carter) as well as forcing Mike Baker's girls to make mistakes breaking the full court pressure. Janel Brown and Anna Hagerup made a couple of three pointers to make the difference too wide for the Rocket Flames to catch up.

Yet, coach White was very pleased with his girls. When asked what was the difference he just said "Layups".

"We missed a lot of layups and that hurt us a lot, otherwise the result would have been much closer. The girls had a fantastic effort on defense but we couldn't score easy baskets and stay close to them in the scoreboard" added Tony.

Adjowa lead the scorers with nine points (4 buckets and 2/1 FT), Kelly followed with eight (3 baskets and 2 out of 7 from the free throw line), Jasmine 4 points (2 baskets), and Quinn and Lauren 1 point apiece (1/2 from free throw line).

Meanwhile, Bernie Jankowski's team outplayed Johson's team 30-16 with 19 points from Alexis Nettles. Also Morley's team beat (35-20) the new 95/Classics team coached by the charismatic Carl Travis.

Our next game is on Saturday against Damascus at 8:00am, a team coached by Mike Warfield. His team includes the speedster Anna Warfield and other former Flames players such as Center Becky Barret and point guard Claire Reilly.

All Results:

• 95/Flames Hall - 95/Mavericks 29-26
• 96/Classics Green - 95/Holy Child 29-17
• 95/Olney Warriors - 95/Flames Roberson 26-17
• 96/Flames Morley - 95/Classics Travis 35-20
• 96/Flames Jankowski - 96/Flames Johnson 30-16
• 95/Flames Trimmer - 96/Flames Baker 35-32 (OT)
• 96/Flames Baker - 95/Flames Fitzenreiter 34-26
• 96/Flames Baker - 96/Flames White 37-23
• 95/Damascus beat 95/Flames FMV.
• 96/BRYC Tar Heels beat Maryland Waves

Pictures from Mini-Flames (22 Sep 2007)

Rocket Flames games in the 2007 Fall League

All games at Discovery Center in Germantown, Maryland.

Saturday, Sep 22		10:30AM Court 4 (WHITE)
Saturday, Sep 29		8:00AM Court 6 (BLACK)
Sunday, Sep 30		1:00PM Court 6 (WHITE)
Saturday, Oct 6		9:15AM Court 2 (BLACK)
Sunday, Oct 14		8:00am Court 4 (WHITE)
Sunday, Oct 14		2:15pm Court 1 (BLACK)
Sunday, Oct 21		1:00PM Court 4 (BLACK)
Saturday, Oct 27		1:00 pm Court 3 (BLACK)
Saturday, Nov 3		1:00pm Court 2 (WHITE)

Rocket Flames at the James River Classic (Richmond, June 2007)

These, and other pictures can be purchased at the following link: Philpott Photography

Bubbles' trip report from Colombia One of our girls spent three weeks in Colombia (South America) with dad and her three sisters. They visited family, played some hoops and had a lot of fun. Click here to see her trip report in pictures.

First Fall Practice this Thursday in Rockville

A practice has been scheduled for Thursday, August 30th at 6:30 p.m. at Earle B. Wood Middle School (14615 Bauer Dr., Rockville, MD 20853).

Girls at the UMD overnight summer camp. Pic courtesy of Stephanie Sebeck

Rocket Flames rock the UMD basketball camp

Five girls from the Rocket Flames attended the U of MD Summer camp last week. Congratulations to Babette for winning the 1 on 1 championship. Jasmine won MVP at the championship (second time in a row) and Natalie played very well, a lot more confident with the ball and good offensive moves. Quinn showed good progress and an increasing effort level.

Meanwhile, Kelly went for two weeks to a camp in Washington DC and was 1 of 2 girls and at least 100 boys. She made it to the finals for free throws. Other girls have been attending Higher Level camp at Wootton High School in Rockville and other camps in Montgomery County.

The team celebrating the Rising Stars Trophies with Ice Cream.
Pic courtesy of Stephanie Sebeck

The Rocket Flames added another banner to their rafter

Rocket Flames finish Rising Stars undefeated

Gaithersburg, 23-July-2007. The Rocket Flames, with their rising stars title already under their belt, finished their summer season with a convincing victory over the Poolesville Falcons 30-11, a game played at Potomac CC on Friday, July 21st.

Quinn with eight points, Kelly and Jasmine with six, lead the winning team but as coach Tony White said "All players played and contributed valuable minutes".

In the first game on Friday, the Flames/Jankowski dispatched the Classics 38-30 to clinch the second place in the standings.

On Monday, in the final game of the season, Flames/Morley beat the Classics 15-11 relegating the team from Bethesda to the fourth place in the standings and giving Flames/Jankowki the second and final place in the standings.

The Classics dropped to fourth place after being on first or second place most of the season due to a more favorable schedule. But the Classics lost three of their last four last games, all agains the older Flames teams, ending a very good season playing up all their games.

2007 6th Grade Rising Stars Summer League standings

Team	P	W	L	Points	PF	PA	Diff	Ave PF	Ave PA
Flames/White	10	10	0	20	266	153	113	30	17
Flames/Jankowski	10	7	3	14	250	226	24	28	25
Flames/Morley	10	6	4	12	160	143	17	20	18
Classics/Arrietta	10	6	4	12	203	176	27	20	18
JH Rockets	10	6	4	12	194	188	6	22	21
Holy Redeemer	10	3	7	5	159	179	-20	18	20
Waldorf	10	2	8	2	123	172	-49	15	22
Poolesville Falcons	10	0	10	-1	139	257	-118	15	29

P=Games Played, W=Games Won, L=Games Lost
PF=Points in Favor, PA=Points Against,
Diff=PF-PA, Ave=Average.

Team picture at Sequoyah ES. Missing Adjowah, Elizabeth and Natalie.

The 2007 Potomac Valley Silver Medalists!!

The Division II Silver Medalists at McLean HS.
Picture courtesy of Peta Wilson.

Guess who was the best King Louie impersonator.

Rocket Flames excel outside the gym!!

Our girls work very hard to keep up their grades while playing in a very competitive sport team like the AAU-Rocket Flames. They are becoming very well rounded individuals and we wanted to recognize their efforts.
See Full story here

Rocket Flames to meet the Force

On July 24th (Tuesday) the Rocket Flames will travel to Sykesville in Carrol County (MD) to play the Blue Ridge Force. The Force is preparing for the AAU Grade-Based nationals in Reno Nevada to be held on August 1-5.

See Full article clicking here

Potomac Valley Div II teams do well at 2007 AAU Nationals

Do you wonder how the teams we played this year at the AAU Regionals are doing at the AAU National Championship in Disney?

Well, most of the teams we faced did pretty well at the 10U Division II National Championship that is taking place near Orlando, FL at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Championship started on June 30th and will go through July 6th with 25 teams competing.

As expected, the Stafford Express reached the finals with a Division I caliber team. The Express won the BRYC tournament we played in Virginia and was unbeatable in all the tournaments they played in the Spring.

They have been playing up over the last three months, beating some U11 teams so it's not a surprise they did so well in Division II.

We lost to them 44-25 at the Tar Heels tournament at Robinson HS in Fairfax, VA.

The Express will play today Friday, July 6th the championship game against the winner between Team Ohio and the North Carolina Garner Flames.

The Fairfax Stars, the team we beat twice at the Potomac Valley Regionals, won Pool C undefeated, beating the North Carolina Lady Royals 26-25, the Double Dribble Lady Panthers (Georgia) 19-12 and then dispatched the Tri-State Tar Heels 21-12 to advance to the Winners' bracket.

In the winners' bracket, the Fairfax Stars beat the Indiana Lady Netters by one point, 41-40 and lost by 16 points to the North Carolina Garner Flames on Wednesday, July 4th.

Later on in the day, the Stars lost to another team from North Carolina, this time the Carolina Comets, 26-15.

The Vogues, coached by Joe Yoder, lost two games and won one on Pool E. The Virginians beat the Kentucky Bullitt East 23-20 and lost to the Winston-Salem Stealers and the Botetourt Outlaws (also from Virginia), 10-37 and 26-43 respectively.

The Vogues would lost to the Double Dribble Lady Panthers (from Georgia) 41-19 in the first round of the playoffs.

In their second and final game, the Vogues lost 43-14 to the South Jersey Boro Blitz.

As a reference, we beat the Vogues twice in the PV regionals at McLean HS.

The Potomac Valley Division II Champions, the Classics, finished 2-1 on Pool A with victories over the NC Comets (32-30) and 40-27 over the Indiana Lady Netters (on Sunday) before losing to the Lady Vikings from Clayton County (Georgia) 46-18 on Monday.

In the playoffs, the team from Bethesda beat St. Mary's Angels 37-34 but was crushed 48-23 by the NC Salem Stealers on Tuesday, July 3rd.

In the losers' bracket, the Classics rebounded and beat the NC Greensboro Galaxy 24-20 but succumbed to the NC All Stars 42-31 on Wednesday afternoon.

Interestingly, the Rocket Flames also played in the fall of 2006 (at Mt Vernon, Virginia) the '97 Team Sol, coached by Gary Daniels.

This team of younger girls beat us with speed and very agressive defense. They finished second in the nation in the 9U division, losing only to the Indiana Finest twice 51-37 and 42-37 in the rematch.

Summary of Potomac Valley Division II at the AAU Nationals

Team	Record in Pool play	Playoffs	Overall	Record against us
Classics	2-1	2-2	4-3	2-0
Fairfax Stars	3-0	1-2	4-2	1-2
Vogues	1-2	0-2	1-4	0-2

Rocket Flames finish Summer Challenge on a high note After easy games against two '97 teams (Arlington Matrix and Queens Express) and a disappointing loss to the '96 Fairfax Stars, the Rocket Flames beat the '97 Flames National team 39-21 finishing on a high note. Our girls started at full speed, scoring 10 fast points in the first 5 minutes, eight from Adjowa and two from Jasmine. The '97 National team, coached by Robert Scott, adjusted its strategy, putting full pressure in our girls. The '97s were clogging the fast lane and our girls were committing turnovers trying to drive through that congested path. The '97 went ahead 15-14 despite the difference in size and experience against our girls. Coach White made some changes and the score went back into our favor 19-17 to finish the first half. In the second half Coach White ordered zone defense combined with full court pressure and it paid dividends very quickly. The Rocket Flames scored 14 unanswered points to lead 33-17 in the third quarter. Scott's team was able to score a couple of baskets and the final score went 39-21. For the Rocket Flames, Adjowa scored a career-high 14 points, including a breakaway layup in the first half. Jasmine followed with 10 points. Babette (two baskets and 3 of 4 from the free throw line) Dominique (2 baskets and 1 of 2 FTs), Sydney (2 for 2 FTs) and Quinn (1 of 2 FTs) completed the scoresheet. Kelly, Quinn and Jasmine played great defense as well as Dominique who came back from a long absence. Adjowa was strong in the rebounds and Sydney, who is coming back in the fall, played well in the defensive boards. Sarah, Simone and Rachael played briefly but did it with intensity. The girls are improving in the free throw shooting. The team made 7 FTs out of twelve attempts: Babette (3 of 4), Sydney (2 of 2), Dominique and Quinn (1 of 2 each) and Sarah (0 of 2) for a decent 58%. Against the Fairfax Stars on Saturday afternoon, though, the girls were lethargic during most of the game. Trailing by eight points, the Rocket Flames reacted too late with a 3 point basket from Kelly to get closer 27-32 in the score, but it was too late to overcome the apathy during most of the game. The Fairfax Stars avenged their two losses they had against our girls at the AAU qualifiers held at McLean HS few weeks ago. Maybe the girls were overconfident with playing a team they had beaten twice before... The other two games were one-way deals. The Rocket Flames beat the '97 Matrix team 45-8 and the Queens Express with a similar score. The girls continue their summer schedule this week with games against the '96/Flames team coached by Lisa Morley and Joe Welch on Wednesday night at Leland CC in Chevy Chase. On Friday, they play the Poolesville Falcons at Potomac CC.

Rocket Flames shine on rainy day at Richmond See full gallery The Rocket Flames played two exce