Rocket Flames are the Rising Stars 2008 Winter League Champions!

16-March-2008. The Rocket Flames collected their third consecutive Rising Stars trophy (and fifth overall) beating the Freedom Fever 48-34 in a game played at Watkins Mills High School in Germantown, MD. It was a sweet revenge for the Rocket Flames who had lost their unbeaten record against the Freedom Fever on February 17th by nine points (30-21). With this victory, the Rocket Flames have a 27-1 record in the Rising Stars last three tournaments. They had a 3-9 record in the past winter, when they played-up 6th grade teams. The Freedom Fever who looked invincible in the regular season, showed some vulnerability last week, when they played the Rising Stars semifinals against Bernie Jankowski’s Flames. The Freedom beat Jankowski’s Flames 31-23, after leading by only one point (24-23) in the third quarter. And the key to the victory was deciphering the 1-3-1 Freedom’s zone defense, while playing very strong defense, protecting the boards and challenging the speed of the Freedom’s guards. With accurate passes, good perimeter shooting (4 three pointers) and playing with patience, the Rocket Flames guards were able to break the Freedom’s defense, forcing their coach (Frank McLallen) to switch to full court press and man to man. But none of those changes paid dividends to the Carroll County team. The Flames were ahead 14-8 in the first quarter with 3 consecutive three-pointers by Kelly and Kiara (2) putting the girls ahead 22-10. Then, a great pass by Morgan to Quinn ended the first half 26-14. The Freedom didn't give up, though. They scored six unanswered points to get closer 26-20 but a strong reaction from our girls, including Kiara's third 3-pointer, increased the lead again to 15 points with the girls playing a suffocating man to man defense. In the fourth quarter, coach Tony asked his girls to play zone defense to slow the tempo of the game and it worked pretty well. Babette made a layup from the baseline and Adjowa followed with a basket from an offensive rebound to keep the 10+ point margin. Both teams kept scoring baskets with our girls getting into foul trouble in the fourth quarter giving the Freedom an early double bonus with 4 minutes to go. But the Freedom team did not capitalize the free throws, while the Flames were scoring baskets from offensive rebounds, fast breaks and full court pressure. With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Kelly fouled out, but the difference was too big -17 points- (48-29). The Freedom would make 5 more points to finish 48-34 and say goodbye to the Rising Stars league. Coach Tony White was quite happy after the game. “I'm so proud of the contributions of every player on the team. Thanks to our new players that came out to support us. Our team learned patience on offense and defense and it paid off against a strong team.” “I especially would like to thank Mauricio and Stephanie. Without your help none of this would be possible.” " There are many more challenges ahead of us and with hard work and devotion we will meet and overcome them all. Way to go! You ladies make me proud to be your coach. You also make me proud as your friend. You are a fine group of ladies and you deserve the best.” added Tony. Kiara Colston and Adjowa Prinkah lead the scoring with 12 points each. Kiara had 3 three-pointers and 3 out of 4 free throws. Adjowa had six buckets and missed one free throw. Kelly Markham followed in the scoring with 9 points (one 3 pointer and 3 baskets), Jasmine White with seven (2 baskets and 3 out 4 free throws), Babette Sanmartin with 4 (2 baskets), Quinn Moore and Natalie Sebeck two points apiece (from one basket each). However, the interesting statistic was the assists. Kelly had 5 assists, Janel had 2, and Morgan, Jasmine, Danielle (Spencer), Adjowa, Dominique (Anderson) and Natalie had 1 for an impressive 13 assist team-total. Adjowa dominated the boards, fighting hard while grabbing career-high 17 rebounds, Babette added seven and Quinn, Dominique and Natalie added 5,4 and 3 respectively. Dominique, Janel and Natalie played a great game in defense obstructing the Freedom forwards. Quinn and Natalie played great in the free throw line, moving the ball to the wings against the Freedom's complicated zone defense. Yet, after the celebration, came the sad part. Three girls are leaving the team (Morgan and Lauren for soccer commitments and Natalie to pursue her other dream, ballet) and it was indeed an emotional moment when it was time to say goodbye. Or as one parent said "rather.....until we meet again.” Natalie is hanging her basketball shoes after a very successful career with the Flames. She joined the team in the Spring of 2005 and was the most veteran player with seven seasons (second only to Babette’s 11 and Jasmine’s 8). Lauren also played seven seasons with the Rocket Flames, while Morgan had only one season with us. Also, Kiara is taking a very long “Spring Break” while Danielle and Janel will be returning to the 95/96 Flames national team. Thanks to all this girls and their parents to allow us to enjoy their company... Thanks for the memories! These six spots are being filled by four new girls. Three of them are coming from the Juwan Howard Rockets team: Sydney Poretsky, a strong forward with good inside moves, Cameron Kelso, a point guard with a nice shot and Maddi Merkle, a very aggressive forward with a very good defensive instinct. Cameron and Maddi were also playing for the 95/Flames team coached by Mike Hall. The fourth player in the mix is Meghan Lisle, from CYO’s Mary of Nazareth (Darnestown). Meghan's older sister (Vicky), a (senior) point guard, lead the Quince Orchard Cougars to the final four of the 4A Maryland High School tournament this winter.

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.

2008 6th Grade Rising Stars Winter League Final standings

Pos.	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points	PF	PA	Diff	Ave PF	Ave PA
1		10	10	0	20	351	142	209	35	14
2		10	9	1	18	366	189	177	37	19
3		10	7	3	14	295	264	31	30	26
4		10	5	5	10	194	225	-31	19	23
5		10	3	7	6	167	237	-70	17	24
6		10	2	8	4	208	304	-96	21	30
7		10	2	8	4	139	254	-115	14	25
8		10	2	8	4	171	276	-105	17	28

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

2008 Winter Rising Stars Schedule
6th Grade Girls - Potomac Division

January
1	Sunday	6	12:10	Flames/Jankowski	Flames/Johnson	Blair HS	41-16
2	Sunday	6	3:10	Freedom	Flames/Morley	Wheaton HS	24-12
3	Sunday	6	4:50	Rocket Flames	Holy Redeemer	Einstein HS	57-12
4	Sunday	6	4:50	JH Rockets	MD Lightning	Seneca Valley HS	16-28
5	Sunday	13	4:50	Flames/Morley	JH Rockets	Wootton HS	24-22
6	Sunday	13	4:50	Flames/Johnson	Rocket Flames	Magruder HS	7-51
7	Sunday	13	6:00	MD Lightning	Freedom	Blake HS	10-40
8	Sunday	13	6:00	Holy Redeemer	Flames/Jankowski	Northwest HS	21-23
9	Saturday	19	6:15	Holy Redeemer	Flames/Johnson	Long Branch CC	16-14
10	Saturday	19	6:15	Flames/Jankowski	Rocket Flames	Bauer Drive CC	26-46
11	Saturday	19	7:15	MD Lightning	Flames/Morley	Bauer Drive CC	9-30
12	Saturday	19	7:15	Freedom	JH Rockets	Quince Orchard HS	32-21
13	Sunday	20	1:20	Rocket Flames	JH Rockets	Wootton HS	44-17
14	Sunday	20	2:30	Flames/Jankowski	MD Lightning	Seneca Valley HS	28-18
15	Sunday	20	2:30	Flames/Morley	Flames/Johnson	Blair HS	20-15
16	Sunday	20	4:50	Freedom	Holy Redeemer	Einstein HS	44-15
17	Sunday	27	12:10	MD Lightning	JH Rockets	Wootton HS	31-29
18	Sunday	27	3:10	Flames/Morley	Rocket Flames	Wheaton HS	17-34
19	Sunday	27	3:40	Flames/Jankowski	Freedom	Paint Branch HS	15-48
20	Sunday	27	3:40	Flames/Johnson	Holy Redeemer	Einstein HS	18-14
February
21	Sunday	3	12:10	Freedom	Flames/Johnson	Blair HS	34-8
22	Sunday	3	2:30	Rocket Flames	Flames/Jankowski	Northwest HS	31-26
23	Sunday	3	4:10	JH Rockets	Flames/Morley	Wheaton HS	27-30
24	Sunday	3	4:50	Holy Redeemer	MD Lightning	Seneca Valley HS	18-16
25	Saturday	9	4:15	Flames/Morley	Flames/Jankowski	Quince Orchard HS	10-25
26	Saturday	9	6:15	JH Rockets	Flames/Johnson	Long Branch CC	19-13
27	Saturday	9	7:15	MD Lightning	Freedom	East County CC	17-32
28	Saturday	9	8:15	Holy Redeemer	Rocket Flames	Bauer Drive CC	16-24
29	Sunday	10	3:10	Freedom	Flames/Morley	Wheaton HS	30-11
30	Sunday	10	3:40	Flames/Johnson	Flames/Jankowski	Seneca Valley HS	30-31
31	Sunday	10	3:40	Rocket Flames	MD Lightning	Germantown CC	30-20
32	Sunday	10	7:10	JH Rockets	Holy Redeemer	Blair HS	22-17
33	Sunday	17	3:40	Flames/Jankowski	JH Rockets	Wootton HS	48-23
34	Sunday	17	4:50	Rocket Flames	Freedom	Fairland CC	21-30
35	Sunday	17	4:50	Flames/Morley	Holy Redeemer	Einstein HS	26-21
36	Sunday	17	6:00	Flames/Johnson	MD Lightning	Watkins Mills HS	21-8
37	Sunday	24	1:20	Flames/Johnson	Rocket Flames	Einstein HS	18-28
38	Sunday	24	3:10	MD Lightning	Flames/Morley	Wheaton HS	18-14
39	Sunday	24	4:50	Holy Redeemer	Flames/Jankowski	Northwest HS	21-32
40	Sunday	24	4:50	JH Rockets	Freedom	Paint Branch HS	37-12