June 15, 2007 • Colorado Springs, Colorado

• Box Score: USA White 109, USA Red 99
• Box Score: USA Blue 102, Brazil 43
  
• 2007 Youth Development Festival Results/Schedule

Ayana Dunning posted the '07 Festival's first double-double recording 13 points and 10 rebounds to help lead the USA Blue Team to a 102-43 victory over Brazil. (Photo: Steven Maikoski)

Tipping off preliminary round action of the 2007 USA Basketball Women's Youth Development Festival Friday afternoon, the USA Blue Team (1-0), relying on a balanced scoring effort that saw all 11 players score between four and 13 points, had too much for Brazil (0-1) winning 102-43. In the session's other game, Caroline Doty's (Germantown Academy / Ft. Washington, Pa.) 16 points helped propel the USA White (1-0) to a 109-99 victory over the USA Red (0-1). The Youth Development Festival, which runs through Sunday, June 17, is being contested at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The four teams will continue preliminary play Friday evening ( 6 p.m. MDT) with the USA Red facing USA Blue, and USA White will take on Brazil.

The USA Basketball Youth Development Festival gives U.S. participants exposure to USA Basketball, international basketball rules and the opportunity to go head-to-head against the best prep players in North America and Brazil. The entry-level event combines position clinics, which target post or perimeter skills, with practice sessions and the four-team, five-game tournament.

Final preliminary round contests are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. (MDT) on Saturday, June 16, with USA White versus USA Blue and USA Red versus Brazil. The semifinal contests, pitting No. 1 versus No. 4 and No. 2 versus No. 3, are slated for 6:00 p.m. (MDT). The winners of the semifinals will go head-to-head on June 17 at 9:00 a.m. (MDT) in the gold medal game, with the bronze medal contest starting at 8:15 a.m. (MDT).

Blue 102, Brazil 43
Three days into the Women's Youth Development Festival, the Blue team continued to gel and overcame a cohesive Brazilian team to capture its first game 102-43 in an impressive showing.

Head coach Brian Robinson's (Bishop McGuinness H.S., N.C.) team fell behind 4-0 after a pair of Brazil offensive put backs. The Brazilians grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter, and in total, two-thirds of the team's rebounds came on the offensive end.
Despite Brazil's attack of the offensive glass, the Blue squad held a 23-13 lead after the first quarter but allowed Brazil to trim the deficit to six points despite increasing its intensity on the defensive end.

"We talked between the first and second quarter about not trying to out-jump them, even though we had superior athletes," Robinson said. "The key was just to put your body on them to change their shot. That little difference turned the tide."

Glory Johnson (Webb School / Knoxville, Tenn.) stole two passes in a 30 second span, and together with her teammates, recorded five thefts in the second quarter overall.

"Obviously, Glory is very good about talking," Robinson said. "Our two point guards, Shay (Selby) and Casey (Morris) are very good about it, and Alicia's coming around. We have a lot of leaders on this team already."

Johnson and Ayana Dunning (Eastmoor Academy / Columbus, Ohio) finished with a game-high 13 points. Dunning earned the game's only double-double after hauling in 10 rebounds, while Johnson added six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

"I think I did pretty good," Johnson offered. "I've been working on my jump shot a lot while I've been down here. I was posting up a little bit too because they weren't expecting that."
Casey Morris (Peidmont H.S. / Farfield, Calif.) stood second in scoring with 12 points and dished out three assists, along with equaling Johnson's four steals. Shay Selby (Regina H.S. / Geneva, Ohio) chipped in nine points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Despite Brazil's early aggression on the boards, the Blue Team owned a commanding 68-42 rebounding advantage for the game. Four players grabbed three offensive rebounds, and Ashley Gayle (Bishop Gorman H.S. / Las Vegas, Nev.) finished with nine rebounds and led the team with four on the offensive end.

"To Brazil's credit, they've been practicing together for a while," Robinson said of his team's opponent. "We've been together for three days, so it didn't surprise me that we got off to a slow start. As the game progressed, I think our athleticism and our skill took over and we just basically wore them down."

Bruna Siqueira paced Brazil with 11 points.

USA White 109, USA Red 99

USA Red Team forward Brooklyn Pope comes up with the rebound in her team's opening game of the Youth Development Festival. (Photo: Steven Maikoski)

After jumping out to a 28-18 first-quarter lead, the USA White Team fought off several Red rallies and held on to top the USA Red by a score of 109-99.

Scoring five points in the opening quarter, Amber Gray (Lakota West H.S. / Cincinnati, Ohio), who finished with 14 points five rebounds and four assists, helped to spark USA White's strong start.

"It wasn't ever all about me," Gray said. "My team knew I was hot, and they got me the ball. I think it all started in warm-ups. We had a great warm-up and came out shooting well. I felt good today, and hopefully, I'll be able to continue to do that throughout the rest of the weekend. But, I mean, we've got a few games left, and we'll see how it ends."

In addition to Gray, USA White was led by four players in double figures, including 16 points from Doty, 13 from Skylar Diggins (Washington H.S. / South Bend, Ind.) and 11 points from both Kelsey Bone (Dulles H.S. / Stafford, Texas) and Ashley Corral (Prairie H.S. / Vancouver, Wash.).

USA Red battled the entire game, however, and capitalized on 13-2 to start the second quarter to take its first lead with 9:03 remaining in the first half. Then with 8:45 left on the clock before the break, a steal and lay-up by Samantha Prahalis (Commack H.S. / Dix Hills, N.Y.) cooled the USA Red's fire and USA White lead 58-50 at the half way point.

Consistent with USA Red's balanced leadership, it was Doty who midway through the third quarter scored seven points during a 9-0 run that finished USA Red for the remainder of the game.

USA Red's Sarah Boothe (Warren Township H.S. / Gurnee, Ill.) tallied a game-high 17 points, followed by 14 from Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (T.C. Williams H.S. / Alexandria, Va.), 12 from Tayler Hill (South H.S. / Minneapolis, Minn.), 11 from Nikki Speed (Marlborough H.S. / Pasadena, Calif.) and 10 points from Shekinna Stricklen (Morrilton H.S. / Morrilton, Ark.). Nneka Ogwumike (Cy-Fair H.S. / Cypress, Texas) also grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds for USA Red, just three off of tying the Festival record of 21 set in 2005.