Osan girls lead the way in
Far East hoop
tourney, but ex-champs not far behind From Stripes and special reports
Donovan Brooks / Stars and Stripes
St. Mary's International School's Nick Varner tries to get off a shot against Edgren's
Eddie Steerman (22) and Dorian Betsher (55) Wednesday at the Andersen Air Force Base, Guam
gym. St. Mary's won, 59-35, behind Varner's 22 points. |
CAMP
HIALEAH, South Korea — Lori Shields and the Osan American Cougars continue to lead
the way in the Far East High School Girls Class A (small schools) Basketball Tournament.
But two
slow-starting teams are starting to come alive.
Osan
captured the top seed entering Thursday’s single-elimination playoffs. Shields and
Theresa Gittens scored 17 points in the Cougars’ 40-30 victory over M.C. Perry.
Gittens also scored 14 points in Osan’s 32-25 victory over Seoul International.
Former
champs E.J. King and Seisen International are lurking behind the Cougars.
Christina
Mercer scored 24 points in E.J. King’s 44-14 rout of Pusan American. The Cobras
improved to 4-2 after dropping their first two games.
Making it
so unusual is the fact that E.J. King brought just five players to the tournament.
"We
work each day with five players out on the court, and each one can play ball," Cobras
coach Trish Fannon said.
Seisen,
meanwhile, forged a slim second-half lead against Taegu American and hung on for a 33-30
victory. Christine Usyak had 16 points as the Phoenix had a much easier time downing Seoul
International, 50-16.
The
playoffs began Wednesday in the girls Class AA (large schools) Tournament with a pair of
familiar faces advancing to the quarterfinals.
Jenna Cutts
scored 13 points and Carolyn Tanchi added 11 to lead four-time defending champion Faith
Academy to a 36-14 victory over Hong Kong International. Stella Leflore scored 16 points
as Robert D. Edgren rolled to a 56-25 victory over Guam’s Southern Dolphins.
Faith was
set to battle host Kubasaki in one quarterfinal, while Edgren was pitted against Morrison
Christian Academy of Taiwan.
In an
all-Kanto Plain battle, Zama American Trojans was to face off against Nile C. Kinnick, and
Kadena was to square off against Christian Academy. Kadena is 4-0 in the tournament after
finishing the regular season 6-13.
On Guam,
the single-elimination round also began in the Class AA boys’ tournament.
Scott Smith
scored 22 points to lead Yokota to a 50-34 victory over Kubasaki 50-34 and win Pool D.
Darren Meisel had 22 points as Faith topped Father Duenas of Guam, 66-60, taking Pool A.
Julian Harden notched 22 points to lift Seoul American over Simon Sanchez to win Pool C.
In the
Class A boys tournament at Camp Walker in Taegu, South Korea, top-seeded E.J. King
advanced to the third round with a 65-50 victory over Osan.
Also
reaching the third round was Morrison, which edged Taejon Christian International, 58-53,
and Matthew C. Perryi, 72-60 winners over Hokkaido International.
Surprising
St. Paul Christian of Guam had a bye and was to face host Taegu in the last second-round
game Thursday.
Wednesday's
game summaries
Class
AA girls
at Camp
Foster, Okinawa, Japan
Edgren 56, Southern 25: Stella
Leflore of the defending runner-up Eagles poured in 16 points to lead all scorers. Alyxia
Camacho paced the Dolphins with nine points.
Morrison
41, JFK 38: Robin Siirilla’s 11 points helped the Mustangs keep the
Islanders at arm’s length. Freshman Jocelyn Pardilla led JFK with 19 points, and
Jackie Mante had 10.
Zama
American 47, ASIJ 25: LaShawn Johnson had 17 points, and Leslie Forrest scored 12
for the Trojans in an all-Kanto Plain contest. Kristen Isle topped the Mustangs with seven
points.
Kinnick
44, Guam High 6: Seneka Arrington scored nine points for the Red Devils.
Christine Yeager led the Panthers with 4.
Kadena
42, Academy 19: Sheneka Lee notched 13 points for the Panthers. Jerusa
Laguana’s six points topped the Cougars.
Kubasaki
44, Seoul American 36: Nikki McGraw, the Dragons’ junior post star, scored
20 points to power Kubasaki in a rematch of last year’s third-place game. Tiara Davis
topped the Falcons with nine.
Class
A girls
at Camp Hialeah, South Korea
E.J. King 44, Pusan American 14: The
Cobras won their fourth straight behind Mercer’s 24 points. Desiree Blaney had 15
rebounds. Eighth-grader Martha Norwood had 10 rebounds for the Panthers.
E.J.
King 36, Matthew C. Perry 28: Mercer again led the way with 12 points and 14
rebounds and Blaney had 13 boards. Cortaza Hall topped the Samurai with 10 points.
Seisen
50, Seoul International 16: The Phoenix got 16 points and 14 rebounds from
Christine Usyak. Katherine Beck added 14 points.
Seisen
33, Taegu American 30: Seisen survived Taegu’s slow-down offense and
pressing defense, getting seven points and six rebounds from Usyak. Colleen Adkins scored
all 16 of the Warriors’ first-half points.
Taegu
American 46, Pusan American 22: Adkins and the Warriors used their height
advantage to overcome the Panthers’ pressure defense. Adkins had 22 points and 10
boards.
Class AA boys
at
Andersen Air Force Base and Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, Guam.
Playoffs
St.
John’s 49, John F. Kennedy 33: Gabe Lombard scored 32 points in the victory.
St.
Mary’s 59, Edgren 35: Nick Varner finished with 22 points for St.
Mary’s.
Guam High
70, Hong Kong 56: Ross Allen poured in 21 points to help the Panthers capture
their playoff opener.
George
Washington 73, Saipan 61: Derek Camacho topped the Geckos with 23 points to help
GW advance to the round of 16. Christopher Ibip topped Saipan High with 20.
Round-robin
Pool A
Faith 66,
Father Duenas 60: Darren Meisel powered the defending champion Vanguards with 22
points. Francis Reyes topped the Friars with 20, and Vince Estella and Jimmy Yi had 13
each.
Kinnick 54,
St. John’s 47: The Red Devils used a balanced scoring attack to keep Lombard
and the Knights at bay. Lombard had a game-high 25 points.
Pool B
Kadena 69,
St. Marys 42: The Panthers’ Tom Penner scored 15 of his 17 points in the
first half. Basso led the Titans with 14.
JFK 51, ASIJ
44: J.P. Cruz scored 20 points to lead the Islanders to their first win of the
tournament. Mike Artiss and Jack Kasko each scored nine points for the Mustangs.
Pool C
Seoul
American 63, Simon Sanchez 55: Julian Harden led the way with 22 points. Ron
Conner topped the Sharks with 17 points.
Zama
American 57, Hong Kong 42: Sharpshooting Tim Stearns notched 19 points to help
the Trojans even their pool record and finish third. The winless Dragons were led by Tyson
Patterson’s 11 points.
Pool D
Yokota 50,
Kubasaki 34: The last of the first-place showdowns saw Scott Smith pace the
Panthers with 22 points. The Dragons got 18 points from Sam Roy and 10 from Michael Camp.
CAJ 49, Guam
High 42: Levi Cole muscled his way to 19 points as the Knights evened their
record. Rey Chargualaf’s 16 points paced the Panthers.
Class
A boys
at
Camp Walker, South Korea.
Wednesday’s
results
E.J. King
34, Korea JVs 12: Playing mostly a four-corner spread and taking only open shots,
the JVs held E.J. King to a 4-0 first-quarter lead and trailed just 16-10 before the
Cobras outscored the JVs 18-2 in the second half.
Osan 72,
Korea JVs 44: A.J. Scott’s 26 points helped Osan outscore the JVs 29-14 in
the third quarter. Steve Davis had 22 points, Zac Johnson grabbed 11 rebounds and John
Swanson had 10 boards. Billy Wright led the JVs with 12 points.
TCIS 72,
Seoul International 60: The Tigers’ Eugene Sohn had 30 points, but Tommy
Penland had 27 points and 22 rebounds to lead the Dragons to victory. Ryan Brotherton
added 17 points for TCIS.
Matthew C.
Perry 68, Pusan American 30: Travis Elliott scored 15 points in the victory.
Willie Perry added 14 points.
Taegu
American 87, ICS-Uijongbu 46: The Warriors’ big three struck again, as
Scotty Halasz scored 29 points, Donald Holmes added 21 points and John O’Connor
scored 16 and pulled down 15 boards.
E.J. King
65, Osan American 50: Chris Ford totaled 21 points and 12 rebounds, Jason
Cleavinger had 20 points and 13 assists and B.J. Trinidad had 13 points for the Cobras.
Chris Johnson of Osan had 20 points.
Morrison 58,
TCIS 53: Matt Grobler had 25 points and Wade West added 15 points for the
Mustangs. TCIS’s Penland had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and Brotherton pulled down 11
boards.
Matthew C.
Perry 72, Hokkaido 60: Sixth-seeded Perry continued its Far East renaissance,
eclipsing its entire win total of the regular season and handing the No. 3-seeded Huskies
a surprise second-round loss.
Akash
Shringi on Guam and Olga Bograd, Rachel LaFerney, Jonathan Edwards, Clifford Alexander,
Charles Sumner, Helen Berkley, Annie Das, Claudia Santibanez, Jin Nakamura and Ryan Kang
in Pusan contributed to this report.
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