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July 5th – July 8th
BLUE CHIP 08, Penn State

 With the majority of our players, the Flames 93 team took its game to the Blue Chip tournament, hosted on the beautiful Penn State campus.  In attendance were close to 200 college coaches, and 3000 girls’ basketball players, making this a truly unique and invaluable experience for our team. With the addition of their 6’4” center (Gaby Flinchum #54) and missing only Nikki Ostrow, the team decided to play up in the competitive 15U division. Facing off on Saturday was the James River Blaze, the eventual #1 team for the 15U bracket, and the #3 ranked team at 2008 nationals.  It was a hard fought game, with the Flames holding the lead at half time (22-19).  Though the lead would change back and forth, the Flames found itself down by 4 with less than a minute, when playing suffocating defense, allowed for the scoring of 4 unanswered points.  With a chance to tie the game the players executed to perfection a well designed inbounds play.  With only seconds left the Blaze shot a buzzer beater to beat the Flames by 

Despite the loss, the Flames came away from the Penn State tournament a new and revived team, going 4-2 for the tournament, losing another game by 3 points, while playing up a year in 15U bracket.  Aside from the great basketball opportunity the girls were able to watch and support other players from various teams, including the Mustangs, Flames 92 and team Espana.

Top/Left:  Tip off against James River Blaze    Top/Right:  Team picture at PSU

Bottom/Left:  Cheering the Mustangs   Bottom/Right: Watching Team  Espana
July 12th – 13th

 The Flames coming off of a successful tournament from Penn State, came to Drew University, after only a few days rest, and a few team members lighter.  Though only having 8 players for majority of the tournament, the Flames were able to play competitively deep into the closing minutes for most of their games.  The highlight of which was against the Philadelphia Belles, who enter Nationals as the #1 team from the Mid-Atlantic.  Though the Flames were missing key members of their team (Kim Tulllis, Gaby  Flinchum, and Kiana Davis) the flames played tight to the closing minutes.  The Belles took a rebound, with time expiring, off of a missed shot to win the game by 2. 

This heartbreaker of a loss showed true character and growth for our team, as the players dug deep to find both the energy and passion to play their 3rd game of the day with only 8 players to finish out their first day of the tournament.  The 2nd day of play ended on a win against the Knicks, a team from New York.  While the Flames were playing with only 7 players, the Flames were able to hold off various runs from the team to win the game 52-36; with game high honors going to Laruen Ballenger, who took a tremendous leap forward this tournament averaging 6.4 points per game.  Finishing the tournament 2-3, with 2 of the games being lost by 2 or less points, the tournament was able to push our team, and our bench, to grow. 

  
file:///Users/jen/Desktop/MUSTANGS.pngTop Left:  Stretching and waiting Top Right:  Team picture at Drew University
Bottom Left: The tip off with the Belles