tournament

Check Out Syd on ESPNW

espnw-fbWith the arrival of March Madness, people all over the country are filling out brackets and giving their opinions on who is going to win it all. ESPN W is dedicated to women’s athletics and they interviewed several of the nation’s top recruits to see who they were pulling for in the Women’s March Madness Tournament. One of those interviewed was Sydney.

Here’s what they posted:

Sydney Brackemyre, Louisville
Brackemyre, a 6-foot forward from Clinton-Massie (Clarksville, Ohio), keeps it simple when explaining why she likes Louisville’s chances.

“Two words: Jeff Walz,” Brackemyre said of the Louisville coach when asked why the Cardinals could go a step beyond their runner-up finish from a year ago. “The entire Louisville staff does a great job of preparing the X’s and O’s and scouting the opponent.

“I think Louisville has a chance to get back to the championship game because history repeats itself. Their past success will repeat itself, in my opinion.”

While Brackemyre agrees that UConn and Notre Dame are the favorites, she also has been impressed with South Carolina (27-4), the No. 1 seed in the Stanford Regional.

“[Coach] Dawn Staley is doing a great job with the program,” she said.

Brackemyre said she will watch most of the tournament at home decked out in her favorite Louisville T-shirt, but there is also a chance she will catch some games in Louisville since the city will host a regional.

As for players to watch outside of Louisville, the No. 3 seed in the Louisville Regional, Brackemyre listed two: “Tricia Liston of Duke – I love how she plays. She is so skilled. And Diamond DeShields has been blowing up this year. I want to see how she does in her first NCAA tournament.”

Check out the entire article called FUTURE-SCHOOL SPIRIT FROM TOP RECRUITS

Angels at USJN Windy City

AngelsThe Cincinnati Angels have started the AAU season and competed in their second tournament last weekend in Chicago. While Syd is still sidelined with the ACL injury, she stays as involved with them as she can.

Blue Star Media had a recap article on the Chicago tourney, highlighting the 17u bracket of the weekend. They had a nice write-up on the Angels as they integrate new players onto the team.

The Cincinnati Angels’ 17 Blue squad has three players back from last season, mixed in with seven newcomers.

Don’t feel bad for coach Dante Harlan, though. His roster is as talented as they come, featuring one player who is committed to Louisville and four others rated in the top 50 of their respective classes.

So, while Harlan searches for the right mix and most effective chemistry among all of those moving parts, he has a nice trump card that any coach would envy: playing time.

Harlan has the luxury of switching out one talented player for another if he doesn’t like what he’s seeing.

“I always preach that we’re going to defend, we’re going to rebound and we’re going to take care of the ball,” he said. “You don’t have to be the most athletic kid or the fastest kid to do those things. That’s what I base (playing time) on. It’s the little things that make the difference in winning games. That’s what separates the playing time and they know that.”

A good example was evident in Saturday’s final game, a dandy encounter between the Angels and Wisconsin Playground Elite 16. The Playground Elite won 71-70 in overtime as Harlan stuck with primarily a seven-player rotation through the final 10 minutes of regulation and overtime.

On his bench at the time were three highly rated players.

“They know that basketball changes based on matchups,” Harlan said. “If there’s a five I find (that) I’m comfortable with and they’re doing the things we need to do, that five is going to stay in. And that five changes from game to game.”

The Angels finished 1-2 Saturday, but don’t look for them to suffer many losing tournaments hereafter. The roster includes sophomore Tierra Floyd (Toledo, Ohio), No. 5 in the Class of 2015; junior Alyssa Rice (Reynoldsburg, Ohio), No. 22 in the Class of 2014; along with Naomi Davenport (Cincinnati, No. 26 sophomore) and Emily Thomas (Pickerington, Ohio, No. 48 junior). Junior Sydney Brackemyre has committed to Louisville.

Angels Win in Chicago

The Angels got off to a great start to this year’s AAU season by winning the USJN Windy City Classic this past weekend in Chicago.  This was the first tournament for the 16u team (pictured) and the second for the 15u team (they won the Bearcat Classic last weekend).

Both teams look to be strong with the addition of some new players on both teams.  Excited about what the upcoming tournaments will bring.

Tough Loss but Great Season

The Lady Falcon’s road through the playoffs came to an abrupt stop Saturday at Springboro High School.  The girls played a great game against #1 Chaminade-Julienne.  For a young team (CM has no seniors this year), they played very well and had to deal with full-court pressure the entire second half.

We are proud of the Falcons and see a bright future ahead.

Here’s the summary from the Wilmington-News Journal:

Where’s Bryce Drew when you need him? Running a play reminiscent of Valparaiso’s “Pacer” to upset Ole Miss in the first round of the 1998 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the buzzer, Clinton-Massie (19-4) hoped to do the same against state-ranked Chaminade-Julienne (21-2).

“Brianna (Machado) made a great throw. Kasey (Uetrecht) made a great catch. We had an opportunity,” Massie head coach Allen Wilkinson said.

But CJ swooped in front of Uetrecht’s pass to Sydney Brackemyre to escape with a 44-42 Division II girl’s district semifinal victory at Springboro High School Saturday.

It was a heart-breaking defeat to the state’s fifth-ranked team in Division II (The Associated Press). The Falcons led from late in the first quarter until the midway point of the third quarter.

Massie led 8-4 after the opening period on the strength of six points by Brackemyre. She scored the first four points of the second quarter to double Massie’s lead. The Falcons extended their cushion to 18-8 with 3:21 left in the half. The Falcons held a 20-13 advantage at the break, led by Brackemyre’s 12 points.

“Our defense did an excellent job,” Wilkinson said. “I think it frustrated them. We didn’t allow slashes to the basket. I thought we did a good job rebounding and holding them a lot of one-and-dones.”

Brackemyre finished with a game-high 16.

The Eagles opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run, scoring off four Falcon turnovers and finally getting those slashes to the basket, to take a 23-22 lead. After Brackemyre’s only field goal of the second half briefly gave Massie back the lead, Emily Michael buried a three to ignite a 7-0 run. Four of those points came off Massie miscues.

Michael shared team scoring honors with Krista White. Both chipped in with 14 points.

CJ led 32-27 entering the final period. Its lead bounced between three and six points until a Uetrecht bucket cut CJ’s lead to 44-42 with a little more than a minute left in the game.

The Falcons were within three points of CJ on four occasions but could not get that crucial stop or bucket to tie the game.

CJ missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 51.7 seconds left, setting up a Falcon possession during which they had five cracks at the basket. Brittaney Jefferson finally yanked down the rebound and headed to the line where she misfired on the 1-and-1 with 12.3 seconds left.

She tracked down her own rebound and was able to get the ball to Erinn Bailey, whom the Falcons promptly fouled with 5.8 seconds to go. Bailey missed the free throw, but CJ secured the rebound yet again. Raytea Long headed to the line with 3.9 seconds left. She missed and Massie secured the rebound, setting up its game-winning attempt with 3.3 seconds left.

Angels Update – Lost in Semi-Final

Just got a text from DC and the Angels lost in their semi-final game 45-40. Not sure who they played or how the game went, other than the outcome. It’s never fun to lose, but this is only the second loss of the season for them. I think their record stands as 32-2 for the summer. Not too bad I would say.

The girls will get cleaned up and hit the road for Bowling Green, OH, to play in their final tournament of the summer. They will be playing in a 14/15 mixed pool, so may face some stiff competition. The good thing is that Bowling Green is a lot closer than the original destination of Philadelphia, so I will get to catch a game or two.

Great job Angels! Keep up the good work.

Final Angels Update….until tomorrow

The Angels won their pool by going undefeated.  They won their last game today 51-36.  Syd had 11, but also took an elbow to the eye.  She said her eye is hurting and the elbow also got her mouth.  She has braces so she is going to see an orthodontist to make sure nothing is bent.  Hopefully she just comes out of it with a black eye.  They play in the semi-finals tomorrow.  With some ice and some rest tonight, hoping she is ok to play tomorrow.

Go Angels!