After covering the Les Schwab Northwest Shootout at Chiles Center last weekend, walking out of the gym was like closing the book on the 2008 Season. I took a moment to reflect upon the past year and want to wrap up the season with these following thoughts. There where some girls that will always be poignant chapters to recall in the minds eye. Some happy, some tragic, some bittersweet but above all, revolving around the game that is an integral part of my life. In some ways this is my Senior All StarTeam. They deserve one last shout out.

The most bittersweet and heartwrenching chapter was attending the Southridge Nike Shootout around last Thanksgiving where Long Beach Poly, Sacred Heart from the Bay Area, Highlands Ranch of Colorado as well as host Southridge, Central Catholic and Washington's Prairie along with several other Oregon schools gathered for an icebreaker tourney. Poly came in as the top team in the nation but this tournament belonged to Sacred Heart and the one player I couldn't take my eyes off, Tierra Rogers, who had a captivating magnetism in the way she played the game. Rogers in the championship game almost single handedly destroyed Poly in the fourth quarter as they blew open a close game and won going away. There was one big teddybear gentleman who was so excited about Sacred Heart's performance he kept storming the court only to be dragged back by his friends to avoid getting a technical called on Sacred Heart. It was Tierra Rogers father, Terrel Rogers. Even the refs were laughing at his excited gyrations as his daughter kept making one sensational play after another. He always had a banana and a Gatorade for his daughter after the game. On January 12th he would leave the gym of his daughters game during halftime against rival Archbishop Mitty from San Jose and be gunned down in the parking lot across the street. The game was cancelled and while it was handled professionally by those that made the decisions in the moments that followed the shooting I cannot imagine how surreal it must have felt for Tierra Rogers who was taken to a private room to be filled in about this horrific tragedy. Sacred Heart and Tierra Rogers did capture the 3A California State Championship just a few weeks ago. However, I am sure it was done so with both joy and pain in everyones heart.

Briana Stacona-Four years ago I walked into a gym in Sisters for their holiday tournament and first laid eyes on the Madras Frosh Phenom. Madras was playing LaSalle who had a decent team and were leading by two as the half approached. Stacona busted through the Falcon full court press and pulled up for an effortless 30 foot 'jump shot' that cleanly tickled the twine as the horn sounded to end the half. She didn't jump for joy or celebrate but quickly jogged off to the locker room while the Warm Springs Resfolk went bonkers. Right there and then I became a Bri 'fan.' Later that year we played them in the playoffs, in a game that will always be remembered by both Madras and Sherwood fans as one of the most dramatic and emotional games. In the third quarter our post cleared a defensive rebound and as she held it high overhead looking for her outlet, Stacona came swooping in like an osprey from the baseline to cleanly take the ball away and then flip up a reverse layup all in one move without ever hitting the floor. It was beautiful AND horrible all at the same time. Before Shoni, there was Bri. On the posting boards she was the hot topic for supporters, mostly from the Warm Springs and Madras area and detractors who posted from sheer idiocy and petty jealousy. She took more hits than a speed bag in a gym. I don't think it ever bothered her. Her Dad would blow his 'stax' every now and then (and what father would't) but through it all, Bri quietly played her game. This is just my theory and I'm gonna get all New Age and crystals and aura on you for a moment. I usually don't do this. However, if I ever watched a kid play basketball, boy or girl who I'd classify as an "Old Soul" its Briana. She was the type who had the look of someone who has experienced hundreds of previous lifetimes and still retained the memories. Her maturity as a 14 years old was unnerving. I was happy she made it to Chiles with Hermiston. It might be bittersweet at times as she traded in the 'star' for a floundering Madras program for the 'supporting' role on a loaded Hermiston club but over the years, it will become a fonder memory.  Then again she's been down that path a thousand times in a thousand different lifetimes. I heard she's doing some online college classes from her dad as she prepares for the next chapter in her life. She will always be a winner.

Team Xtreme-If there was a basketball tournament, our seventh and eight grade coach Sam McCracken would always ask the tournament director to play the best around. As one of the smaller programs and not an AAU team, it often meant wanting to be beaten like a silly monkey. It also happened to be the year that there was a decent Club Team named Team Xtreme who's girls were in the same class as ours. For two years. every tournament, our little Sherwood team would seem to inexplicably draw them in the opening round. Let me see if you remember any of these girls who played for them. They had a couple of guards that looked like Bobsey Twins with gremlin looks and dark ponytails named Alex Earl and Ashley Corral. At the forwards they had Jackie Nared and Audrey Miller and at the center it was Michelle Jenkins.  I remember just after Thanksgiving playing in the Speedcat Invite down in Eugene playing the Xtreme in our opener. Trailing by just the narrowest of margins at 46-8 before the half, our coach yelled at Dave Fritz to NOT call off a full court press since we would never learn to break a press unless we were beaten like silly monkeys against an all star caliber team such as his team. Most parents don't react well to hearing your own coach ask another coach for that type of 'special favor!" We rallied in that second half against their press before falling 82-25. In retrospect, our girls knew how to beat a press in the years to follow. Coaching Rule #1: What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

Lil' Baller Babes-Our Sherwood girls needed a confidence builder after taking a beating at the hands of the Xtreme every weekend of the 2003/2004 season so we picked a Three on Three Tournament called Hoopfest some 500 miles away. Our team was called the Cycochix. A fierce and scary name. We piled in our vans and after stopping at Bonneville Dam and going down to the Fish Viewing Room where I explained to the girls that a boy kissing on their necks looked a lot like the lamprey eels attached to the viewing windows (I could write the trip off as an educational one by doing so) we headed northeast to Spokane. We checked the bracket that evening and saw we played a team called "Lil Baller Babes" and chuckled. No doubt some local Barbie and Suzie Homeaker types who's extent of hoopdom was P.E. class at their middle school. The next morning the Cycochix took the street court at 8am and waited around for thier victims. The other team showed up wearing baby blue tee-shirts they cut up and added sparkles to their hair and had their team name all sparkly with hints of gold. Almost UCLA'esque . How cute. The only problem, the three on Lil Baller Babes were Ashley Corral, Alex Earl and Michelle Jenkins. To the Cycochix credit, they battled gamely before falling 21-18. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 

Melinda Ingalls-The first year of "Classic Three Rivers Basketball" our girls from Sherwood got their first look at Melinda Ingalls. After the 'she looks like my little sister' and 'she's so scrawny' comments made the rounds, our girls were terrified from there on out. However, I would also add that Melinda Ingalls was repsonsible for making Sherwood a better program because she raised the bar. She threw down the gauntlet (in an esoteric sense mind you)  and challenged Sherwood to get better or get left behind. By the seventh grade, Coach Sam decided it was time for a change and he selected my daughter as the heir apparant for future point guard. I'd like to say that as a sixth grader she took after her dad. One who rode the pines more than ran the floor. Still, Coach Sam stuck to his guns and yelled and screamed on the future point guard with mixed success. Early in the season, we played Wilsonville and Alex got her first start. I always enjoyed taking stats for teams because it kept me away from the Daddy'nMommadrama that can break out at games. I had a valid excuse to to anti-social if I had a pencil and clipboard. I didn't like to sit on the bench either but would often find a secluded spot where I could be left alone.  On this night it might have been pleasurable listening to the faults and supidity of the coaching staff. (Coaches RULE #2-The Best Place to Coach is an Orphanage) however with pencil and paper I continued to make a mark next to my daughter's Turnover Column. By the games end, Ingalls had what surely was a triple double and Alex had 17 turnovers. She also requested to never start again and to take a position on the court that required no touching of the ball. She felt someone who would linger back at the opponents basket would be a cool job. From there on out, Melinda and Wilsonville became the measuring stick. With "Mel" I will always remember her younger years when her insatiable appetite for more basketball knew no bounds. Asking me if she could play 'post' for a change and agreeing only to watch her outrebound everyone. More than anything though, it will be her crossover. Her crossover dribble was without peer in this state, boys or girls. She would continually break ankles as she dribbled the 'yo-yo,' bringing the ball out and back and acting like a mongoose breaking down an opponents balance before streaking to the basket either left or right and leaving the defender behind. Of all the 5A Seniors, she is the Cipole Senior Player of the Year.  Instead of  a trophy the good folks of Sherwood have decided to lift the restraining order.