Flames continue hot performances

U-13s finish third, U-11s 7th at national tourney

Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006

by James Peters

Staff Writer

Since its inception in 1998, the Maryland Flames, a Montgomery County-based youth and amateur basketball organization that was founded by Bill McDermott and Mike Baker, has made a name for itself on the national scene, but never more so than this past summer.

With rosters filled with mostly players from the county, the Maryland Flames 13-and-under and 11-and-under girls basketball teams each placed in the top 10 at the Amateur Athletic Union national championships.

That success against teams comprised of recruited players from larger areas made McDermott one happy individual.

‘‘To have two teams finish that high in an AAU competition, it’s basically unheard of,” he said. ‘‘Not many clubs ever have two teams, let alone one team, finish [that high] at this level. For these coaches and for these kids, it’s sensational.

‘‘ ... Other teams at national tournaments, they recruit from the entire state. We have tryouts but we don’t recruit. We’ll occasionally get players from Howard County.”

13-U Flames

Of the two Flames squads, the 13-and-under team finished highest, placing third at the AAU Division I National Championship in Overland Park, Kan. The tournament, which consisted of 92 teams from nearly every state, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico, was held from July 13-22.

The U-13s, which was coached by Herb Krusen and Sue Haley, swept all three of its competitors — the Vermont Twin Titans, the Florida Greenwave and the Memphis Elite — during pool play to enter the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

Maryland continued its hot play with a 56-46 win over the Georgia Pistols, a game where it made eight straight 3-pointers at one point, and a 46-43 win over the Ohio Queen City Jaguars to reach the round of 16.

Once there, the Flames eliminated the Tennessee Pride, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, by a 53-46 score. They poured in a total of 13 3-pointers in the win, which was followed by a 42-37 victory against the Minnesota North Tartans to propel them to the winner’s bracket championship game.

A familiar opponent awaited the Flames in that championship contest in the form of the Lady Majic, a squad from nearby Prince George’s County. The two teams had already squared off eight times this year with the Lady Majic holding a 5-3 advantage.

It wasn’t easy but the Lady Majic pushed that margin to 6-3 through a 59-53 overtime win that was extended on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation by Flames guard Katie Sheahin, a key member of Good Counsel’s 2006 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship team.

The Flames had a chance to force a rematch but they lost their next contest, a 72-54 setback to Mission Rec Center (Calif.), to end their tournament run. The Lady Majic went on to capture the national title through a 62-54 win over the same California team.

Baker said the ‘‘Flames advanced through the tournament with pressure defense, an uptempo style of play, and 3-point shooting, not often seen at this age level,” finishing with 69 3-pointers in the nine games.

Besides Sheahin, the rest of this squad included the following county players: Nikki Azara (St. Andrew’s⁄Darnestown), Bridget Coakley (Potomac), Kristen Haley (Silver Spring), Caroline Kahlenberg (Whitman), Nicole Krusen (Rockville), Cara Marshall (Covenant Life⁄Gaithersburg), Sally Marx (Potomac), Kelsey Murphy (Good Counsel⁄Olney), Nina Swanson (Potomac) and Christine Weithman.

Coakley, Haley, Krusen and Swanson all play for Georgetown Visitation (Washington, D.C.)

11-U Flames

The 11-and-under Maryland Flames improved on last year’s ninth-place finish by two spots at the June 23-July 1 AAU Division I National Championship in Springfield, Mo., finishing in seventh place behind the play of tri-captains Colleen Marshall, Kate Gillespie and Maddy Williams and a ball-hawking defense.

The ’94 Flames came out smoking in pool play, cruising past the Tennessee Storm, 52-32, and the Louisiana-based Acadiana Stars, 49-20 before using 38 points from Marshall to defeat the Missouri Valley Blitz, 73-65.

Heading into the winner’s bracket as their pool’s top seed, Maryland pounded the St. Louis Mystics, 57-40, and then pressured its way to a 67-58 win over the Tennessee Xtreme to reach the ‘‘Elite 16” round. The Flames forced nearly 30 turnovers by Tennessee through its high-pressured, full-court press and Cara Mason sealed the game down the stretch with some key free throws.

The team’s run to a possible national championship was derailed in its next game, however, falling 73-59 to the defending champion GBL Lady Rebels of Southern California.

Undaunted by that setback, the Flames rebounded to defeat the Alabama Twisters, 50-48, to remain alive.

Worn out by those tough back-to-back games, the Flames succumbed to San Gabriel Valley, 51-16, to knock them out of the tournament.

Besides those already mentioned, the ’94 Flames consisted of Kathleen Tabb, Kimberly Deausen, Capree Garner, Libby Mosko, Morgan Testa, Jillian Beauregard, Dominique Seamon, and Simone Orjisson.