Blackman girls advance to Nike Tournament of Champions semifinals

Defending national champion Blackman High knocked off its second Arizona opponent in as many days on Friday to reach the semifinal round of the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix.

The Lady Blaze defeated Desert Vista 58-48 to set up a semifinal with Stockton St. Mary’s at 5:40 p.m. Saturday.

Blackman, which is ranked by all three major national polls, has won seven straight since falling to Potter’s House Christian Academy of Florida in the Tennessee Turkey Jamm on Nov. 28.

Blackman is ranked third by MaxPreps. St. Mary’s (California) is ranked 10th.

Blackman coach Chad Hibdon said St. Mary’s is an uptempo team.

“The next game could be a track-meet-type game,” Hibdon said. “We’ll see what happens. We’ve done that before. We understand the challenge for (Saturday). We are one win from competing for a championship.”

MTSU signee Alex Johnson, a 6-foot post player, led the Lady Blaze (9-1). She scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the first half when the Lady Blaze built a 35-18 halftime lead.

“I wasn’t happy with how we finished the game,” Hibdon said. “We played really well in our first game (a 57-44 win over Hamilton, Arizona). “We played great defensively and rebounded well in our first game, and did it even better in the first half of our second game.

“But then we came out lethargic in the second half. We got loose defensively and took early shots. But we won and now we get a chance to regroup. Our girls weren’t satisfied and neither was the coaching staff.”

Junior point guard Crystal Dangerfield, a Connecticut commitment, tallied 17 points with a pair of 3-pointers. Tennessee signee MeMe Jackson scored six points and grabbed 10 rebounds

Blackman finished the game 11-of-15 (73 percent) from the free throw line.

Blackman held Desert Vista 6-4 post player Kristine Anigwe, a California signee, to 10 points – more than 18 points below her season average. She eventually fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. Teammate Sabrina Haines, an Arizona State signee, finished with 12 points

“Both teams we’ve played have been really good local teams here with good (posts) that can shoot,” Hibdon said. “Both (Anigwe and Haines) are legit. And they have a good supporting cast around them.”

Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com.