Mountain View Inn Thanksgiving Tourney at Bradley Central

[baconbreath]

All-tourney teaam--

Bradley Central--Brooke Copeland, Whitney Donaldson, Rebecca Reuter.

Hamilton Heights--Ima-Obong Akpan, Jovana Stojanovic, Teodora Zagorac.

East Hamilton--Jessica Caudle, Juliette Harp.

Alcoa--Katie Stubblefield, Tara Shields.

GPS--Akia Harris.

Bearden--Erin Walsh.

Brainerd--Jamee Ward.

Oak Ridge--Whitney Mitchell.

 

[baconbreath]

Tourney recap--

The Bearettes won this tourney for just the 2nd time (2005 was the 1st) since it began 12 seasons ago. There have been 6 teams in this tourney that went on to win state titles in their division or state. Several of these teams have an extremely good chance to go deep this year.

8th place--Brainerd--They showed some scrappiness with Ward, Douglas and Rogers leading the team. Not a lot of size but a veteran coach.

7th place--Oak Ridge has a limited roster meaning no depth at all. They are just a shadow of the past great teams under Jill Prudden. Whitney Mitchell is a player though as the leading scorer in the tourney with 60 points for 3 games.

6th place--Bearden--Another extremely young team with no seniors on the roster. Freshman Erin Walsh is outstanding with 48 points in the tourney..

5th place--GPS--Two-time defending state champs in DII-AA, they lost a lot with 4 starters graduating. Watch freshman Akia Harris to blossom as she gets more experience. Senior Brianna Farris is a really good player.

4th place--East Hamilton--Another young team with a monster in the middle in Juliette Harp. Good coaching will have them winning the district in 6AA.

3rd place--Alcoa--Two outstanding players in Katie Stubblefield and Freshman Tara Shields (deadly shooter.) Excellent coaching.

2nd place--Hamilton Heights--Non-TSSAA member due to their being a small private school catering to mostly foreign players. Monstrous in size at 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, 6-6. Short on guard play and ball handling with point guard Ruta Savickaite (Western Kentucky) still recovering from an injury. Mostly an inside playing team, obviously, but Ima Akpan and Jovana Stojanovic can hit long range but they are streaky. The big girls had a lot of foul trouble in the championship game.

1st place--Bradley Central--Bradley's bigs are better than HHHS' bigs in 6-1 Brooke Copeland and 6-2 Rebecca Reuter. The Bearettes lost over 60% of their scoring from last year's team placing 5 players in college on basketball scholarships. Look for any gym the Bearettes play in this year to have college coaches working to land these two post players. Transfer Whitney Donaldson has been a very pleasant surprise after having just a few practices due to an ACL recovery. Kaylan Withrow and Brandi Whitted have picked up their game but must continue to improve if the Bearettes are to get back to the level of last year's team. Whitted and Baylee Carroll may be the most improved. The Bearettes will be even stronger when starting point guard Chelsie Summars returns from her ACL surgery in January and transfer Maggie Thompson becomes eligible in December.

Edited November 26, 2012 by baconbreath

[Indian]

Is Maggie Thompson from WV, I had her listed as one of the "top area players" in one of the other posts but I didn't see her listed on an article about them so I excluded her.

[alt1958]

Is Maggie Thompson from WV, I had her listed as one of the "top area players" in one of the other posts but I didn't see her listed on an article about them so I excluded her.

 

Yes, Maggie Thompson is transferring to Bradley from Walker Valley. Will become available to Bradley the first week of December, if I have the time frame right.

Edited November 26, 2012 by alt1958

[BlueThunder70]

hope she does well at bradley!!

[FootballFan51]

Thanks for the updates bacon!

[TwinCityT]

Thanks for updates and recap. One correction, Bearden's Walsh is a junior. Well run tournament.

[baconbreath]

Sorry about the wrong year on Walsh. I was going by what the tourney program listed. She is an outstanding player no matter her grade.. Good luck the rest of the year to each team and let's stay away from the injuries. There were at least 4 or 5 girls currently battling through injury recoveries or just coming back from one.