L'Adidas Report
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The East team won 116-97 over the favored West team, Vicki Krapohl (Duke) and Ashley Robinson (Tennessee) were MVPs. The unofficial, but consensus "Best of the Best" all week long was Alana Beard (Duke). Of the three UConn recruits, Morgan Valley was the best. She is very scrappy, hard-nosed, tough and smart. She hit 4/8 from the floor, had 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 TOs, 1 steal. Taurasi had 14 points on 5/15 shooting, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 TOs. Jessica Moore, the UConn center, had 6 points, 5 rebounds1 assist, 1 steal and 1 TO.

Amber Jacobs, who is headed for BC, looked very good despite having 3 TOs (Krapohl had 4) . She finished with 14 points (5/8 shooting), 5 steals.

Tia Miller, a big wide-body power forward headed to Auburn, impressed us all week. She ended up with 6 points and 8 boards. Adeola Olanrewaju (A 6'2" NC State recruit known as Addie) was queen of the boards with 9 rebounds. She had 8 points, 3 steals and 2 assists to go with them. Tera Bjorklund (Colorado) had 12 points . Caity Matter (Ohio State) didn't take a lot of shots during the game but appeared to be the best 3-point shooter in practice and finished with 13 points.

Vanessa Randall, a 6'5" wide body Florida recruit had 5 points, 5 rebounds. La Tech guard Amber Obaze had 10 points, Nicole Powell, a 6'2" do-it-all player (Stanford) had 14 points and 5 boards.Erika Valek (Purdue), a 5'4" PG, had 8 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 6 turnovers. Julie Aderhold (Clemson) had 6 points, 5 boards; Stacy Stephens (Texas) had 5 points, 6 rebounds. Brina Chaney (Oregon State) had 6 points, 2 rebounds.

Nebraska recruit Shannon Howell impressed us all in practice with her speed and defense, but only had 3 points. Notre Dame recruit Jeneka Joyce got hurt in practice and had only a ceremonial free throw. Chrystal Baptist (NC) had a kidney infection and only played a couple of minutes. She had 2 points.

That brings me to the Tennessee recruits. The player with the most dazzling moves was LaToya Davis, a little-known perimeter player from Georgia. She broke the Georgia state record in the 300-meter hurdles last year, and she is probably the fastest, quickest player the Lady Vols have ever had. She is a little wild and jacked up a lot of shots (14; missed her first 6 or 7) had 10 points, 5 steals, 3 highlight reel assists (2 to taurasi), 2 rebounds, 1 block and 2 turnovers. She was the fastest player on the floor and was a crowd fave. At 6'1", she is very tall to be such a speed merchant.

Ashley Robinson is pretty much a known quantity, and she delivered. She had 14 points, 7 rebounds, a turnover and a steal and was named West MVP. Tasha Butts, a consensus Top 10 - 15 player alll year, also didn't disappoint. She had 15 points and 5 boards, a turnover and a steal. Forward Courtney McDaniel tied Butts as game-high scorer with 15 points. Another not-so-highly recruited player, she was a pleasant surprise to the pro-Tennessee crowd. She was everywhere she needed to be, and had 7 boards, an assist, a steal and a turnover. She is a great athlete who can run the floor and hang on the rim, At almost 6'2", she played back-to-the-basket in high school, but has worked on her perimeter game.

The game was fun and well-played, although sparsely attended and not real well organized. Adidas has a 3-year commitment to continue the game, and I'm thinking next year's will be put together better. Attendance sucked (1500), probably due to too little publicity and having it during an Easter weekend when many potential attendees had plans.




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