Suns Shine in the Magic Kingdom

U14 AAU Team Finishes 2nd in Nation

Updated: Monday, 16 Aug 2010, 3:50 PM CDT
Published : Monday, 12 Jul 2010, 12:27 PM CDT

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn - Minnesota might want to change its moniker of the Land of 10,000 Lakes to something a bit more basketball related. Look at the history of the girls’ game and you would understand. North Tartan has enjoyed AAU national championship success most recently as 2003 with household names such as Podominick, Broback and Roysland all who enjoyed success at the college level at the University of Minnesota. Look back a decade and you’d see three national championships (1992 U13, 1995 U16, and 1997 U18) led by Kelly and Coco Miller and Megan Taylor.

Fast forward to 2010 and the U14 MN Suns squad has exploded on the national scene taking 2nd place in the AAU National Tournament played in Orlando, Florida this past week. This team shares common threads with those other Minnesota teams that made it to the title game. They stand alone however, with the journey they took to get there.

In the world of AAU basketball many things change from year-to-year most notably the roster. It is the rarest of rare feats for a coach of a team to bring back the exact same roster as a previous year. It just doesn’t happen. That would be what makes the story of the MN Suns so special. Head coach Cori Davison made a promise to her team following last years 6th place finish in the national tournament, that if they worked hard, all 11 players would be back. They completed that mission for their coach and so begins their journey.

The following account by Head Coach Cori Davison documents the 2010 AAU National Championship Tournament and her U14 MN Suns girls’ team.

THE JOURNEY: AAU NATIONALS 2010 ORLANDO, FL
By: Cori Davison

On Sunday, the 4th of July, the MN Suns U14 team boarded a plane to Orlando to compete in the 2010 Division I National tournament. At the 2009 U13 National tournament in Ohio, this same group of 11 girls took 6th place in the country. The girls wanted to finish stronger this year and worked hard toward that goal. The only change to this year’s line-up is Kyla Schmidt is 100% back from her ACL injury last season and Courtney Schiffler is out with an ACL injury. But, as Kyla did last year, Courtney has been an instrumental member of the team attending all practices, taking stats, and providing positive leadership and encouragement to the team.

The 2010 season started in Chicago at the Windy City Classic where the team was moved up to the U16/U17 division. The Suns went 3-2 and finished strong for their first tournament appearance against great competition. The district qualifier was next and the Suns pulled out 3 wins with an average margin of 40 points. In the Minnesota State Tournament, the girls continued their quest to remain undefeated in Minnesota. They beat MN Stars-Bebo in the opening game and then in the semi-finals they took down #1 ranked MN Stars-Smith 70-43. The championship game was the closest yet, but the Suns prevailed, defeating the #3 ranked Metro Stars 69-57 to become the MINNESOTA STATE CHAMPS! The team then traveled to Iowa for their last warm-up before nationals. After playing 6 games in less than 30 hours (shorthanded with 3 players missing), the Suns continued their winning streak and won the Ames Midwest Classic championship.

With the #5 Seed in the U14 National Tournament, the Suns were confident they would come out strong in pool play and get a nice draw in the championship bracket. That they did. The Massachusetts State champion, Visionary Basketball, was the first opponent in pool play. With 18 points by Kelly Olzenak, another 14 by Erin Stromen, and Allison Cordes assisting many of those points, the Suns pulled off their first Orlando victory 83-63 (95 free-throws were shot in this 2 hour game). Next up was the Miami Lady Bulls. Although very athletic, the Lady Bulls were not disciplined enough to hang with the Suns. With 5 players in double digits, the Suns won 83-43. The last pool play game was against the Connecticut Mavericks. With a balanced team scoring effort, the girls took 1st place in the pool with a 68-25 win.

There were 40 teams in the tournament and the top 20 joined the MN Suns in the Championship bracket. The Suns received a bye so their first bracket game was to secure the Sweet 16 t-shirts and get to the Elite 8. Their opponent was the North Texas Blaze. At this point, the Minnesota sun was shining bright in Orlando and shots were falling. Angie Davison and Kristina White each hit five 3’s and combined for 41 points and Onye Osemenam pulled down 15 rebounds to advance to the Elite 8 with a 67-55 victory over the Blaze. The competition was starting to ramp up. The Missouri Dream Team (up next) had already knocked off the #6 Lady Blue Devils and the #4 Tennessee Team Hustle. Claire Thomas found the bottom of the net, scoring 10 and Angie Davison 11 (all 21 in the second half) to crush the dreams of the Dream Team and capture those Final Four Jackets and one nice piece of hardware! Reaching the Final Four and improving on the 6th place finish from 2009

was high priority for the Suns, but with the National Championship game now so close, the Suns were reaching for higher goals. "Sharp Shooter" Kristina White nailed four 3’s to finish with 16. Madison Ordner sealed the deal with 10 straight points in the second half off of multiple passes and key steals from Kyla Schmidt to defeat the Norfolk Xpress in the semi-final game 62-55 and move on to the national championship game.

At 5:30 on Saturday, July 10th, the Suns took center court at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the heart of Disney to play for the U14 National Championship. A team made up of several players that did not even play much varsity on their high school teams; a group of girls that realize the power of teamwork and selflessness. The Suns had already accomplished so much more than anyone expected and were now 36 minutes away from a national championship. The Suns faced Indiana’s Spiece Gym Rats. A very talented and well coached group that resembled non other than themselves. As one might expect, nerves set in on the big stage. The Suns went 1 for 22 from the floor in the first half, but went 10 for 12 from the charity stripe, ending the half down 12-30. The half-time chalk talk was more about relaxing than anything else. The second half would prove to be a different story. Onye Osemenam came out strong against the top Purdue recruit center, pulling down rebound after rebound and hitting 100% of her free-throws! Erin Stromen nailed 3 back to back to back 3’s. Chelsey McGee took over the game with her leadership, basketball IQ, and athletic ability to put on a show. The Suns won the second half of the game 36-34, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the slow start and poor shooting in the 1st half. The Sun’s would go on to lose the game 48-64 and finish 2nd in the 2010 National Tournament.

The Orlando Nationals was a great experience and the basketball games have helped the Suns learn what they need to work on as well as how far they’ve come. Yet the true memories will come from all those off-court experiences: Coloring Pooh pictures on the airplane and having the stewardess scold the coach, singing karaoke with the Florida U17 baseball team, the team pasta parties and swimming with the alligator (Gladdis), watching replays of the games with the bear hug on Claire (no foul?), Chelsey’s amazing look-off pass to Madison, and the parents cheer of "start the busses", Chelsey’s mystery birthday and the ice cube fights at Planet Hollywood. Splashing and swimming in the decorative fountain in the middle of Downtown Disney, getting to know both the boys from Brazil as well at their traditions, and spending a week in Florida with the best basketball family in the country!

Unless followed closely enough, you wouldn’t know Allison Cordes (Roseville), Kristina White (Woodbury), Kelly Olzenak (Maple Grove), Angie Davison (Maple Grove), Claire Thomas (DeLaSalle), Madison Ordner (Maple Grove), Courtney Schiffler (Woodbury), Onye Osemenam (Maranatha Christian Academy), Kyla Schmidt (Maple Grove) or Erin Stromen (Woodbury). The only name on the roster that has seen high level varsity experience is Minneapolis North Guard Chelsey McGee who started for the Polars as an 8th grader during their state runner up finish two years ago.

They will all be names that basketball fans across the state will hear from, cheer for and watch over the next three years. They have traveled an amazing journey and have learned from their head coach that with hard work comes the reward of playing together and staying together. That more than any score or trophy is what they will remember forever.