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Post by dj1804 on Mar 13, 2023 15:41:02 GMT -5
Congratulations to the Glen Burnie Gophers for winning the 2023 4A Girls MPSSA Championship!! It has truly been a Historic Year for the Gophers!! With only the AA County Senior All Star Game remaining, its time for me to Post the AA County 695hoops Public Schools All County Girls Team!* Note: This is not the Coaches All County Team that will be posted later this week!! These selections are my picks for All County which will go forward to 695hoops! Coaches are still encouraged to submit their recommendations for the 695hoops All Metro Team!!1st Team#15 Amourie Porter Glen Burnie #32 Ava Wooster Southern #32 Amani Watts Old Mill #23 Cora Shafer Crofton #21 Lania Nick Glen Burnie 2nd Team Ryleigh Adams South River Aichatta Soumaoro Glen Burnie Kasey Slade Chesapeake Hanna Verreault Severna Park Jessica Gotschell Arundel Other Players of NoteCasssidy Wikerson Glen Burnie Abbey Kavanaugh Severna Park Nievah Brown Old Mill
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Post by dj1804 on Mar 16, 2023 14:33:51 GMT -5
This has been a "Banner Year" for AA County Girls Basketball with Glen Burnie winning the Girls 4A State Championship, and there have been some outstanding stories coming from that Journey. But there is one particular story that just needs to be told. It's one that started maybe 8 years ago in one of the most unlikely places in AA County....Quarterfield Elementary School!! It was there that I first met the "Sisters"....Trinity and Starr Munford. I had retired for all practical purposes when Gwen Boone from MYBA called me and asked would I consider doing a "Basketball Workshop for Beginners". This was to be a "Co-Ed" Workshop and would include beginner Boys and Girls. I agreed to do it along with Coach Dauvon Hill (Boys Coach for MYBA) and I think we had maybe 15-20 kids, maybe more. On the girls side there were several who stood out....one in particular was named "Pooh" Brown...who happened to be the Niece of "Ace" Johnson who ran AIP Basketball. There were two others....two Sisters who were true beginners, one was 8 years old the other was 7...Trinity and Starr Munford! After that Workshop Gwen convinced me to continue with this group and form a team (8U) to compete in the County Fall League. It should be noted that I never Coached a team in any sport boy or girl who was younger than 12 years old. I had coached at the High School and Inter-service levels as well as Youth Football and Basketball, but never anyone this young. It required an adjustment in my thinking, or so I thought....but these kids surprised me...they wanted to learn to play the game and they took it very serious. What I noticed immediately about Trinity Munford was a fierce concentration on getting the fundamentals right....dribbling, shooting etc. What I noticed about Starr the 7 year old was a desire to play "Defense"...period!! During that fall season we won a few games and lost a few....Trinity clearly got better and Starr got fiercer!! (smile) I could not believe that I had a 7 year old playing lock down defense so fiercely that the other teams player wanted to punch her!! We continued with this team into the Spring Season....where failures in the County Spring Basketball Structure had them playing against teams and players that were much older! This could have broken the spirit of a lot of players....but not the "Sisters" or "Pooh" Brown for that matter. As a matter of fact every kid that stuck through that horrible Spring is now playing High School Basketball! The next Season the "Sisters" started playing for "AIP" and from there they started to blossom. I kept track of all the kids from the Developmental team...even those who decided that they did not want to play Basketball anymore...but I especially wanted to know about "Pooh" and the Sisters. I tracked their AAU progress from a distance and when Trinity arrived at Glen Burnie High School last year I watched more JV Basketball than I would like to admit. When I saw "Trin" drop Three Point Bomb after Three Point Bomb on her JV opponents all I remember saying is OMG!! The quiet, focused child that would not give up during the drills at Quarterfield had clearly developed into a talented young lady....but what about the younger sister....what about Starr. There was something that told me that 8 years of development would do nothing but prove that she was a unique kind of Basketball Player...what I would call a "Predator" in the making...someone who loved Defense and thrived on it. I had to wait a year to see them together and I will confess....it was worth the wait. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a Meade Mustang for life....Meade is in my blood and that I will follow Meade Sports even when I do not have to with Arundel being a close second. Well this year, I had to force myself not to over cover Glen Burnie. I knew everyone would be tracking them because of last year...but suddenly they had a MYBA/AIP connection (Cassidy Wilkerson had that connection also) and I could not help myself. And when both Trinity and Starr knocked down three's in that first Old Mill game....it was a done deal!! So when I watched the State Championship game I saw first Trinity and then Starr come off the bench and enter that game...I first thought about Gwen Boone and then my mind went to "Ace" Johnson and I kind of teared up. These were two people who believed in giving everyone who wanted to learn the game of Basketball a chance to do so. They committed themselves to helping young players develop not just into ball players but into proper young ladies. I know Gwen did it for over 20 year and "Ace" probably for just as long. Trinity and Starr Munford are proof that hard work, good coaching and fantastic parents can make you a Champion! I love these two kids...and do you know the best part....we get to watch them for at least three more years. Look out AA County, the "Sisters" have arrived!
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Post by dj1804 on Mar 29, 2023 13:16:39 GMT -5
Congratulations to #15 Amourie Porter of Glen Burnie for being selected to the Washington Post Girls All Met First Team! Congratulations are also in order for #21 Lania Nick of Glen Burnie and #32 Ava Wooster of Southern for being selected Honorable Mention Washington Post Girls All Met Team!! 😀😀
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