2010 Girls' Basketball Classic Field

The field has been completed for this year's tournament. The overall strength for all eight teams is really exciting and we're looking forward to a great season of high school girls' basketball. We've again lined up four of our best South Florida teams and four teams from outside the area to give a different look to everyone's schedule. The tournament games will again be held at Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus with the dates December 28 - 30, 2010 (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday).

The teams are:

• Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, Miami, Florida: The defending Junior Orange Bowl Basketball Classic Champion (now with the most ever JOB titles - 4) and a 2010 Florida 6A runner up to Lake Mary will return all of their starting lineup except for Takia Brooks (Junior Orange Bowl MVP). Tiffany Suarez (Junior Orange Bowl All Tournament selection), Jackie Perez, Kiara Palmer and Michelle Merritt all return for the 2010-11 season.
• Lake Mary High School, Lake Mary, Florida: They are the 2010 Florida 6A champion, finishing with a 32-1 record. They return their entire starting lineup, including Morgan Jones, currently ranked #18 in the country among 2011 recruits. They will be appearing in the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational which will be played, beginning April 1st, in Maryland. They played in the Junior Orange Bowl in 2008, finishing in 3rd place. Morgan Jones was selected to the All Tournament Team as a freshman.
• Buena High School, Ventura, California: They were Junior Orange Bowl Champion in 2005 with MVP Sami Whitcomb; they finished as runner up in 2006 losing to Whitney Young. Comments from the coach: We lost in the second round of the State Division 3 Tournament. Our post has signed with Seattle University and will be the only player they lose. We have a great guard set coming back with hopefully more to reload with. Let me know if Buena High School would be of interest to the Classic this year. Thank you. Their returning starters include two 1st team All League (Freshman Taylor McGuire and Junior Keani Albanez) and one 2nd team (Junior Amanda Padilla). Their previous coach, Joe Vaughan, retired after the 2006-07 season with 761 wins (most in California Girls' High School history). This team traveled very well and was extremely well organized in the two trips here.
• Marietta High School, Marietta, Georgia: Coach Comments: We went 21-9 this year, losing to the eventual state champions in the 2nd round of the state tournament. The only teams we lost to won at least one game in the state tournament. We will be very strong next year, with 2 6'3" seniors (Lauryn Webster and Dearica Hamby) who will sign major D1 scholarships and a 6'1" junior (Keyona Hayes) who will as well. We also return the school record holder for 3 point shooting. We only had one senior, who was our second guard off the bench. We have an incoming point guard who is very good, who along with our five returning starters should make up a very strong nucleus. We have been a very strong program, being one of only two teams in the top classification to go to the Sweet 16 in each of the last 6 years-losing in the state finals in 2009.
• Hollywood Christian Academy, Hollywood, Florida: The 2009-10 season for the Eagles featured a 30-5 record which ended with a loss in the championship game of the Florida 1A finals, losing to the Rock 51-48. They bring back their entire roster with all 5 starters on a team that challenged itself against all levels of competition this past year. They had wins against 6A Lourdes, 4A Titusville, 3A Pace and 3A Gulliver and a 1 point loss to 4A champion Norland. Their starters, Kaley Howard, Rebecca Lyttle, Ariah Osceola and Taylor Mack have all been receiving early looks in the early recruiting process.
• Sacred Heart Academy, Louisville, Kentucky: Their 2009-10 season, with a record of 17-14, was one that saw their two best players suffer season ending injuries just prior to the beginning of the season. One additional player was injured just after the season began, leaving them with a very young lineup. They return 4 starters. They won 3 Kentucky state titles in a row (2002, 2003 & 2004) and are consistently ranked in the top 10 in the state.
• Coral Reef High School, Miami, Florida: A surprise in this past year, Coach Denise Hannah brought stability to Coral Reef and they got better as the season progressed. They ended the season 15-3 with a tough 3 point loss to Lourdes. They bring back 3 of their 5 starters.

• Dr Michael Krop High School, Miami, Florida: Finished 14 – 8 with a very young group. They are led by Iesha Small, 5’10” WF, sophomore, who is one of the most highly regarded in the class of 2013. A new face this year will be Anessa De La Cruz, 5’10” SG, senior, who committed to American University and has transferred in to Krop for her senior season.