Mansfield Rotary Champions

Once again the Metroplex pulls it off with two big tournaments full of talented teams and players and opening day gave me a chance to see some of the teams that may have a say in who ends up where come playoff time. I’d already seen some of the contenders that could possibly reach represent Region 2 in Austin and I was dying to see Pflugerville. I knew that two of their top players had already signed early, Itiana Taylor (North Texas) and Ari Booth (American) while a third, Jonelle Smith was injured and the news wasn’t out on when she would return. I had a chance to watch their first round game against Mansfield and Taylor found herself in early foul trouble which kept the Lady Tigers in the game. While she was on the court however it was a different story and by her being named MVP of the Mansfield Rotary Tournament says it all.

The Lady Panthers won the championship by defeating a very young and talented Mansfield Timberview team 54-51. The Lady Wolves are led by sophomores JaLea Bennett and Terriell Bradley along with junior Lili Thompson and both knocked off some pretty good teams to get to the finals, Pfluggerville defeated Amarillo 51-45 in the semis while Timberview got by defending champion Canyon 37-35 in overtime. After seeing Desoto, Dekaney and The Woodlands, the question is can Pflugerville play with them and my take is if Taylor stays on the floor, they have the tools to compete, especially if Smith returns. Like the Sandra Meadows Classic, I have lots of info coming from the Mansfield Rotary Tournament that will be featured on the blog over the next week. For now, the front page belongs to the champions from both Metroplex Tournaments however several individual stories are on my BLOG

Mansfield Rotary All-Tournament Team 2011

MVP – Itiana Taylor #24 – Pflugerville

Chelsea Jennings #20 – N. Crowley
Caroline Eubanks #33 – Har-Ber
Maya Hawkins #3 – Summit
Melissa Wolff #33 – Cabot
Khala Riley #20 – Bowie
Alexius Dawn #10 – Amarillo
Morgan Dean #21 – Canyon
Terriell Bradley #23 – Timberview
JaLea Bennett #24 – Timberview
Ari Booth #32 – Pflugerville