“Gold” wins 3^rd Consecutive State AAU Championship

(Stars “gold” celebrates after winning their 3rd consecutive state championship)

By Water Hagins, Commissioner

May 7^th, 2010, was especially special for the Maryland Lady Shooting Stars “gold” as they won their third consecutive state championship in the District of Maryland.  Prior to the District Qualifying Tournament (DQT), many people cast doubts about this team’s ability to repeat as State Champions.  And why wouldn’t they?  First, the “gold” lost their sensational center (torn ACL) who is a tenacious shot blocker and momentum changer.  Second, the squad added four new faces, which at times, show they are still seemingly trying to find chemistry.  Last, “gold” elected to compete on the national circuit playing all older age groups.  With so much adversity, Coach Bailey and his staff looked to his formula that has produced much of the team’s prior success–hustle, heart, and intensity.

Pool play for Stars “gold” fed into the envious critics who mostly came out in hope to see the team suffer their first loss.  And after a sluggish start against the Baltimore Storm, several people to include opposing coaches walked away thinking this team is very vulnerable and susceptible to losing.  In the second game against the Sure Shots, the “gold” took a commanding lead only to see it vanish late in the second half.   Spectators watching whispered among themselves that the “gold” would lose and are not what they once were.  In a narrow win, “gold” then laced up to play the MD Storm.  This organization widely publicized that they had assembled a team just to beat the Stars “gold”.  Also, most had predicted that these two teams would eventually be playing for the first and second seeds as well as would meet in the championship for a second consecutive year.  As anticipated, the game was played with great intensity with the “gold” displaying a superb defensive effort on the MD Storm key players.  In the end, the Stars scored another victory and just as in previous games, the non-supporters walked away perplexed.

The next opponent the Stars faced was the winless Lady Lions.  In what some cautioned could be a “trap” game, the “gold” treated as an opportunity to fine-tune defensive strategies and offensive execution.  In turn, the Stars were awarded a very lopsided victory in preparation for their final pool play match-up against a MD Southern Storm that is considered to have overachieved over the past two years.  Again, some thought that this could be a game that the Stars easily could lose since the Storm has a three-guard attack who are prolific scorers.  This combined with the assumption that “gold” would come into the game over confident (they had beat them previously by double digits in the adidas Shootout Classic) made for an intriguing spectacle.  However, in the end, the “gold” prevailed with defensive savvy and poise to go undefeated in pool play and capture the #1 seed.  More evident was that the swagger they displayed carried over into their first bracket play game (re-match against the Baltimore Storm) that resulted in another blowout victory.

Championship Week took on the same look for “gold” as it has in the past.  Coach Bailey scheduled a highly contested official scrimmage against the 17U Team Melo of Baltimore, MD.  In a game that lasted nearly two hours of non-stop competition, the “gold” succumbed by 2 points on a last second shot.  While most questioned why they were not resting their wounded and allowing injuries to heal, the Stars continued its week with two more intense practices.  And on Championship Friday, took center court with a lot of energy, zeal, and moxie.  From the tip, “gold” seemed determined.  As they had done it every game, they jumped out to a commanding lead that they never relinquished.  The leadership and confidence of the Stars veteran quartet exuded to the other players who responded in hustle, heart, and intensity.  As the final buzzer sounded, the “gold” solidified their run as three-peat State Champions with a resounding victory over the MD Southern Storm.  More impressive, the “gold” silenced the critics and defectors and now makes a cogent claim for consideration of being a dynasty.  Surprisingly, some still look at this team and think that they are vulnerable and not as talented as they have been in the past.  I offer, that Stars “gold” is far better than they have ever been because now most are battletested, accumulated a high-level basketball acumen, entrenched in personal training, significantly matured, disciplined, resilient, infused with an ‘unstoppable” attitude, better-skilled, extremely focused, enthused to become great, and incredibly humble.  As one coach summed it up best, “people might think that they [“gold”] are not as good as they use to be until they get on the court with them!”  Congratulations to Coach Bailey, his staff, and Stars “gold” for winning their 3^rd consecutive state title.