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Cagers Hit the Big Time... Again!

10U Girls Qualify for Nationals

Congratulations to the Cagers 10U girls team, who qualified for Nationals this weekend at Suwanee Sports Academy. They finished fourth with a pair of victories over the Jaguars and Columbus Blazers and two heartbreaking close losses (2 points at the buzzer and 3 points) to the number #2 and # 3 finishing teams.

The 10U Cager girls team finishes the season this weekend with more AAU play against 11U division II teams. It has been an exciting year. After starting the season dominating the AAU spring league, the girls were moved up to 11U to help balance the games. A runner-up finish at the Dawson Smith Tourney started the momentum to enter the Blue Division (most competitive) in the National Qualifier in Suwanee and qualifying for the YBOA Nationals in Florida.

The 2004 team has been lead by four girls from last years Cager 10U sliver team: Ansley Aranas, Christy Hewatt, Paige Williams, and Taylor Hensley. They brought experience from last years team to six new players that have bright futures, including Teresa Zittrauer, Haley Baglien, Kristie Mason, Sam Croce, "Big" Sam Smith, and Natalee Laye.

Our program is on the rise! Congratulations Cagers!

Breakthrough!!!

11U Girls Qualify for Nationals

Turchi on the Fly Coffer gives Cagers the lead Crashing the boards Rice and Ramey in Sixer Territory Strategy session

The Cagers 11U girls played by far their best basketball of the season this weekend at the National Qualifying tournament at Suwanee Sports Academy. The girls wrapped up a top five ranking and a birth in the YBOA National Championships in Orlando in July. The weekend tournament attracted the premier teams from all over the state, and the Blue division field was easily the toughest our girls had seen.

The Cagers came out strong Saturday morning by playing perhaps their best game of the year in handing the SASA Jaguars an 18-11 defeat. The Jaguars are the Columbus city champions and our girls dealt them their only loss of the tournament. The team was led by the strong inside play of Emily Coffer, the ball handling of Kelsey Turchi and Brittany Byrd, and the rebounding and passing of new center Meagen Tesh. The Cagers carried the momentum over into a thrilling overtime game against the powerhouse Cobb Elite Georgia Peaches. The three-point margin enabled our girls to win their pool and cement their claim to Nationals. Grace Ramey and Megan Cox brought the girls back from an early 10-0 deficit to tie the game at the buzzer.

After winning the pool we suffered a tough loss to the defending state champion Southeast Dekalb Lady Eagles and faced the Augusta champion Lady Sixers Sunday in an elimination game. After recovering nicely from an early deficit to close within 23-20 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, our girls gave up a few quick baskets and were unable to close the gap. The final was 31-23. As they did throughout the tournament, Brittany Abrams, Kassie Smith, Michaela Rice, and Lindsey Smith pitched in a little bit of everything to help negate a ferocious Sixers full court press.

Our girls faced four top ten teams in 24 hours that all had tremendous speed and quickness, but the teamwork and ball distribution of our girls was fantastic. Said Smith: “This team has the best chemistry of any team I’ve ever played on, and its getting better every week. We’ve got ten strong players and we know every one of us can get the job done.” It was evident that the team jelled at just the right time, and their performance was good enough to merit the #5 ranking in Georgia as well as the trip to Orlando.

Congratulations Cagers! We’re going to Disney World!!!!!

Cager Girls Sweep into the Championship Round!

The 10U, 11U, and 12U Cager girls teams all turned in impressive performances this week at the Dawson Smith Cager Classic in Cumming. This was our organization's first attempt at hosting a tournament, and we are proud to say that we attracted the largest field of the YBOA season. Twenty-eight teams from Augusta, Athens, Atlanta, and everywhere in between made this an extremely competitive field. And we are very proud that all three of our age group entries won their way into the championship round on Sunday.

The 10U Cager girls, all but unstoppable in AAU league play, were participating in their first YBOA tournament of the season. They had an extremely successful debut, defeating the Georgia Bluechips 26-13 and the Cherokee Cagers 24-15 to advance to the championship round against the #4-ranked Lady Shooters. Our girls fought hard, maintaining a 1-point lead for much of the second half before falling 30-21. The Shooters coach was very complementary of our team, remarking that "no one has come this close to stopping us all season... great job!"

The field for the 11U tournament contained 4 of the top 7 ranked teams in the state, including our own Cagers team. Our girls went 3-0 in pool play, with impressive wins over the Habersham Raiders (36-14), Alpharetta Eagles (32-24), and the Georgia Hotshots 10U (24-21) to advance to the semifinals. There, in a brilliant and tense game, the Cagers battled back from a 20-11 deficit versus the #4-ranked Georgia Hotshots 11U in the final five minutes to tie the game at 22 on a three-pointer with 30 seconds to go. After surrendering a free throw to go down by one point, our girls hit the potential game winning jumper as time ran out... but the referee whistled us for traveling and disallowed the basket. The Hotshots then built on their one-point victory and won the tournament.

Our 12U squad also was undefeated in pool play. A spirited 35-27 vicotry over the neighborhood rival North Forsyth Storm was sandwiched between an impressive 45-25 victory over the Gainesville Wildcats and a 42-15 victory over the Atlanta Rush. Our girls then faced the nationally ranked Lady Sixers in the semifinals. We played them even for most of the first half, but then the hot shooting of the Sixers' guards (8 of 11 from three point range) served to stretch the final margin. The final was a closer-than-it-sounds 51-23 defeat.

Our program is making great strides. All three age group fared markedly better than in our inaugural season last year, and this tournament was an excellent tune-up for the state championships in two weeks.

Congratulations Cagers!

11U Girls Come Out Smokin'

The Champs! Davenport hits the winning free throw Defense poises for attack Smith and Rice fight for rebound Cox and Ramey bring the ball down

The Cagers 11U girls team won the Suwanee March Classic yesterday in their 2004 YBOA tournament debut. The championship game was a very physical and exciting matchup with the Cherokee Cagers. Our girls fought back from a 4-point deficit in the final minutes to take home the 22-20 victory. This championship was truly a team effort. Two players missed the entire tournament and three others missed at least one game due to illness / injury. The remaining six girls showed tremendous heart in battling through all the adversity. The girls scored victories over the Lady Shooters (27-6) and the Lady Lions (34-14) in pool play to qualify for the championship game, and then avenged an earlier two-point loss to the Cherokee squad in the finals. Grace Ramey led the Cagers with 24 points, 10 assists, and 27 steals. Her defense created multiple turnovers every game. Emily Coffer was a tower of strength inside and contributed 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 steals. Caylin Davenport rose from the sickbed after missing the Friday game and scored numerous clutch baskets, including the final six points of the championship game. Lindsey Smith led the team in rebounds with 17, including six big ones on Sunday. Michaela Rice and Brittany Abrams each scored clutch baskets and showed tremendous versatility as they shuttled from position to position to compensate for all the missing players. Brittany Byrd, Megan Cox, and Kelsey Turchi all did a fine defensive job and provided solid ball handling at the point. Turchi also led the team in scoring against the Lady Shooters before strep throat forced her to sit out the final. The girls will now take a few weeks off to rest up / heal before hosting the Dawson Smith Cager Classic April 16-18. Congratulations Cagers!

13U BOYS FINISH 2ND IN THE MARIETTA TCB TOURNAMENT

In the first tournament of the season, the Cagers 13U Boys finished 2nd and are now ranked 4th in the state in YBOA.

The Cagers finished 3-2 in the tournament with wins over the Cherokee Warriors, Peachtree City, and the Marietta Tarheels. The Cagers lost in the finals to the Georgia Stars, but had a very strong showing.

The Cagers were led in scoring this weekend by Joshua Barrett who averaged 10.5 ppg. Including highs of 18 and 20 points. Jordan Neese averaged 10 ppg including Highs of 17 and 16 and amazed all with the way he handled and passed. Our big men controlled the boards for the final 4 games of the tournament and played strong against the huge front line of the Georgia Stars in the finals. Defense was the key, with the entire team playing great defense. The team shot 60% from the free throw line and very well from the 3 point line. Passing the ball was contagious. Almost everyone on the team had at least 1 assist.

Congratulations Cagers!!

AAU Nationals Update

DAYTON, OHIO, July 24th-27th, For the first time the Atlanta Cager 13/u Girls won their Pool at the AAU National tournament advancing to the Championship tournament round.

By defeating the Illinois Full Package Black 63-37, the St. Louis Dicky Hoops 54-28, and last years #12 team the New Hamshire Shooting Stars 57-37 the Georgia AAU runner-up advanced to the round of 32. The Cagers team did not advance in the tournament losing to the Washington Triple Threat 61-52 and to the Michigan State Champion Oakland Suns by three 42-39.

The Atlanta Cager Girls 13/u were defeated in the YBOA National Championship Game by the Orlando Comets in Lakeland Florida. The Cagers went 6 and 1 in the tournament defeating the Arkansas Comets, Paris Kentucky Stars, Tennessee Predators, Carolina Express, Cobb Elite, and the Tennessee Lady Stingers to earn the spot in the National Championship game.

The Atlanta Cager 13/u girls won the 2003 Georgia YBOA State Championship defeating the Georgia Magic by 13 56-43. The Cages defeated the Ga Magic (twice), Ga Peaches, Lady Dawgs, Ga Pistols, and the Warner Robbins Lady Express.

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Atlanta Cagers - Season Updates

November 12, 2003