Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sanders Fuels College Park Comeback


College Park and Cy Creek are a couple of teams that have a lot in common. Both have one of the top 2013 area players on their squad, both lost their leading scorers from last season, both have lot's of energy and both don't know how to quit. Both will also probably make the playoffs and if last nights game was any indication, that shouldn't be an issue . My first look at both teams was in the Conroe Tournament and College Park amazed me with their athleticism against A&M Consolidated and even though they loss, I saw the hunger. Creek won a blowout, but showed signs that they had the ability to pull off some surprises this season. Dani Fielder got the Cougars rolling early but the Cavaliers came roaring back however when Armarni Asberry came down wrong on her ankle after attacking the basket to put CP up 12-9, things started to change.


One big thing that changed was Jasmin Cruz, who provided so much energy off the bench and helped ignite an 11-0 Creek run but CP fought back as the opening quarter closed with them down 20-18. Sanders is one of the best athletes in the city that can also play and her back to back baskets helped College Park cut the lead back, 32-28, then an Asberry bucket tied it up with under 20 seconds left. This was a game of runs along with back and forth action and Cruz continued to have a hot hand throughout the evening and her bucket with 10 seconds left gave Creek the lead at halftime 34-32


Sanders opens up the half with a vengeance and ignites a charge to give CP their first lead since early in the first quarter 38-36 however this was a tough yet physical game and Cruz continued with her hot hand as Creek went on a 10-2 run this time and finished the quarter up 55-50. In the fourth quarter CP outscored Creek 18-8, much of that had to do with Cami Shafer, yes that's Megan's younger sister and Sanders. Shafer's 3 consecutive points gave CP a 62-59 lead and she also grabbed a big rebound with 33 seconds as they were up 62-61. Brianna Sweet tied game up at 63 however a Shafer free throw gave CP the lead for good as the won 68-63


Sanders led all scorers with 23 points followed by Andrea Velez with 10. Cruz was high scorer for Creek with 19 points and she was followed by Ikpeaku Iwobi, above left, who had 12 along with Fielder and Haley Deakins 10 each. Great effort by both squads and if they keep it up, you just never know who might get caught slipping.