Nyssa team wins Select League Tournament
By Argus Observer Sports Staff
Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:50 AM PST
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| The second place Payette sixth-grade team (front from left); Sidney King, Shelby Belvoir, McKenzie Barrera, Cecelia Walgenbach. (back from left) coach Dan Novotny, Tiffany Weimar, Amberlee Couch, Adriane Hershey, Natalie Nelson, coach Bruce Nelson. (Absent from photo: Kaitlin Galemore and Sidni Wolery). Payette lost to Nyssa 39-30 in the finals. |
Nyssa — The Nyssa sixth-grade girls basketball team won the end-of-season Nyssa Select League Tournament over Payette 39-30 Saturday in Melba.
Nyssa battled through foul trouble and a team-leading 17 points from Payette’s Adrian Hershey to come out on top.
The win was not easy, as Payette and Nyssa battled toe-to-toe. Payette gave the Nyssa squad its toughest game of the season and it was in the championship final.
The Nyssa girls kept the lead throughout the game, but were in serious foul trouble by the first quarter. At the end of the first half the Nyssa girls led 23-10.
This was a difficult task for the Nyssa girls as fouls were mounting — at the end of the first half Nyssa had 12 fouls compared to Payette’s 5.
In the second half, the same trend continued for the Nyssa girls as they had again 12 fouls compared to Payette’s 6.
“Being in foul trouble was a new experience for these girls, so keeping their heads in the game was important,” Nyssa coach Greg Armenta said.
Nyssa standout Jackie Ramirez was strong from the outside, hitting five 3-pointers in the game, while the rest of the team chipped in points down the stretch.
“The game went down to the wire like I thought it would,” Payette coach Dan Novotny said. “We just committed too many turnovers late in the game.”
For the Nyssa squad, seven players have been together since the third grade. This year was very difficult because of the increase in players and the lack of recreational teams in the area. The seven girls were going to be split up this year to make two select teams, but the girls could not bear to be separated.
“Even with all the challenges that this brought to the table for the coaches, it ended up being a great experience for all of the girls,” Armenta said. “Every single one of the girls (all 14 of them) brought something to the table.”
