Old article on Maya, Tina, et al.

[MilfordHusky]

I ran across an ESPN.com article on the Women's Final Four in 2010 in San Antonio. Here's part of what Glen Nelson wrote about UConn:

The two most competitive high-school girls' basketball games I've ever seen both involved Maya Moore, when she played for Collins Hill High School of Suwanee, Ga. One included Tina Charles and Christ the King of Middle Village, N.Y., and the other focused on Tiffany Hayes and Winter Haven (Fla.). Moore takes both of those former foils into battle with her as Connecticut teammates in the NCAA semifinals against Baylor on Sunday.

Is it any wonder that the Huskies are on a historic run? Coach Geno Auriemma doesn't just accumulate talent, he lands it with a competitive edge. Certainly, Moore has great balance, athletic fluidity and wingspan. But she is such a cutthroat competitor, we saw her make threes before she really had her shooting mechanics. We also saw her routinely win games with plays at the buzzer at an age when girls self-question their every motive and rarely dare to put themselves on the line like that.

Moore lost in overtime to Charles at the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions, long considered a national-championship maker, then the next year not only righted that one wrong, but did it in one dizzying, six-games-in-11-days, cross-country stretch. She won contests during that stretch in every way imaginable, including a last-second block to seal an overtime victory over Hayes and Winter Haven at the T-Mobile Invitational. The next night, she scored 38 points in the first half against St. Elizabeth of Wilmington, Del., and ended with 48 after passing up numerous opportunities to post 50.

Someplace, I have a DVD of Maya's 48-point game, courtesy of DaddyChoc. St. Elizabeth's featured All-American Khadijah Rushdan and was a top-15 program. Maya put up 38 in 16 minutes: 3-pointer, steal, 3-pointer, steal, layup. St. Elizabeth's couldn't inbound the ball over her. I believe she had 8 points in 10 seconds.

 

[AdamOwe]

I ran across an ESPN.com article on the Women's Final Four in 2010 in San Antonio. Here's part of what Glen Nelson wrote about UConn:

The two most competitive high-school girls' basketball games I've ever seen both involved Maya Moore, ....

Thanks. Linked at [Final Four recruiting: Then and now] by Glenn Nelson Apr 2, 2010.

 

[Roger G]

One thing that was said in that article is something I've noticed, but been a bit timid to say. "Girls self-question their every motive and rarely dare to put themselves on the line like that" (like Maya did). That is so true, even in college. You see nowhere as many buzzer beaters in the women's game as the men's game for this reason. That is why I agreed with the way Geno set up the infamous play at the end of the Mississippi State game. If the double screen was set up properly and they got an easy layup from Saniya, all the pressure would be on MS and rarely in women's basketball do they get over the self-doubt they refer to in that article. Itty Bitty might not have had the wherewithal to make that last basket with the added pressure of being behind.

More germane to the subject, I watched the YouTube video of the Maya, Tiffany match-up back some years ago. It was a great game.