9th Grade Black-March 12-13

Game 1 – YBA - 63, Dreamers Traveling Team - 49
Game 2 – YBA – 48, CRR 9th Black – 52
Game 3 – YBA – 32, Granite Bay Bolts - 38

The YBA 9th grade Black team played in the JV division for their first tournament. With a team of very talented players, all with a high basketball IQ and understanding of the game, the team played very well for their first tournament together. Although there were 2 losses, the games were close throughout and with only one practice under their belts, we expect the team to only improve in the coming weeks! Highlights include excellent defense by all in the first game along with great hustle up and down the floor. Finding the rhythm in the next two games was a little more difficult with a team that includes players from 4 different areas. It won’t take long for the players to find that rhythm and turn into a highly competitive team at both the 9th grade and JV level. The team will play again this weekend in the 9th grade division so that they can develop that confidence and work on crucial shooting, but will continue to play at the JV level when playing local.

9th Dawgs Blue-March 12-13

YBA Dawgs Blue vs. Calaveras Pride- WIN

Saturday 3/12/11 1:20 9.m. YBA squared off against Calaveras Pride. This was a back and forth barnburner. YBA was able to handle the Calaveras press. In addition, YBA showed good offensive execution in this game and played aggressively on defense for 4 qtrs. 4 qtr saw YBA come out a little flat but they were able to fight it off and regain their intensity again. Keys for improvement from this game: ball security, offensive execution, and a stronger will to compete for 4 qtrs.

Defense player of the game: Grant, Joe Henry, and Morgan Green
Offense player of the game: Luke Jordan
Best Hustle: Whole Team
Best Attitude: Whole Team

YBA Dawgs Blue vs. Davis Hotshots – WIN
Sunday 3/13/11 10:05 a.m. YBA squared off against Davis Hotshots came out hot. They had some good deep ball shooters. Great defensive efforts from Austin gave us a chance to take the lead and never give it back. We hit a flat spot in the 3 rd quarter but rebounded well through out the game. We suffered a big loss in the 3rd quarter will big Joe going down with what looked like a major knee injury. We protected to ball and came away with a 4-point victory.

Defense player of the game: Austin/Grant
Offense player of the game: Austin/Luke
Best Hustle: Jared
Best Attitude: Luke/Christian/ Jared-and Joe with returning to the bench with an injury to be with his teammates

YBA Dawgs Blue vs. – CRR Red-Loss
Sunday 3/13/11 12:15 p.m.YBA squared off against the CRR Red. YBA came out with good energy the whole team showed great defensive play and hustle. Offensively as a team, decision making and scoring showed improvement in this game. YBA was able to turn solid defensive stops into transition baskets in the fourth quarter. However rebounding was a struggle for the entire game. CRR had some great shooters and took advantage of us not having big Joe in the line up. CRR proved to be the better team down the stretch hitting four-clutch basket in five positions.

Defense player of the game: Morgan Green , Jared
Offense player of the game: None
Best Hustle: None
Best Attitude: Christian


Coaches Thoughts:
Overall, We played very well for having very limited practice time. We showed stretches of great ball movement and more importantly “GRIT” which we will need to have as a team to continue to be successful. Players please be ready to work this week in practice be willing to run through a wall. “It is amazing what we can accomplish when we don’t care who gets the credit for it”.

7th Grade Black-March 12-13

Hurricanes 45 YBA Black 40
The 1st game of the weekend we came out aggressive and built a 11 point lead through out the game going into the 4th quarter. The 4th quarter we had several unforced turnovers. Which lead to a 16-2 run by the Hurricanes who beat us by 5.

Sac Titans 41 YBA Black 33
The Motto for this game was when you get down we get back up and fight!
Get up they DID! We met at 8:15 at hardwood (daylight savings) and really started playing great! In the end a few too many turn overs in the 3rd quarter did us in....but we were proud of the effort!

YBA Black 42 EDH Blue 25
As the weekend got longer we got stronger! We asked Sean to go full ct MAN defense on the point guard. And Defense he did! I don't think the kid got them in the offense or scored and their team did not get into a a good flow. We competed and beat them for the rebounds with the help of Wes (the BEAST) and the team VALUED the basketball. To finish the weekend with a strong Defensive and offensive effort by a really good team.

7th Grade Blue-March 12-13

The YBA Dawgs 7th grade Blue team is on a roll in March - back-to-back 3-0 tournament victories! Brandon Thong, acquired before the NBA trading deadline from the Black team, has been a powerful force down low, scoring many points and calmly dropping in free throws. In the March 13th championship game, the Dawgs fought off a strong E-Time Hoops team featuring the non-identical fast talking twins. Logan Echeverria calmly sank two free throws to ice the game in the final seconds and win by two. In the March 6th championship game against the All-Star Predators, the Dawgs shot the lights out from downtown with Alex Isola, Ty Williams, and Dom Pericin hitting under pressure, and Jack Kearns draining two three's in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

Defense has been the key to the Dawgs success. Cole Kelly applies constant ball pressure, Alex Patton is dominant on the boards, and Dom gets his usual few steal/breakaways each game. Hands are all over the passing lanes - poor opponents! The YBA Dawgs recently traded their heart and soul player Michael Downen to the Black team, but owe him a debt of gratitude for the passion and intensity that he instilled in this team. Attitude award to Kyle Turner and Hustle award to Nick Cherry. Dave Garcia has been working hard in practice and showing much more poise handling the ball this year. Go Dawgs keep up the amazing breakthrough performances.

6th Grade Black-March 12-13

"They're too small" is what the DAWGS heard from the opposing parents. And sometimes, words like that can be "fuel to the fire". Facing a Gladiators team that we have not seen before, we did not know what to expect. However, we are completely confident in OUR game and it showed. After a quick 18-1 first quarter, the DAWGS never looked back and finished the game with a 30+ point win – how’s that for being “too small”?

Facing another unknown opponent in the Nevada Nets, the DAWGS came out slow. In the end, the NETS had the height advantage (across the board), but the DAWGS had the speed advantage - and speed prevailed! Using a trapping defense, the DAWGS forced many turnovers and walked away with a 25 point win.

In the championship game, the DAWGS faced the Wolfpack. A team that has in past weeks been winning championships. The Wolfpack gave it their best shot in the first and second quarter to stay close, but the DAWGS wore them down. Hitting from the outside and tough, smart defense led to a 21 point DAWGS win.
Overall, the team looked great after not playing for four weeks. Also, having only six players all weekend, no one got much rest! But, these players are unique - great athletes & competitors, with extremely high basketball IQ's for their age. They are fun to watch!

5th Dawgs-March 12-13

4th Grade-March 12-13