HoopGurlzOdyssey Sims helped DFW battle for the Midwest Showdown championship. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A little bit of the edge was gone from the DFW T-Jack squad Monday afternoon, and there was no joking around or goofing off on the sideline, but the spirits were still positive.
Not quite six hours after they started their first of three Memorial Day games, the T-Jack players were finally able to relax after a 57-53 win against Ring City gave DFW's top team the Midwest Showdown's Elite Bracket crown.
"We know what we're capable of," said Odyssey Sims, the elite bracket MVP. "We went out to win a championship."
In the 16U/17U bracket, Team Detroit finished 9-0 with a 55-48 win against the Fairfax Stars. Team Detroit also won the 15U bracket with a 72-62 win against the Ohio Lady Attack. In the 14U bracket, the DFW 2012 team beat Tennessee Pride, 74-54.
With both elite teams on their third game of the day, the Ring City versus T-Jack battle had many sloppy moments, but stayed around a five-point swing either way through the course of the game. Ring City pushed in the final minutes, but a couple of technical fouls and missed passes sealed their fate as second place to the weekend's dominant team.
However, those quick to recognize the T-Jack name should toss any past notions of previous T-Jack entities -- this summer's squad is a very different animal.
DFW's top squad ran the elite table at the Midwest Showdown, finishing 7-0, but a balanced attack is what sealed the deal. Without a Brittney Griner-esque presence inside and with a poised Sims running the point, four T-Jack players -- Sims, Kelsi Baker, Akil Simpson and Kristen Grant -- scored 12 points each.
"Knowing who we're up against, we've got to play hard every game," said Sims, who nursed an injured groin during the tournament. "No matter if we're tired, there should be no excuses."
T-Jack finished with seven players for the final game after starting with 10 in Monday morning's quarterfinal against Cincinnati's Finest. T-Jack cruised against Cincinnati, and then against the Fairfax Stars for a second encounter with Ring City, which it beat by two Saturday.
The squad was missing Alexis Jones, a 2012 guard from Irving, Texas, who didn't make the trip, and had three players, including Tiffany Moore, the No. 12 player in the 2010 Super 60, who had to leave before the end of Monday's games. With the full squad, comprised almost entirely of Dallas-Fort Worth kids this season, the girls feel they have a solid foundation that now builds from their success in Ohio.
"This builds our confidence," Baker said. "We're playing much better together, so we feel that if we continue to play together, we'll be hard to beat."
Ring City, coached by former NYC Gauchos director Walter Welsh, will be hard to beat this summer as well. The New York and New Jersey-area girls who struggled at times during April's Boo Williams tournament showed marked improvement in Ohio, finishing second to T-Jack in their elite pool and second in the tournament. The girls defeated DFW Gold Monday morning and Kayla McBride's Western PA Bruins a short time later. Ring City's two losses during the weekend both were to DFW T-Jack.
Tiffany Conner, a 2009 guard from Teaneck, N.J., led Ring City with 11 points, while Desiree Simmons added 10 and Ka-Deidre Simmons, her twin sister, scored nine.
The Simmons twins, who play at Newark, N.J.'s Shabazz High School, are two of Ring City's five 2010 standouts leading the way this summer. Also on the squad are Lauren Okafor, a 6-2 2010 from Connecticut; Leah Johnson, a 6-foot 2010 from New Jersey, and Shukurah Washington, a 2010 from New York City's Murry Bergtraum. Welsh's squad has a full July schedule planned for the East Coast.
