PREMIUM ARTICLE: Round of 16 Top Performers

BROOKLYN, NY- It's playoff time at the famed Rose Classic with some of the best girls AAU teams from the New York and New Jersey squaring off to earn the chance to be called 2017 Rose Classic Spring Champions.

This past weekend was the Round of 16 at J.H.S. 113, and with four teams already having moved through to the Quarterfinals on Saturday, four more teams were primed to make their moves on Sunday as the competition and action got tougher and better with so much on the line.

Sunday's Round of 16 matchups would feature a fantastic contest as the NJ Sparks (Gold) would square off with New Heights (Rock) in a battle of regional powers. Exodus NYC had a pair of teams take the court as well meaning that without a doubt some of the finer talent in the Rose this season were on hand for the day.

With exciting play throughout, and with NYCHoops.net on hand all day, here now is our recap of the Round of 16 play from the Rose Classic on Sunday.

There was already a good amount of intrigue in this one even before the game tipped off as Kaelynn Satterfield (Christ the King '19) had previously played with this New Heights team at the Rose Classic before leaving the program and heading over to this Sparks team in between April Live Periods.

It made Satterfield ineligible to play for the Sparks in this one since she had already suited up in the tournament for New Heights, but she did sit on the Sparks bench to root on her new team.

With that storyline already surrounding this anticipated game, both teams came out strong, but New Heights star wasn't really a part of the action early as Emily Engstler (St. Francis Prep '18) got in foul trouble picking up 2 fouls in the first four minutes of the game putting her to the bench for the rest of the half.

One would think that with Satterfield no longer with the team, and Engstler saddled on the bench with 2 early fouls that New Heights could've been in big trouble, but they would show their depth and overall strong play in not just staying afloat in this one, but controlling the game for the most part in the opening half as well.

The perimeter shooting of New Heights is what really was keeping them together as Lauren Hackett (St. Anthony's '18) was doing an excellent job creating off the dribble and pulling up for good midrange looks, while Makenzie Helms (Loomis Chaffee, CT '19) really proved to be the best player on the court in attacking driving lanes, showing great court understanding against pressure from the Sparks, and then being great in distributing to the ball inside to the likes of Samantha Schultz (Kings Park '18) for baskets inside.

Leilani Correa (Rutgers Prep, NJ '19) was a bright spot for the Sparks in what was a tough shooting opening half where the team overall would go 2 of 12 from three, causing them to be down 28-26 at the half.

If there was something to take out of the half for the Sparks it was that even shooting the ball as poorly as they did, they were still within two. On the other side, New Heights looked and felt that even with Engstler on the bench with foul trouble, they still held a 2-point halftime lead.

Looking at it that way both teams had to take some positives out of the opening 16 minutes, but early in the second half off a Sydnei Caldwell (Gill St. Bernard's, NJ '19) drive in translation, the Sparks took a lead at 34-32. It was pressure time for New Heights to respond, and they would do just that in a major way.

Reilly Campbell (Loomis Chaffee, CT '19) would connect with 4 straight points as the New Heights defense stiffened from behind the arc denying Michelle Sidor (Saddle River Day, NJ '19) from getting any good looks from long range. New Heights would score 8 straight to take a 40-34 lead with under 8 minutes to play, really taking control and putting their team stamp on the game.

The Sparks on a pair of occasions late would get the deficit down to just one possession but big time players step up when their team needs them most and in the final four minutes of the game Engstler would score 8 points for New Heights, including a pair of buckets in the lane spinning away from her defender and finishing.

All in all it was an impressive outing overall from New Heights as they were able to get by the NJ Sparks EYBL team in impressive fashion, never trailing in the closing minutes to take a 48-45 victory.

Engstler would finish with 12 points to lead New Heights, though Helms added 10 points with number of great of plays to get others involved, while Campbell and Hackett each had 8 points apiece as well in the win.

For the Sparks in the loss they Correa score 17 points to lead all scorers in the game, with Caldwell chipping in with 13 points as well in the defeat that ends their Rose Classic season.

From the very start you could see that this was going to be the Hoopers day as the young Positive Direction squad struggled with the pace that the Hoopers wanted to play, going out to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:25 and never looking back from there in the victory.

Outside of Vanerlie Valcourt (The Mary Louis Academy '18) this Positive Direction team was comprised of players who primarily played on the TMLA JV team this past season, and going up against a team that is full of future Division 1 players from the Hoopers meant that it would be a tough go of it for the talented, but inexperienced Positive Direction.

Kristen Teklits (New Fairfield, CT '17) and Devyn Elliott (Cardinal Spellman '18) both were incredibly tough to contain in the opening half as they combined for 23 first half points, with nearly all the points coming in transition as the Hoopers pushed the tempo as often as they can, getting out on the break and scoring ahead of the Positive Direction defense.

If it wasn't those two doing damage in the early going it was Casey O'Shaughnessy (Bishop Kearney '19) who was draining three balls off the dribble knocking down 3 of them in the opening half, including one just before the halftime buzzer to make it a 44-18 lead at the break for the Hoopers.

With such a big lead the Hoopers did take their foot off the gas a bit in the second half with Alexis Suarez (Kennedy Catholic '19) as really the only scorer who looked for her shot as she showed the versatile ability to score inside or outside when she got looks at the rim

Teisha Hyman (Woodlands '19) proved to be a do it all lead guard for the Hoopers as well as she barely looked for her shot, but got everyone else involved tallying up at least 10 assists on the day to lead them to the easy victory.

Besides Valcourt, Grace Collins (The Mary Louis Academy '19) continued to show good things for Positive Direction, scoring in the lane in tough spots but it wasn't enough on this day as the Hoopers maintained momentum through to roll to a 64-36 victory.

Teklits had a game high 18 points to lead the way for the Hoopers, while Suarez and Elliott had 13 and 12 points respectively with Hyman being the leader and floor general to get everyone going throughout.

Valcourt was the leading scorer for Positive Direction in the loss with 12 points in a game where she played well throughout but there just wasn't enough to overcome all the weapons of the Hoopers on this day.

While the final score may have been lopsided, for the first half this looked to be a game that could go down to the wire. It wasn't until the Exodus EYBL team really put things together in the second half that they turned things on and pulled away to advance to the quarterfinals.

At the start, it was Charity Barnes (Summitt Academy '19) and Daysiah Smith (Summitt Academy '19) for the X-Men that were both extremely aggressive and showed no fear of their elite level competitors. They were getting to the rim and finishing in the halfcourt when they didn't push and get the tempo going.

Exodus was able to take an early lead though because once again Dara Mabrey (Manasquan, NJ '18) could not be stopped as she poured in 14 first half points, scoring from inside just as well as she did from the outside, but if not for her efforts early this could've been a very different game as Exodus was able to take a 34-23 lead at the half before of her fantastic close to the first 16 minutes.

Most of the Exodus players struggled to get a rhythm in the opening half, but that was not going to be the case in half number two and that evident quickly when Aziah Hudson (Baldwin '18) made a move around a pair of defenders and scooped a layup through the defense for a quick bucket.

When you add in the ability of Grace Stone (Long Island Lutheran '18) to beat her defenders off the dribble and push the tempo, along with Emma Cuccurullo (Long Island Lutheran '18) doing excellent things in the paint and the lead for Exodus kept growing and growing as they did a better job as well of containing the Lady X-Men guards from doing damage in transition.

Zhaneia Thybulle (Elmont '18) was another X-Men guard who didn't get going as much as she had in their team's opening game of the day, and Shaniqua Edwards (Grand Street Campus '17) was the lone interior force for the Lady X-Men and she never really was able to get in good positions to score against a tough and physical Exodus D.

Combine all that together and a one close game was pushed wide open as the 16u Exodus squad was able to pull away and confidently take a 75-45 win.

Mabrey again continues to show why she is among the best players in the Rose Classic this season putting up 23 points in the victory for Exodus. Hudson added 13 points, and Cuccurullo had 10 points as well for the winners.

For the Lady X-Men it was Smith who had 13 points to lead the way for the young squad, with Barnes added 11 points also in the loss.

Playing after their older Exodus team was this young and ultra-talented Exodus squad full of 8th and 9th graders, but don't let their youth fool you, they are as deep and good as any team and proved once again that they can compete and thrive against anyone put in front of them in this 25-point Round of 16 victory.

Jeanna Cunningham (Brentwood '20) was a major force down low for Exodus as her length defensive to block and alter shots of the Team Mike Moore players, along with her solid ability to finish with her back to the basket, allowed Exodus 14's to take a quick 16-4 lead.

While it was, Cunningham controlling the game in the paint, Julia Fabozzi (Xaverian '20) was doing it from the outside as she was great connecting from just inside the perimeter in knocking down midrange jumper after midrange jumper to help Exodus maintain the double-digit lead.

Team Mike Moore really couldn't find any offense in this one as Rayshel Brown (Curtis '17) was stymied to just 2 opening half points as they would end up trailing 25-8 at halftime.

Destiny Howell (Glen Cove '20) found her shooting touch early in the second half for Exodus as she would get in the act offensively, and as a team the Exodus 14's were doing such a good job defensively not just on the inside with Cunningham blocking shot after shot, but with the guards who maintained pressure throughout and denied Team Mike Moore any chance to really get the offense going faster.

MacKayla Scarlett (St. Francis Prep '20) did a tremendous job of acting as the floor general and leader of the team doing a fantastic job in creating turnovers on defense, while getting the entire team involved offensively before finally getting herself involved late with a long pull-up jumper that would seal the deal in what would be a 45-20 victory for a talented young group of Exodus players.

Howell would score 12 points to be the high scorer for the Exodus 14's in this one, but seven Exodus players would get on the board in total with Fabozzi and Cunningham each scoring 8 points as well to help them in the win.

In her final Rose Classic game, Brown would score 4 points for Team Mike Moore, while a talented youngster in Maya Walker (Midwood '20) would score 8 points to lead them in the defeat.

The Rose Classic Quarterfinals are now officially set. They will take next weekend off for Memorial Day so the quarter's will be played on Saturday, June 3rd back at J.H.S. 113 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. All four games should be excellent and competitive with a high level of action and excitement between some of the area's top girl’s programs.

Saturday, June 3rd

4:30pm- NJ Demons (East) vs. Jersey Shore Elite (Chambers)

5:30pm- D1 Bound (Seniors) vs. NYC Heat (White)

6:30pm- Exodus 14u vs. New Heights (Rock)

7:30pm- Exodus 16u vs. Hoopers NY (Reynolds)