Nneka Ogwumike, who guided the Cy-Fair girls basketball team to the 5A state championship in 2007-08, is one of six finalists for the Gatorade Athlete of the Year awarded to be presented at the ESPY Awards show Thursday night. Ogwumike is in California this week for the festivities.   The other finalists are Track and Field Athlete of the Year Chanelle Price (Easton Area High, Easton Area, Pa.), Soccer Player of the Year Teresa Noyola (Palo Alto High, Palo Alto, Calif.), Softball Player of the Year Kenzie Fowler (Canyon del Oro High, Canyon del Oro, Ariz.), Cross Country Runner of the Year Ashley Brasovan (Wellington High, Wellington, Fla.) and Volleyball Player of the Year Kelly Murphy (Joliet Catholic High, Joliet, Ill.).   The ESPY Awards take place Thursday at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles but will not be televised until 8 p.m.

            The Cy-Fair area has been invaded this weekend by some of the top female basketball teams in the country.

     (Girls and Boys)   It was an all-Houston affair in the boys championship of the Houston National Summer Showcase, held at The Woodlands High School Ninth Grade Center Tuesday night.

     The Houston National Summer Showcase got underway Sunday afternoon in The John Cooper School in The Woodlands. The tournament features boys teams from ages 15-17 and girls teams from ages 16-17.

          John Lucas has made a career of being a basketball tutor at the high school, college and pro levels. He has also become a key player in helping college coaches find talented high school players in the Houston area and in the southwest part of the United States. So it’s no surprise that Lucas is hosting the Summer Invitational Camp this weekend at the University of Houston, where over 60 high school players from Texas and across the country came to get noticed by college coaches.

    Seventy-two college basketball prospects and a slew of coaches will descend on the University of Houston Saturday and Sunday for John Lucas' 2008 Southwest Invitational Camp.   Among the attendees include local standouts Tobi Oyedeji (Bellaire), Marquette recruit Erik Williams (Cypress Springs) and Notre Dame commit Joey Brooks (Strake Jesuit). "New Mexico native Alex Kirk (a 6-foot-9 junior) is already drawing Kevin McHale comparisons and could turn out to be one of the nation's biggest sleepers," said Jim Hicks, proprietor of RCSSports.com.

  The Houston Clippers, made up of a team from the La Porte and Friendswood areas, defeated the Port Arthur Heat 44-35 in the championship game of the Slo-Motion Juneteenth basketball tournament Sunday at Yates High School. “It was a pretty good tournament,” Clippers coach Drew Parker said.

Some use the summertime to relax and unwind after a hectic school year.

    With about five minutes left in the June XPlosion championship game Sunday, Houston Hoops coach Willie Patrick said two things. First, he told his team they still had enough time to erase a 13-point deficit. Then he half-joked with a nearby reporter, telling them they’d probably end up talking to Houston Select players because they were on track to win. Patrick went 1-for-2. In a somewhat improbable turn of events, Houston Hoops fought back from an 18-point deficit with six minutes remaining, tying the game on Brandon Peters’ 3-pointer at the buzzer and winning 89-87 in two overtimes at Pearland Middle School-West. “We played some good defense down the stretch.

          There was plenty of action at the June XPlosion at Pearland Junior High School West on Saturday, where a handful of Houston-area high school basketball talent was on display. In one game, the Houston Elite fell to the Daniel Gibson All-Stars 74-65.

  The summer basketball season kicks into high gear Saturday and Sunday with the Houston Hoopstars' June XPlosion "Showdown in the South" tournament at gyms throughout the Pearland Independent School District. Local participating teams include the host Hoopstars, the Houston Elite, the Beaumont-based Southeast Texas All-Stars and the Franchize All-Stars. The Houston Elite features, among others, Memorial standout and New Mexico commit Matt Staff, Strake Jesuit's Tim Frazier and Eisenhower's Ella Ellis and Darius Goff.

(Friday) (Saturday)   {mp3}TOP 10-Houston vs.

 {mp3}TOP 10-Griner{/mp3}         From Monday, Feb.

Matt Staff says he doesn’t know much about the players in the New Mexico men’s basketball program. But once the Memorial big man took an unofficial visit to the Albuquerque campus May 2 and got in good with coach Steve Alford, Staff knew he had a chance to fit in right away. Staff, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound junior, verbally committed to the Lobos Sunday night.

  Shantel Nwanguma, who helped lead the Cinco Ranch girls basketball team to a regional final appearance, has committed to play collegiately for the University of Texas-San Antonio. Pictured at Shantel's recent signing were: Front row (left to right): Grace Nwanguma (mother), Shantel Nwanguma, George Nwanguma (father). Standing (left to right): Cinco Ranch principal Bonnie Brasic, assistant basketball coach Meredith Huey, head coach Eric Bartlett and Cinco Ranch campus athletic coordinator Don Clayton.

  (White VS.

  Judging from the performances of the past year, talk of high school basketball really must begin in Houston. And as usual, Hal Pastner is at the front of the line. The renowned promoter is bringing 681 teams to Houston for 1,333 games in the three-day Houston Kingwood Classic, beginning Friday at 66 courts in 45 area gyms from the Cypress area to Galena Park to Conroe. "It's too hard to believe," Pastner said on The Basketball Show Monday night.

  After leading Fort Bend Dulles to a 34-5 record and an appearance in the state championship game, Abel and Thomas Galliguez signed letters of intent Thursday to play basketball at John Brown University, a NAIA Division I school in Siloam Springs, Ark.   The twin brothers, both 5-feet-8, feel that the signings caps off a dream season. “It’s icing on the cake,” Abel said.

  Adaora Elonu really must not look at the scoreboard. Told she was in the middle of seemingly every play in the first quarter of the second of two Greater Houston Area Girls Basketball Association all-star games Saturday, the Elsik senior looked genuinely surprised. “Really?” Elonu said.

  Texas’ Player of the Year lived up to that billing in her final high school game. Nneka Ogwumike, who led Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team to this year’s state championship, had nine points and six rebounds Wednesday night as the West team defeated the East 80-64 in the McDonald’s All-American Game at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Stanford commit was 4-of-6 from the floor in 19 minutes, 35 seconds of play. Cinco Ranch’s Briana Gilbreath, a USC commit, had eight points, two rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes, 50 seconds. Ogwumike, the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ Player of the Year and Miss Basketball Honoree, had a standout week.

        In its eighth year of existence, the RCSSports.com Spring Ice Breaker was back in Houston for the annual basketball tournament.

  District champion Strake Jesuit and regional quarterfinalist Cypress Springs took most of the top honors on the District 17-5A boys basketball teams released Tuesday. Cy Springs’ Phillip McDonald was named Most Valuable Player, coach John Harmatuk earned Coach of the Year, and Cy Springs senior John Smith and Strake Jesuit junior Tim Frazier split co-Defensive Player of the Year honors with Cypress Ridge’s Brandon Smith. Cypress Woods’ Reynaldo Noel was named Newcomer of the Year. Strake Jesuit won its first district championship this year.

  Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team took top honors in Texas. The case was no different in the Bobcats’ own district. Stanford-bound forward Nneka Ogwumike was named Most Valuable Player, Nicole Morris was named Defensive Player of the Year and Ann Roubique was named Coach of the Year on the all-District 17-5A team released Friday. Forty Cypress-Fairbanks ISD student-athletes were named First Team, Second Team or Honorable Mention. Other Bobcats named to the First Team were Chiney Ogwumike and Mansa El. Cypress Falls’ Je’Lena Robertson was named the district’s Newcomer of the Year. The other First Teamers were Cypress Creek’s Kim Hagan and Dawn Kiel; Cy Falls’ Starr Spencer; Cypress Springs’ Nicoya Jackson and Marsharae Brown; Cypress Woods’ Erica Johnson; Jersey Village’s Amy Doyle; and Langham Creek’s Mercedes Johnson and Valerie Wood. The complete teams are as follows: First Team Nneka Ogwumike, Cy-Fair Chiney Ogwumike, Cy-Fair Nicole Morris, Cy-Fair Mansa El, Cy-Fair Kim Hagan, Cypress Creek Dawn Kiel, Cypress Creek Starr Spencer, Cypress Falls Je’Lena Robertson, Cypress Falls Nicoya Jackson, Cypress Springs Marsharae Brown, Cypress Springs Erica Johnson, Cypress Woods Amy Doyle, Jersey Village Mercedes Johnson, Langham Creek Valerie Wood, Langham Creek Second Team Megan Majewski, Cy-Fair Megan Daniel, Cy-Fair D.J.

  AUSTIN - The Wheatley boys basketball team's season came to an end Thursday night with a 95-89 loss to Fort Worth Southwest in a 4A state semifinal at the Frank Erwin Center. After trailing most of the fast-paced game, in which a combined 170 shots were attempted, Wheatley charged back to take the lead with 1:22 left on a Robert Stokes layup.

  Mike Carrabine wasn’t losing his voice – yet. But his phone steadily rang and beeped with incoming text messages Saturday afternoon, minutes after his Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team defeated Madison 70-62 to clinch the school’s first-ever state tournament berth. “I’m not gonna get tired of talking,” he told his assistant coaches as he boarded the team bus outside the Aldine Campbell Center. The Vikings (33-4) seek to obtain full area bragging rights Friday afternoon when they play Klein Forest (33-3), the Region II champions, in the 3:30 p.m.

  If there are two things Thomas Galliguez is used to, it’s taking charges and being overlooked. Thomas and his twin brother Abel, both 5-foot-9 senior guards for the Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team, each have taken more than 35 charges this year. And on a team where the tallest player is 6-foot-4 – though Thomas says sophomore post Adrian Kuyinu is closer to 6-2 – the Galliguezes thrives when opponents glance over his team. So the brothers make it their job to be noticed, whether that’s by hitting shots or harassing opponents with defense.

    Regularly getting three and four scorers in double-figures early in the season, there was little reason for the Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team to stir its pot.  The Vikings opened the season 21-0, but as midseason approached the contributions of junior guard Dre Harrison off the bench became increasingly apparent. Harrison's first start happened to be the Vikings' first loss, 58-56 to Fort Bend Elkins on Jan.

        AUSTIN – Cy-Fair's girls basketball team rewrote their history Saturday night when they defeated DeSoto 50-33 and were crowned 5A state champions.   The Bobcats lost the championship game one year ago but returned this year, jumped to a monstrous halftime lead, and got the win.

          Even after a 21-game win streak to open the season, the Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team had its share of doubters.

  (Madison VS.

      AUSTIN – Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team has its chance at redemption.

  Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team is heading into the state tournament well trained, strong-minded and prepared, and it’s because of Ann Roubique.

  The Cy-Fair girls basketball team is taking experience with them to the state tournament in Austin this weekend.   As the only returning team in the 5A state bracket, the team leaves Friday morning with the hopes of reversing the outcome of last year’s championship game where they were upset by Rockwall in overtime.

  Just because the Fort Bend Dulles boys basketball team likes a ball-control offense doesn’t mean they’ll try to slow the game against Chavez Friday night in a 5A Region III semifinal. That’s likely the opposite of how things will transpire, thinks Lobos (28-5) coach Kevin Pullum. “They (Dulles) are very quick and they’re short.

          Tommy Mason-Griffin led the Madison boys basketball team to a 73-64 win against Cypress Springs in a 5A-Region 3 quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Campbell Center. With 25 points, Mason-Griffin guided the Marlins (24-9) to a three-point lead in the first and hit a long three-point basket and the end of the second, for a six-point lead at the half.

          The Yates boys basketball team typically doesn't have trouble beating opponents on the basketball court.

        The first several minutes of Tuesday night's 5A-Region III quarterfinal set the tone for Chavez in more ways than one. The Lobos bolted to a seven-point lead within two minutes on four transition baskets, two of them off steals.

{mp3}080226-StateField{/mp3}    Last year, Cy-Fair’s girls basketball team was in this position. Now the Bobcats find themselves as the 5A state tournament’s proverbial greybeards. Cy-Fair, whose only loss of 2006-07 was in overtime in the state championship game, is the only participant in this weekend’s state tournament in Austin that has been there before. The two Dallas-area semifinalists, DeSoto and Garland Naaman Forest, are newcomers if not surprising qualifiers. But the fastest road to state comes from Converse, a San Antonio suburb that produced the Wagner Thunderbirds (36-1), Cy-Fair’s opponent in Friday’s 3:30 p.m.

  Matchups and times have been determined for the TAPPS boys and girls basketball state tournaments next weekend. The games for Houston-area teams are as follows:   BOYS BASKETBALL 6A at Blossom Athletic Center, San Antonio Semifinals St.

  When a shocking injury struck the Cypress Springs boys basketball team earlier this year, the Panthers came together as a team and rose above it.   Panthers superstar Erik Williams broke his foot during a practice following December’s Houston vs.

    In likely to be one of the toughest games Cy-Fair and Cinco Ranch have encountered this year, the Bobcats and Cougars battled Saturday to represent Houston in the state girls basketball tournament and left it all out on the court.

    With a total of 25 baskets, Josh Bonney of Lamar High School led the Redskins to victory on Friday night against the Taylor Lions, 48-44.  As Bonney fought early on in the 1st quarter sinking most of Lamar’s baskets, he clearly stood out as a threat to the Lions from the beginning. With his consistent efforts, he ended up contributing more than half of the team’s total points and gave the game that edge that kept fans on their feet. Although he was the energy that jumpstarted his team for the ultimate win, it did not at all come easy, for there was another very powerful source that charged the Lions as well.   The junior guard Denzelle Stevenson, from Taylor High, was the secret weapon for his team. He was also the star, which was obvious from the wave of fans that stood up in anticipation and swooped down in unison with each 3-point swish that was made. His team was very connected and read each other perfectly through most of the first half.  The wise passes and quick decisions that almost seemed choreographed are really what made this game so close for them.  In the first half it really looked as if they had the game in the bag, but the 3-point shooting star began to dim as passes were broken and balls stolen.  The second half was when it really started looking like anyone’s ball game as the Redskins could not stop their fouling streak and handed the Lions numerous free throw shots.

    Playing a true road game in the playoffs? No problem for the Chavez boys basketball team.  Friday night the Lobos turned the tables in the end to come out with an 85-78 win at Strake Jesuit in a 5A area round game.  Chavez trailed by 10 to 15 points most of the way until the fourth quarter. But then the Lobos went to a full-court press and things translated on the offensive end.    Jamal Fenton began to find his groove for sinking 3 pointers one after another. It was a steal and 3-point shot he made that finally tied the game 69 to 69 with 3 minutes left in the game. After another 3-pointer and the immense help and baskets made by Jared Maree, they found themselves in the lead and at no better time. With a minute left in the game, Chavez held onto their lead and took the game in the end from Strake Jesuit and sealed the deal with a few needed free throws.

            Tied with Fort Bend Marshall most of the game, Cinco Ranch scored 19 points in the fourth to win 63-50 in the 5A-Region 3 semifinal Friday night at the Campbell Center.

          The Cy-Fair Bobcats expected a tough match up against Dulles and that’s what they got Friday night in the 5A regional semifinal at the Campbell Center. The Bobcats, who ended up winning 66-60, led after every quarter but felt Dulles creeping all 32 minutes.

       The Madison boys basketball team scored 40 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Hastings 82-80 in a 5A area boys basketball game Friday night at Manvel.

          Held to four points in the third quarter Thursday night, the Cypress Springs boys basketball team got exactly the defense it was hoping Bellaire would throw at them. But having scored only six points in almost 15 minutes, all the Panthers needed was shots to start falling. Cy Springs guard Ernest Wafer opened the fourth quarter on a tear, scoring 10 points in the first 3 minutes, 14 seconds and 13 of his game-high 20 in the period to guide the Panthers to a 57-46 win against the Cardinals in a 5A-Region III area game at Delmar Fieldhouse. “They just started playing man-to-man and that’s what we like to play,” said Wafer, a 5-foot-10 senior.

  Briana Gilbreath celebrated one of the biggest victories of her basketball career Tuesday night. In a little more than a month, the entire nation may get to see why the Cinco Ranch senior will play at Southern Cal. Gilbreath, a 6-foot-1 guard, was one of two area players selected Wednesday to the McDonald's All-American Game, scheduled for March 26 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.   The other Houston-area representative will be Cy-Fair forward/center Nneka Ogwumike, who will play collegiately at Stanford. Both will play on the West team. Cinco Ranch and Cy-Fair each advanced to the 5A-Region III tournament, to be held this weekend at the Aldine Campbell Center.

  Pearland and Galveston Ball were no match for Fort Bend's Elkins and Bush in a 5A bi-district doubleheader Tuesday night.

      District 18-5A champs Hastings faced 17-5A Langham Creek in the first round of playoffs Tuesday night at Cinco Ranch.