Armstrong Youth Basketball

Funny things come with improving as a team, as the Armstrong Sixers have done over the past two seasons. They brought home another first-place trophy from this past weekend's Waconia Sweetheart Tournament and learned a lot about themselves. For instance:

* You can play a sloppy game and still come out on top, like the squad did in its first game of the Waconia Sweethearts Tourney on Saturday against Chanhassen, eeking out a 28-25 win.

* You can hang tough against a team that you wouldn't have been able to compete against a year ago and find a way to win at the end, as the girls did in Saturday's second game, defeating the Urban Stars 48-44.

* You raise the expectations of your coaches, which results in them getting frustrated when you don't play as well as they know you can. Be happy about that. It's an indication of how far you've come and how much faith the coaches have in you now.

The two victories put the girls in yet another championship game on Sunday.

Everyone on the team had impressive moments on Saturday. The girls jumped to a quick 8-0 lead against Chanhassen, but failed to focus on transition defense and allowed that lead to disappear, eventually trailing 17-12 at half.

Coach Berg said afterward that he felt like Paul McCartney all day, shouting "Get Back! Get Back! Get Back to where you once belonged!"

Elizabeth hit two free throws with about five minutes left to give Armstrong the lead, and Maya added two more a minute later. Elizabeth scored on a drive from the left wing and the team buckled down on defense enough to stave off the sharp-shooting Chanhassen squad, which seemed to get two and three shots on each possession.

Maya had two strong games on Saturday. Against Chanhassen, she had the fans "oohing" with a spin move to the hoop and a shot that almost dropped, and seconds later took it coast to coast weaving past at least four defenders to score a key bucket.

In the second game, the girls trailed the Urban Stars most of the way, but never by more than four or six points.

Maria scored early in the second half to give Armstrong the lead, but each time the girls scored it seemed the Urban Stars answered with a basket -- often a layup -- of their own.

Tied at 42 with only a minute left, Elizabeth scored on one of her patented ball fake drives to her left to give the team a two-point lead. The Stars answered yet again, but a beautiful give-and-go play to Maria put the girls ahead for good. A last-second jumper by Hannah accounted for the four-point margin of victory.

Mira led all scorers with 19!

Nice job, girls!

Sources have told the Sixers team scribe that Coach Croonquist dipped into Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy's bag of confidence-building tricks before the weekend action in the Waconia Sweethearts Tourney.

McCarthy, it was reported, had his team measured for championship rings on Saturday night before they defeated Pittsburgh in last weekend's Super Bowl.

Croonquist reportedly had the girls sized for first-place T-shirts before Saturday morning's 8 a.m. start vs. Chanhassen.

"I don't know how he fitted it in -- no pun intended," said his co-coach Mike Berg. "It was awfully early and the girls were barely awake. I'm just glad they went out and backed up that confidence that Scott had in them."