The Rattlers’ 17U team, featuring girls basketball players from various high schools in Tucson, started play in the Nike Tournament of Champions at Chicago this morning with two victories.
They won the first game 63-45 over Cy Fair Elite of Houston and then topped the New Jersey Shoreshots 61-50 in the second game.
RELATED: Tucson Rattlers girls hoops program humming along 10 years after its inception.
Tucson Rattlers forward Nikya Orange (24) makes a basket with teammate Bella Hamel looking on in a Nike Tournament of Champions game in Chicago (Rattlers photo)
Tanque Verde senior Nikya Orange and Ironwood Ridge junior Bella Hamel each produced a double-double in the first game. Orange finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Hamel had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Bella Muscoreil, a junior center at Marana, added 11 points with seven rebounds. The tallest player on the team at 6-foot-3, she also drilled a 3-pointer. Ironwood Ridge junior guard Makayla Holthaus, daughter of Pima women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus, contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
In the second game, Orange, who is 5-9, had another double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Orange made all seven of her field goal attempts in the first game and went 8-of-14 in the second game, giving her a percentage of 71.4.
Tucson Rattlers guard Emma Morris drills one of her four 3-pointers in a win over the New Jersey Shoreshots in the Nike Tournament of Champions on Tuesday (Rattlers photo)
Emma Morris, a junior guard who is a teammate of Orange’s at Tanque Verde, added 12 points, all on 3-pointers, making 4 of 8 from that range.
Pueblo senior guard Summer Fox had four steals and eight assists in the second game.
The Rattlers (the only unbeaten team in the Athens 17U tournament in Chicago) play two more games in the tournament tomorrow — at 12:15 p.m. against Swift Elite and 2:45 against the Missouri Rockets. The tournament concludes Thursday.
Another Tucson team — Lady TNT — is competing in the 15U Olympia bracket. The team split its two games on Tuesday and plays another two games on Wednesday — against the Seidman WildCats at 4 p.m. and Katy Rebels Poth at 6:30.
The Team TNT roster includes these players:
Bria Medina, 8th grade, guard, Our Lady of Sorrows
Kylee Callahan, freshman, guard, Salpointe
Tessa Hastings, freshman, forward, Tanque Verde
Skylar Begay, freshman, forward, Tucson
Bethaina Stubbs, freshman, guard, Catalina Foothills
Meghan McQuade, 8th grade, forward, Our Lady of Sorrows
Mia Ronstadt, sophomore, forward, Salpointe
Mae Callahan, junior, guard, Salpointe
Lorna Lambert, sophomore, guard Salpointe
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