Even as the school year begins to draw closer with each passing day, summer is still on the minds of many students who will once again head to class, study in the library or hang out with their friends, but at the University of Chattanooga players and coaches begin life without Jenaya Wade-Fray.
Graduate Wade-Fray is continuing with her basketball career playing overseas. Wade-Fray, set out for England to play for Great Britain in hopes of helping them to qualifying for EuroBasket 2011 in Poland.
She has shown flashes of her brilliant career at UTC with a team-high 19 points in Great Britain's 66-59 loss to Belgium and earlier led the team with five assists and seven rebounds in the team's win over Bulgaria.
She will work toward her Masters degree in Sports Exercise Psychology at Sheffield University and try to earn a spot with the Sheffield Hatters professional team while she trains for the 2012 Olympics.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Suns Rise to the Top
MVP Marissa Wainwright
IslandStats.com
The Defending Women's Basketball Champions St. George's Storm who fought back to defeat the Hamilton Parish Hurricanes, in the Semi-Finals could not do the same as they went down in the Finals to newly crowned Champions the Warwick Suns.
In a low scoring final the Warwick Suns defeated the St. George’s Storm23 – 11. League MVP Marissa Wainwright was the Warwick Suns top scorer with 10 points, while Akeila Furbert added 5, while the St. George’s Storm were led by their leading scorer Kimale Evans who scored 6 points.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Wade-Fray & GB Go Down
IslandStats.com
A good first half from Jenaya Wade-Fray and the Standard Life Great Britain (GB) Senior women Basketball team wasn't quite enough to prevent them going down 78 - 76 against the Netherlands.
The GB side outscored the hosts 36 - 30 in the first half, and had the ball with ten seconds remaining before turning it over as they lost to the Dutch for the second night in success.
Despite the loss, coach Tom Maher was a lot happier than the previous evening: "It was a very pleasing effort even though we lost" he said.
"The standard of the game was infinitely better than the previous night and we had every chance to win the game. If we can maintain that type of defensive effort we'll be in good shape."
Julie Page had arguably her best night in the GB vest, finishing with 27 points and eight rebounds. Steff Collins and Natalie Stafford each finished with 15 points, while Sarah McKay pulled down eight boards to go with her two points.
GB led 19 - 17 at the first break, and outscored the home side 17 - 14 in the second period to lead by six.
But a poor third period saw Netherlands win 24 - 18 to send the teams into the final break on level terms and they wrapped up the victory with a 24 - 22 final quarter.
GB now have a break before travelling to Tel Aviv on August 3 for a three-game series against Israel ahead of their European Championship campaign.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wade-Fray & GB Go Down
Tom Maher was far from satisfied as Jenaya Wade-Fray and his Standard Life GB Women's team went down 72-62 in Holland.
I'm really disappointed" he said. "Instead of trying to beat Holland in a co-ordinated manner we went for too many home run plays, and our defense was a severe disappointment.
"Unquestionably we will rebound from this performance because we didn't do ourselves or the people we represent justice."
The home team won the opening quarter 17-13 and increased their lead to 34-23 going into the locker room at half-time.
A 22-16 third period saw that deficit slashed to five going into the fourth period, but the home side sealed the win by out scoring GB 22-17 in the final stanza.
Wade-Fray again led the GB team with 18 as Natalie Stafford had a quiet night on her return to the team.
Kim Butler marked her return from injury with 15 points, missing out on a double-double by a rebound, while Chantelle Handy finished with seven points and Julie Page pulled down nine boards.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wade-Fray & GB Go Down
IslandStats.com
GB Standard Life Women's Head Coach Tom Maher remained positive despite seeing Jenaya Wade-Fray and the his team lose 66-59 in Belgium.
"There were lots of positives from this game, the team played with persistence and tried hard against a talented Belgian team" said Maher.
"Playing without Natalie Stafford, Jo Leedham, Kim Butler and Lisa Hutchinson meant that we lacked a lot of fire power, but we did a much better job of containing our opponents and actually won the rebound count. Nevertheless, 28% from the floor isn't going to win too many games."
Wade-Fray was the team’s top scorer with 19 points, GB trailed 14-10 at the first break, and went into the locker room 32-23 down at half-time.
A 23-15 third period looked to have put the game beyond GB's reach as they trailed 55-38 after three quarters, but they made the hosts fight all of the way with a 21-11 final stanza before finally slipping to a defeat.
Leedham had already been ruled out of the game, and Stafford is unable to leave the UK until her GB passport is sorted out, but Britain lost Butler and Hutchinson through injury after Tuesday's 97-71 loss at the hands of the Belgians.
On the positive side for GB, they welcomed back Chantelle Handy who suffered an ankle injury against Portugal on Sunday, and she finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Julie Page finished with ten points and seven rebounds for Britain, while Azania Steward also pulled down seven boards for GB.
Maher and his team now have a rest day before moving on to the Netherlands for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.
