The Goffstown Edge

SportsZone Announces Coed Extreme Preseason Basketball Conditioning

The SportsZone is conducting its 8th annual preseason coed extreme basketball conditioning program beginning on Tuesday Sept. 27th through November 5th.  The sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 6:00pm and on Saturdays from 12:00 noon to 1:30.  The program is designed for athletes from 8th grade through 12th grade with the objective of maximizing speed, strength and overall conditioning for their upcoming basketball season.

“We emphasize speed, balance and agility development, abdominal and core strengthening, acceleration and deceleration training, with special emphasis on increasing stamina” said Coach Dennis Reed.  Additionally players will develop enhanced multidirectional foot speed and a more explosive first step.  Improving the skill set in these areas dramatically reduces the susceptibility to performance based injuries.

According to Jane White, First Team All State point guard for DII Champion Souhegan HS. “I’m doing the program again because I have never been more prepared for my high school season than I was last year.  It wears you out, builds you up and helps you realize that you can work much harder than you think you can and it prepares you for much bigger things.  Coach Reed kicked our behinds but we had a lot of fun”.

The program is limited to 20 participants.  For any questions or additional information, please contact Coach Dennis Reed at the SportsZone 603 537 9663.

New England Shooting Stars tie for third at US Junior Nationals

Washington, DC. The New England Shooting Stars Girls AAU 16s National Team, based out of the SportsZone in Derry, NH, rounded out their “Farewell Tour” with one final stop in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Junior National Nike Invitational. 

The Stars made an immediate impact in pool play with a convincing 66 – 47 victory over Team United of New Jersey, largely due to the team’s tenacious full court pressure and sound 3 point shooting. Nicole Boudreau and Katie Vareika led all scorers with 16 and 14 respectively.
Despite temperatures in the low 100’s, the Stars persevered with consecutive victories over the Connecticut Starters (56 – 46), led by Boudreau (15) with Vareika and Katie Prothro adding 12 each.  The Pennsylvania Rebels fell next (44 – 32). 
Gaining confidence after a sound start, the Stars thrashed the Maryland SOL 75 – 37, with Vareika hitting for  15, while Jane White and Boudreau had 14 each.

Heading into the last day of pool play with a 4 – 0 record, tied for first in the pool.  Their last and final match up of pool play was against the Massachusetts based team, B2L, who also had secured a 4-0 record thus far.  Although an early morning game was in store, the Stars emerged wide awake, and crushed B2L 64 – 48 to finish atop their pool and with their record unscathed.  Jane White had a breakout game knocking down 15 in the first half and matching that total in the second for a game high 30 points. 

Although undersized and without an intimidating physical presence, the Stars drew a consistent crowd of college coaches at every contest, largely due to their team play and tenacious pressure. The Stars began single elimination pool play against the 2nd seeded team Mass Premier.  A confident Stars team hit 11 three pointers and cruised on the road to a 59 -40 victory. 

This led the Stars to a battle with the Bay State Magic who had just garnered an overtime win over Team Phoenix.  Holding only a 2 point lead at halftime, the Stars came out and extended their lead to go on to a 9 point, 50 – 41 victory. 

This win meant the Stars had secured themselves a meeting with the North Carolina Lady Royals, in the US Junior National Semi-final.  The bleachers were lined with coaches and fans as play began.  After a missed scoring opportunity to open the game, the Royals went on to hit their first 5 shots, and consistently hit from the field to hold a 5 point, 31 – 26 lead at half.  Not used to playing from behind, the Stars came out hard, but could not outlast the hot shooting of the Tar Heel quintet, and lost 57 – 44 to the eventual champion.  Lia Nawn led the Stars with 16. 
This loss resulted in a third place finish out of over 100 of the top teams on the East coast, and the highest finish from among all New England teams participating in the event. 
“This team has accomplished a great deal in the past two seasons, with a National Championship last year and three finishes of 5th, 9th and 3rd this season in major exposure tournaments, these girls can be very proud of their achievements”, concluded Coach Dennis Reed.

New England Shooting Stars Compete in Nike Tournament of Champions

New England Shooting Stars finish 9th @ Nike Tournament of Champions

Chicago:  The New England Shooting Stars 16U National Team continued to build on their past successes, as they compiled a 6-1 record, at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago, after finishing 5th at the USA Invitational at Penn State the previous week.
 
The Stars tied for 9th place out of 128 of the top 16U teams in the country and continued their winning ways with an opening round 65-63 double overtime game victory, over the offensively talented, Arizona Rhythm. 

As pool play began, the Stars showed why they are one of the top teams in the northeast by thumping the Illinois North Titan Elite, 58 – 46.  All Stars players scored as the Tartans could not contain the balanced offense or ball movement, which resulted in the Stars hitting on almost 50% of their 3 point attempts and 75% of their free throws.

Pool play continued with consecutive victories over the California Ballaz (63-62), an athletic team from Northern California.  “Our player movement was much better in this game as evidenced by our team’s 18 assists and much more effective penetration, which resulted in our getting to the line and converting on 19 of 24 FT attempts” said Coach Dennis Reed.

The Michigan Sting fell next (47-42) in a defensive struggle as neither team shot especially well, but the win was enough to give the Stars another first place finish in pool play to advance to the Championship bracket. 

After evacuating their hotel for a fire drill in the wee hours the previous night, the girls struggled to regain their momentum and suffered an opening round loss to the eventual tournament champion, Wisconsin Swing, 53-43.   According to Assistant Coach Courtney Cheetham “This was a game that was within our grasp but we did not do the necessary little things to ensure a win.  We were late to “help” and needed to attack the hoop more aggressively”. The Stars led through halftime, but could not maintain their lead resulting in their first loss of the tournament. 

True to form, the resilient Stars bounced back with a midday victory over Lady Legit of MD, 60-50, on the strength of balanced scoring as once again each of the Stars contributed in the scoring column. The winners hit on 17 of 27 field goal attempts to seal the win.

The bracket final resulted in a 58-42 thrashing of the Minnesota Fury.  Jane White led all scorers with 13, while Katie Prothro, Katie Vareika and Nicole Boudreau chipped in with 10, 9 and 8 points respectively.

“This is a highly competitive tournament that provided our girls with a terrific opportunity to be seen by almost 400 coaches from around the country and their skills, effort and intensity continued to draw very positive attention to our players and our program”, added Coach Reed.

Stars players include; Jane White, Ceara McNamara-Amherst, Lia Nawn, Brianna Stoyle-Goffstown,
Katie Prothro-Bedford, Shayla Hubbard-Laconia, Becca Arnone-Litchfield, Cailey White-Keene,
Danielle Davis-Boxford, MA Katie Vareika-S. Easton MA, and Nicole Boudreau-Andover MA

The Stars will compete in their final tournament at the US Junior Nationals in Washington, DC.

New England Shooting Stars Garner 5th at USA Invitational

The New England Shooting Stars girls 16U National Basketball team began their farewell tour (the start of their final season of AAU basketball), After winning the DII National Championship last July in Florida, the team picked up where it left off with a 5th place finish out of 128 teams in their age group, at the USA Invitational at Penn State University. The tournament hosted 304 teams in 3 age groups, 14, 15 and 16.

The Stars first opponent, Ohio Lady Dragons fell by a score of 76-59, thanks to some hot shooting by the Stars, as a team they hit on 58% FG shooting, 40% from threes and 74% from the line, the Stars proved hard to stop.  Jane White hit for 23 with 5 steals, Rebecca Arnone for 14 and Katie Vareika for 12, Nicole Boudreau added 9 points and 11 assists.

The team gritted out consecutive victories over Exodus II NYC by a score of  44-43 in overtime, with Nicole Boudreau leading the charge with 12, Vareika & White with 10&9 respectively, while Lia Nawn pulled down a team leading 5 rebounds adding 5 points.

The Stars defeated the Lady Running Rebels from Philadelphia in another nail biter by a score of 61-59, with Boudreau and Vareika hitting for 18 and 13, with Arnone garnering 6 boards and 4 points, with Katie Prothro hitting for 6 points and 3 steals.

In game 4 against the Maryland Lady Panthers, the Stars hot shooting cooled considerably as they fell behind by 19 in the second half but came back from their deficit to tie the game with just 47 seconds remaining and then take a three point lead with 20 seconds to go. As time ran off the clock, the Panthers swished a three to send the game to OT.  The Stars comeback fell short as they lost by 5 in overtime.  “We just could not get in sync in the early going and we had a big hole to dig out of, but fortunately our kids get really focused when playing from behind and they made a great effort, resulting in a great game”, said Assistant Coach Courtney Cheetham. 

The girls bounced back quickly with a victory over the Maryland Lady Terps by a score of  60-57 led by  Boudreau’s 21, 5 assists and 4 steals, White and Vareika with 14 and 13 points each, Danielle Davis was huge on the boards with 11 rebounds and 6 points.

The Maryland Flames stood between the Stars placing 5th or 9th.  Not to be denied the game was decided on the inside with the Stars controlling the boards. 






Danielle Davis battled for 8 rebounds, Nawn had 6 boards and 8 points, while Cailey White hit for 5 points and 3 boards, Ceara McNamara added 2 points and 5 caroms, with Shayla Hubbard hitting for 2 with 4 boards, while Jane White and Boudreau knocked down 14& 13. The win over the Flames secured the Stars 5th place finish with a 53-44 win

The Stars success comes in large part from their balanced scoring, full court defensive pressure and strong passing.  “This is a very unselfish team, each cares deeply for their teammates and there is no concern about who scores what.  This team is all about the extra pass, working together and covering one another, it’s real easy to be proud of this fantastic team of athletes”, said Coach Dennis Reed.

The team includes many of the top players from NH including; Becca Arnone-Campbell HS, Division III State Champions, Shayla Hubbard-Laconia HS, Ceara McNamara and Jane White Souhegan HS, DII State Champions, Lia Nawn-Trinity HS, Katie Prothro-Bedford HS and Cailey White-Keene HS and from Massachusetts, Nicole Boudreau-Andover HS, DI MA State Champions, Danielle Davis-Masconomet HS, and Katie Vareika-Tabor Academy, Class A Prep Champions.

The Stars continue their tour from Penn State and head to Chicago for the Nike Invitational Tournament of Champions and conclude their season in Washington, DC at the US Junior National Championships at the end of the month.

New England Shooting Stars Announce Tryouts

The New England Shooting Stars Girls AAU Basketball Club will be holding tryouts for their U9/U10 - 4th/5th grade team.  The New England Shooting Stars welcome girl players from MA. NH. ME. VT.
Tryouts will be held at the SportsZone, 7 A Street, Derry, NH 03038 on:

Saturday February 5th  1:00 - 3:00 PM
Sunday February 13th  4:00 - 6:00 PM

The Tryout fee is $30 which covers both tryouts sessions.
For questions about the team, email patrickbissonette@ymail.com or call 603.930.7975

New England Shooting Stars Announce Tryouts

The New England Shooting Stars Girls AAU Basketball Club will be holding tryouts for their U9/U10 - 4th/5th grade team.  The New England Shooting Stars welcome girl players from MA. NH. ME. VT.
Tryouts will be held at the SportsZone, 7 A Street, Derry, NH 03038 on:

Saturday February 5th  1:00 - 3:00 PM
Sunday February 13th  4:00 - 6:00 PM

The Tryout fee is $30 which covers both tryouts sessions.
For questions about the team, email patrickbissonette@ymail.com or call 603.930.7975

New England Shooting Stars Take First in Pool

The New England Shooting Stars Girls AAU basketball team made a strong case for their chances to secure a top finish in the AAU National Championships, held at Disney's Wide World Of Sports in Orlando.

The Stars, after having recently secured their 14th consecutive NH State AAU basketball championship, began tournament play by remaining undefeated in pool play.

In their first contest, the Stars faced the Florida Lady Thunder,who finished 5th in the same tournament last summer.  Unfortunately for the Florida team, the Stars stole their thunder with a 61-40 win, coming out exceptionally strong with a suffocating full court press that stymied the Florida cagers.  The Stars were led by Souhegan point guard Jane White, who notched 11 points and added 3 assists, while Andover MA shooting guard, Nicole Boudreau dropped in 9 with 5 assists.  The Stars got additional scoring support from Keene's Ashley Clough with 7 points, Colleen Taylor(Lebanon), Ceara McNamara(Souhegan HS) with 6 each, while Brianna Stoyle(Goffstown), Danielle Davis(Masconomet,MA), Katie Prothro(Bedford),Rebecca Arnone(Campbell HS), Lia Nawn(Trinity HS) added 4 each with Shayla Hubbard(Laconia) 2 points with 4 assists.  "When we get scoring from every player like we did in this game, coupled with a great defensive effort, we'll be a challenge for any team we face", said Coach Dennis Reed.

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Goffstown's Brianna Stoyle Celebrates with NE Shooting Stars B'Ball

The New England Shooting Stars U15 team recently won the New Hampshire State Championship and will now proudly represent the state at the Nationals Competition held in Orlando, Florida in July.   This is a nationally recognized girls AAU basketball program whose team was selected from among the top high school sophomore players in NH and MA.  

     The team is excited to announce the first annual New England Shooting Stars Golf Tournament to be played on Monday, June 28th at the Green Meadow Golf Club in Hudson, NH.  They are actively seeking your help!   Our 18-hole golf tournament provides cart, breakfast, lunch, exciting challenges, prizes, gifts and a fun-filled day of golf with friends for a $125 entry fee. In addition the girls are selling raffle tickets for a Grand Raffle ($25 each/4 for $100)!  First Prize is a Golf Tour valued over $2000.  It includes Four Rounds of golf at each of the following 5 golf courses:

Cape Arundel Golf Club, Renaissance Golf Club, Andover Country Club, New Seabury Country Club, and Haverhill Country Club.

Second Prize is a set of 4 Red Sox tickets in the State Street Premium Pavilion section! This second prize has a face value of $720.

NE Shooting Stars Basketball Tryouts

Who: NE Shooting Stars
What:  AAU Basketball – U12
When: January 17 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
             January 24 -   6:30 p.m.  –   8:30 p.m.
Where: SportsZone, Derry, N.H.

 
Information:  The New England Shooting Stars will be holding tryouts for their U12 age group in January.  Girls born January 1, 1997 or after.  Girls in 7th grade born January 1, 1996 or after.  Candidates should show up 30 minutes before tryouts to register, and have a check payable to the U12 NE Shooting Stars for $25.
 
Contact:
Head Coach:  Larry Averill
603-608-7443
royorb@comcast.net

New England Shooting Stars Try-Outs

New England Shooting Stars Girls U10 AAU basketball

$25 registration fee

Try-out will be held January 17, 4:00-6:00 pm and January 24, 5:00-7:00 pm

Derry Sportszone  (directions)

Coach Courtney Cheetham email cheethac@gmail.com