The Madison365 12 and under girls basketball team defeated the Illinois Spartans 60-52 Sunday to bring home the championship of their division in the US Junior Nationals tournament in Milwaukee.
They began the weekend Friday with a 40-35 win over Wisconsin Playground Elite. Molly Murphy paced the scoring with 12, as Talia Sanders dropped another 10. Kennedi Castillo and Aaliyah Crum spent the game cleaning up the boards, with nine rebounds each.
The second game in pool play, which took place Saturday, was more of a challenge, requiring a game-winning shot from Sanders with just 10 seconds on the clock to seal a 43-41 victory. Those were the biggest two of Sanders’ 11 points, as Kennedi Castillo led the scoring with 14. Sanders also contributed with seven rebounds.
The team finished off an undefeated run in pool play later Saturday with a convincing 57-32 win over Purple Aces. Sanders led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Arianna Eddins had a breakout performance with her first double-double, scoring 12 and snagging 10 rebounds. Alyse Winzer added another 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
That win set up the championship clash with the Spartans on Sunday. Sanders again paced the scorers with 14, with Murphy pouring in another 13 and Castillo adding 10. Aaliyah Crum grabbed 10 of the team’s 34 rebounds.
“I am extremely proud of the team. They rose to the challenge of playing some really good teams,” said head coach Henry Sanders. “This tournament was one the bigger regional tournaments in the midwest. Our team never lost faith in each other. That determination will help them even outside of basketball.”
Full stats are available at Madison365.org/365basketball. The team next heads to DeForest for the Elite Spring Shootout.
