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James River Blaze In The NEWS!

James River 16U takes 1st Place in Super Regionals and Runner Up in State tournament.  James River faced tough competition in the State Tournament by defeating Richmond Reign in the semi-finals by a score of 32 to 30.  As they moved to the championship game they faced even harder competition.  They lost to Fairfax Stars by a score of 63 to 61.  Leading scorers for the game were Chelsea Coward with 19 points, Richelle Price with 18 points and Sydney Henderson with 13 points.   Not looking back but looking forward the Blaze went on to take first place in the Super Regional Tournament held in Richmond Va.  They defeated Richmond Reign by a score of 59 to 42.  Leading scorers were Sydney Henderson with 17 points and Richelle Price with 15.  As they advanced to the championship game they faced James River 15U.  The 16’s came out with a win by the score of 63 to 50.  Leading scorers for the championship game were Chelsea Coward with 22 points and Brianna Dillard with 18.  Good luck at Nationals – Go Blaze!!  5/08

Welcome to JRAC – In their first tournament playing for James River Blaze, Coach Ed Sherod’s 15 year old team goes undefeated in route to winning the Virginia AAU Division 1 State Championship in Hampton, VA. The Blaze defeated the Virginia Xplosion 74 – 40 in the championship game.  This win qualifies the Blaze for the AAU Division 1 Nationals July 9 – 16 in Kings Island, OH.  This is the 4th consecutive year the team has won the Virginia AAU Division 1 State Championship. Last year’s team finished 4th in the Division 1 AAU National Championship in Salem, VA.  5/6/08    

Amanda Turner:  Congratulations goes out to our very own Amanda from our 10U team, as she brings home the first place trophy in the Three Point Contest held at the Charlottesville Hoop Fest.  On April 19^th Amanda hit 3 out of 6 free throws to advance to the final round.  In the final round she crushes all remaining competition to take home the prize.  Congratulations Amanda!!!   4-19-08

Our U10's have qualified for advancing to Division I Nationals by taking 1st place in the Super Regionals in Roanoke, VA.   Everyone is so very proud of them as they are the first James River Blaze team to qualify for Nationals this year.  3/17/08

Brittany Dahn - Lynchburg College:  Women's ODAC Basketball Player of the Week for the third time this season.  Posts 3 double-doubles, increasing her league total to 14 on the year.   2/25/08

Barbara Sitton - L.C. Bird:  Times Dispatch top 10 - running point guard for the skyhawks.  2/21/08

Antoinette Smith - Fayetteville State University: Alltel's Scholar Athlete of the Month is a sophomore at Fayetteville State University with a 3.6 GPA. She plays Guard for the FSU Broncos women's Basketball team.  2-08

Sydney Henderson - Atlee's guard is guiding the team to a state title as they are ranked 6th in the state and ranked 1st in the region and is formally recognized by McDonald's Hometown All Stars & CBS.  2-14-08

Richelle Price - Atlee:  Athlete of The Week - scored 24 points, hauled in 12 rebounds over Highland Springs; helps Raiders become the no. 1 team in The Richmond-Dispatch top 10 poll.  2-7-08

Our own Megan Silva, formerly James River Blaze, has become our newest Board Member.  She is formally recognized as the most decorated women's player in Old Dominion Athletic Conference history and was named to the D3Hoop.com  "All-Decade First Team"  2-5-08

Brittany Dahn - Lynchburg College:  Earns her second ODAC "Player of the Week"; she is second in the ODAC in scoring and first in rebounding.  1-21-08

Narissa Suber - Drexel University:  Named CAA Women's Basketball "Player of the Week"; leading the Dragons to back-to-back conference road wins.  1-14-08

Brianna Dillard - Hermitage:  Athlete of the Week-is back in action after missing last season  1-10-08

Sydney Henderson - Atlee:  Athlete of the Week and MVP in The Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament.

1-3-08

Narissa Suber - Drexel University:  Lead all scores in win over American.  1-3-08

Amy Turner - Deep Run:  Athlete of the Week - averaged 21 points per game   12-20-07

Brittany Dahn - Lynchburg College:  Player of the Week - ODAC Women's Basketball - scores game winning basket  11-26-07

Two girls teams explode against other all male teams in 3 on 3 tournament

October 13, 2007

James River Blaze was well represented in the annual Henrico PAL 3 on 3 tournament sponsored by Johnny Newman and other Richmond area organizations.  The teams were all male with the exception of two teams of girls who played on James River 11U, 12U, and 13U teams in 2007.

One of the two teams finished in the top 6 while to other team finished in the previous round.  The winning team in this event won Dell Laptops computers and the runners-up won Apple Ipods.  The girls gained valuable experience along with showing the community  that girls can be as competitive as the boys.  Congratulations to these young ladies for their fine performance and representation of James River Blaze. A quote from a spectator:  "Being the only girl teams, I must say that these young ladies represented James River in a positive manner. They were the talk of the tournament! Gauging by the expression of  Johnny Newman and all the participants, most did not expect these girls to go pass the first round. After watching both teams beat up on some boys, everyone was impress!  Let's just say that our girls earned a lot of respect that day!"   Team One- out of 4 games, lost 1 Kenya Wilkerson LeeOsha Hines Clara Coker   Team Two- out of 4 games, lost 2 Shannan Thompson Katie Geoghegan Dominique Weldon Danielle Weldon -- Here are some pictures from the Johnny Newman "3 on 3" tournament from Oct. 13, 2007.  Click picture to enlarge.

We are proud to announce that our U10 team won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Coventry Games.  They were an undefeated 4-0!  Each team member contributed to getting the Gold.  The leading scorer was Taja Coles who lit up the scoreboard with 44 points and fancy ball handling in the four game tourney but she could not have done it without the help from point guard Summer Price who had 18 assists and minimal turnovers.  Austine Burton pulled down an astounding 48 rebounds.  Jessica Griffin kept us in the tournament with her high free throw percentage while April Lankford and Caroline Naumann stunned other teams with their persistent defense.  BB Vozenilek and Nia Jenkins blew by others with speed and accuracy pushing the ball up the court and into their teammate’s hands.  Coach Price and Coach Jenkins coached their team to victory with motivation and class.  Congratulations U10—GO BLAZE!!!

Our 12’s finish the season strong – taking 1^st place in the Commonwealth Games

Released:  Summer 2007

The 12U young ladies represented James River at the Coventry Commonwealth games as scholar athletes as well as future basketball stars.  Any coach would have been proud to show the report cards of a team with player in the 6th and 7th grades taking advanced courses, Algebra, and Spanish II and most of all having a team full of honor roll students.  The 12U Team finished in the commonwealth game with a 5-0 record with victories over the Grundy Gladiators, U-turn Warriors, and the Fauquier Knights.  In the metal rounds they defeated the Boo Williams Newport News Team 51-32 to make it to the Gold Metal game.  The final game was the first challenge of the tournament.  Playing from behind by 10 points in the first half to the U-Turn Warriors 22-32.  In the second half, the blaze was not to be denied by coming back and defeating U-Turn with a score of 53-45, (a 9 point lead).  The tournament was a total team effort by the blaze that had 5 different leading scorers in 5 games. Shannan Thompson 12 pts vs. Grundy; Kenya Wilkerson 18 pts vs. U-Turn; Paris Dickerson 16 pts vs. Fauquier; Katie Anderson 13 pts vs. Newport News; and LeeOsha Hines 16 pts vs. U-Turn.  Clara Coker and Melissa Davenport also scored double figures in a game and Clara led the team in rebounding over the weekend.  Every player contributed significantly in each win either in defense, rebounding, scoring, and cheering.  The team consists of the following players Megan McMahon, Lottie Price, Ashaunti King, Katie Anderson, Melissa Davenport, Melissa Gerndt, Anasha (Paris) Dickerson, Alayshea Webb, Kayla Woodson, Clara Coker, Kenya Wilkerson, Shannan Thompson, and LeeOsha Hines.

Winter 2006

The James River Blaze 14 year old team finished 5^th in the Championship bracket at Division 1 Nationals. Congratulations to all players, coaches and parents.

Reebok Sponsorship

The James River Athletic Club (JRAC) is proud to announce their affiliation with Reebok, Team Connection and Hoops and Dreams beginning with the 2004 – 2005 season. These organizations agree to help sponsor JRAC teams - including contributing uniforms and apparel at a reduced costs as well as providing an opportunity for our teams to compete in exposure tournaments that these organizations sponsor. The James River Blaze organization is excited about the potential this relationship brings for both this year and future years.

Reebok entered into a sponsorship agreement with JRAC AAU basketball organization after an extensive review and evaluation process.   Reebok contacted JRAC about this partnership as a result of JRAC’s long and successful history. JRAC is the only organization in the Richmond area to have this affiliation.

This partnership is an acknowledgement of the commitment made by JRAC since the beginning over 21 years ago to offer an opportunity to girls in our community to participate in AAU level basketball competition, both locally and nationally.

With help from Reebok, the future looks bright for the James River Blaze.

JAMES RIVER HAS EXCEPTIONAL YEAR SENDING 5 TEAMS TO NATIONALS

Article Released June 2006

JRAC‘s 10 year olds:

Placed second in the Virginia State AAU finals and will represent Virginia at Division I Nationals located in the AAU Disney Complex, Orlando Florida.

This team is made up of the following: Angelica Davenport, Alison Doswell, Meredith Doswell, Jessica Griffin, Cameron Jackson, Asja Jenkins, Tanisha Oliver, Katlie Suber, Samone Morgan, Madison Gammons, Zsazmyn   McLean, Taylor Thompson.  They are coached by Tony Suber, Bill Wilcox and Michelle Cosel (who is a former JRAC Player). 

JRAC’s 11 year olds:

Will represent Virginia at Division II Nationals in Bronson, Mo. and placed in several tournaments through the year.

This team is made up of the following: Melissa Davenport, Paris Dickerson, Mallory Banton, Lottie Price, Aalaiyah Scott-Holley, Katie Anderson, Kayla Woodson, Kenya Wilkerson, Shannon Thompson, and Ashauni King. They are coached by Coach Will and Juliette Fenner. 

JRAC’s 13 year olds:

Will represent Virginia at Division II Nationals at Nashville, Tenn.  This team place 4^th in the Classic at Division II Nationals last year and they have placed in Several tournaments this year.

This team is made up of Courtney Coleman, Jordan Coles, Katie Lukish, Nicole Pandak, Madeline Pellicane, Roselyn Pressley, Chelsey Price, Keyla Pullen, Candice Silas, Taylor Henderson, Briana Arrington and Kaylor Nichols.  They are coached by Speedy Baughan and George Coles.

JRAC‘s 14 year olds:

Won the AAU Virginia State Championship for the second year and will represent Virginia at Division I Nationals in Lafayette, LA.  They finished 4^th last year in the Classic at Division I Nationals. They also won the prestige Boo Williams Nike Invitation, the Fairfax Stars Invitational, and several other tournaments.

This team is made up of: Kimberly Browning, Chelsea Coward, Jamia Cox, Ruthanne Doherty, Michelle Foley, Sydney Henderson, Ryen Henry, Rachel Mathews, Dominque Meeks, Kristen Sims, Barbara Sitton and Amy Turner. They are coached by Julie Pinkard, Juliette Fenner and Laura Hagwood (who is a former JRAC Player). 

JRAC’s 15 year olds:

Placed 4^th in the AAU Virginia State Championship and will represent Virginia at Division I Nationals in Monore, LA.  This is this team’s third National appearance in 3 years.

This team is made up of Taylor Ashcraft, Abby Bailey, Heather Lewis, Emily Rhodes, Morgan Freeman, Jessica Gray, Richelle Price, Brianna Dillard, Brittany Harris, Megan McRae, Ashley Toombs, Lindsey Martin, Megan Meadows, Allyson Fleming and Rachel Robinson.  Coached by: Ed Sherod, Carolyn Woodson and Katie Bright (who is a JRAC former player).