The smallest Eagle flies high

Marc Hugunin

December 10, 2017 @ 06:30 PM

Kennedy has ended Simley’s season the past 2 years, and to the 2 teams came out Saturday at the Breakdown Invitational with their ears pinned back and elbows ready to go. It was the day’s poster game for the physicality of 21st century basketball. And, in the end, well, no, Simley didn’t back down, but the unlikeliest player was the one who still had a little bit of gas in the tank, and she made all the difference. She is Kennedy senior point guard Imani Sa’eed-El. She’s listed at 5-6 but, c’mon, that’s not meant to be taken seriously, is it? Through most of the game, Zaraya March and Sam Husting provided most of the Kennedy offense. But March was out of gas, and Husting, who is just returning from a knee injury, was running on fumes. So, in the 2nd half, Sa’eed-El scored 8 points on 2-of-8 shooting with an unlikely 3 boards, plus 3 steals. Her steal-and-2 at 11 minutes put Kennedy up 36-31, and a steal 1:30 later protected that same lead. She scored 2 on a dribble drive up the lane—an play on which she’d been stuffed more than once before—for 1 38-33 lead at 7:45. A FT at 4:00 made it 43-38, and her 2 FT at :07 sent the game into OT. All she did in OT was score 5 of Kennedy’s 10 points, with her steal-and-2 being a dagger that put the Eagles up 52-48 at 2:50. Her 3 FT made it a 2-possession game in the closing seconds. Simley struggled big-time through most of the 1st half as T.T. Danso had more turnovers than points or rebounds. They shot 9-of-25 but a pair of buckets by Ravyn Miles got them within shouting distance at 28-20. In the 2nd half, Sydney Stensgard found the range and then a Miles 3 tied it up at 3:12. Stensgard put Simley ahead 47-45 at 1:21. But they couldn’t hold off Sa’eed-El down the stretch. Both teams were led by the expected leaders, whom we have for the most part already named. But both showed more depth than expected. For Kennedy Maleigha Singleton-Buchanan was effective, including hitting a 3 to open the OT. For Simley, senior post Guresi Mena had a very nice game with 11 points and 5 boards.