Friday, Aug. 01, 2008

Rivals Form Winning Combo for Select Team

By Zach Warner

Staff Writer

Carroll junior Mary Louise "ML" Morrison and Grapevine junior Rose Whitehead are good friends, but get them talking about their girls basketball teams’ chances next year and the competitive juices start flowing.

A discussion off the court sounds like a friendly trash-talk session on the court when Whitehead responds to Morrison’s comments.

Morrison: "Things look really exciting for Carroll next year."

Whitehead: "That’s because you all aren’t in our district anymore."

Morrison: "We’ve got five returning varsity players for Carroll this year."

Whitehead: "We’ve got eight."

Morrison: "We lost all our leaders. We’ve got to find new ones this year."

Whitehead: "It’s not going to be you."

Morrison: "We’ll get you during preseason."

The conversation is a classic example of the heated rivalry between Carroll and Grapevine. The same is true between those teams and Colleyville Heritage.

So what happens when members from those three teams play club basketball together? For area select team G-Force 91, with athletes from each school, it’s been nothing but chemistry, unity and success.

G-Force has five athletes from Grapevine, including Whitehead, along with Morrison from Carroll and sophomore Gretchen Schneider from Colleyville Heritage. Sworn enemies are playing together on a team that’s on a roll, and they’re winning tournaments.

"When we’re on the court, we’re all sisters," said Morrison, who returns to a Carroll team that won District 5-5A and is now moving to the newly-realigned 6-5A. "I just forget about [the rivalry] and just play the game."

Morrison and Whitehead have played together on club before. The two were on select team Liberty 360 last year until switching to G-Force this season. Schneider is in her second year with the club.

Reaching the national tournament with G-Force last year makes Schneider hungry for a better showing as the team competes in nationals, which began in Addison earlier this week.

"I want to win a national championship," said Schneider, whose team plays in the Primetime Nationals through Sunday. "[Playing last year] gave us a lot more competition and showed how good we really were."

Whitehead, who plays on G-Force along with Lady Mustangs teammates Kayle Lowery, Michelle Rosewell, Lauren Leet and Sammy Galindo, hopes the positive experience they have on club this summer carries over with them when the Grapevine varsity season begins in November. A young Lady Mustangs team struggled early and finished 9-21 last year, but returning several players, many of whom play together on club, could reap benefits this time around.

"I think playing together is going to help us next year to have a better connection on the court so that we can play better," Whitehead said. "It’s good that we know each other and are playing together."

Playing for G-Force coach G.J. Hunter is something they all agree is beneficial as well. Hunter, one of the top Tulane point guards in the school’s history, went on to a pro career in Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as with the International Basketball Association (IBA) in the U.S.

"He knows what he’s talking about," Schneider said. "What he says really works if we execute it correctly."

G-Force won the Primetime Summer Hoops Tournament in June, then followed that with a victory at the Plano Sports Authority Tournament, which took place July 11-13. The players feel they are on a roll at the right time as they compete in the national tournament this week.

That wasn’t always the case. G-Force started slow, mainly because not many players had played together before on this year’s team. Morrison was injured early on as well, and the overall chemistry took time to develop.

"When I left with my injury, I wasn’t too impressed with our team," she said. "When I came back, everything was gelling. … We went from losing a lot to winning everything. It was a fast transition."

Whitehead said she looks forward to playing for her Grapevine varsity team in the fall, but she is just as excited to return to G-Force next year because of all the fun the summer select team brings and all the things they have learned.

"We just need to keep going with [G-Force], because it’s going really good," she said.