Coatepeque and Champerico

After a week of classes and basketball camps, the Hoops Sagrado Knights descended from the Highlands of Quetzaltenango to the coastal town of Coatepeque for our first officials games on Friday.

Las Chicas and the Young Guns took on the boys and girls teams from the Pedro Molina high school and the Old Heads played the Coatepeque selection team--who were the league champions in 2008.

The ladies were the first up and when the scoreboard at halftime read 38-9 in favor of Las Chicas, the pressure of getting the first win in Guatemala quickly evaporated. Almost all of the ladies mad an appearance in the game and everyone who plaed made the stat line. Las Chicas 55--Pedro Molina 21.

Jordyn: 8 points/2 assists/5 rebounds
Tyler: 20 points/ 1 assist/ 13 rebounds
Alexis: 8 points/ 3 assists/ 10 rebounds
KK: 13 points/ 2 assists/ 6 rebounds
Carla: 1 rebound
Chanae: 4 points/ 1 assist/ 7 rebounds
Justine: 2 points/ 2 rebounds
Imani: 4 rebounds

Two-hundred members of the school community will be making their way to Pasadena for the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2010 and we were treated to a preview of their performance (including a special rendition of Happy Birthday for Chanae) between games. We aren't sure the Rose Parade has ever seen anything like it! Be sure to tune in and see for yourselves.

Next on the court after the brief musical interlude were the Young Guns. Although the boys didn't quite dominate in the same fashion as the ladies, they still managed to pull off a 36-29 vitory. At one point, the Young Guns proved threatening enough that when just about no one was looking but Stat Girl, a member of the selection team slipped on a Pedro Molina jersey and entered the game. Even though that may have helped keep the score closer, it was all for naught as every member of the Knights made the stat line and kept Hoops Sagrad 2-0 for the day.

Devonte: 2 points/ 2 assists/ 1 rebound
Jerren: 2 points/ 1 assist/ 4 rebounds
Nate: 8 points/ 1 assist/ 3 rebounds
Elvis: 5 points/ 6 rebounds
Malik: 10 points/ 7 rebounds
Mit'hat: 6 points/ 1 assist/ 6 rebounds
Diggs; 3 points/4 rebounds
Jamal: 3 rebounds

For the final game of the morning--okay, it's Guatemala so the final game of the afternoon--the Old Heads took on the league-winning selection team. It seemed as if blow-out was in the works at half-time with the Knights up by 16, but the Coatepeque team went on a 12-0 run in the 3rd quarter to make things interesting. With less than a minute to go the Knights were only up by 3, but fortunately kept the ball and thanks to a last-minute 3 by Diggs (with an assist from Bryan) to earn him the Dario Paul Poor Sportsmanship Award, the Knighs prevailed 54-48.

Bryan: 8 points/ 2 assists/ 2 rebounds
Aniekan: 4 points/ 2 assists/ 3 rebounds
Jerrod: 19 points/ 3 assists/ 4 rebounds
Stan: 7 points/ 1 assist/ 5 rebounds
Sam: 4 points/ 1 assist/ 8 rebounds
Shaq: 4 points/ 8 rebounds
Diggs: 6 points/ 2 assists/ 4 rebounds
Mit'hat: 2 points/ 1 assist/ 1 rebound

The best way to celebrate the Knights firs three victories was of course a trip to the beach. So after a lunch--which included a sampling of cow utters--provided by our host, we headed to Champerico to dip our toes in the ocean and watch the sunset over the Pacific.