Basketball Club Spotlight: STL Team Adidas Girls

Local basketball coaches Tony Condra and George Merritt each had a good thing going with their respective girls summer basketball clubs for many years.

 Merritt was having a successful run with the St. Louis Majestics while Condra was doing quite well with the Mathews-Dickey Hoops program. Over the years, these two programs have enjoyed some epic battles in St. Louis at all age levels while bringing home a number of big trophies from national tournaments around the country.

 Both men yearned to take their programs to the next level of competition. That's when they came up with idea to merge their two programs into one, thus became the birth of STL Team Adidas, which is now a formidable girls basketball club in St. Louis with their sights on bringing some of the national spotlight to St. Louis and its fine girls hoops.

 "There was no point in us beating up on each other every year, so we got together and made one strong program," Condra said. "It's been a great change for our girls in terms of competition and increased exposure."

 The STL Team Adidas program has three teams in the 15U, 16U and 17U age divisions. Condra coaches the 17U group while Merritt runs the 16U team. The 15U team is coached by Darrin White. The program has attracted some of the top girls talent in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

 It did not take long for the program to make some national waves as STL Team Adidas sophomore group won the championship at the Adidas Nationals in Bloomington, Ind.  In the older age group, the 17U team finished in seventh place out of 62 teams. The decision to merge programs is not always an easy one to make as the possibility for clashing egos and conflicts is always on the horizon. But, so far, Merritt and Condra and all of the coaches involved have been able to make it work, which has resulted into a lot of success for the young ladies in the program.

 "It was very important for us to have some success early and show that we could do it together," Condra said. "We proved a lot of people wrong because they didn't think we could work together."

 Condra's 17U (2011) team has been enjoying an excellent spring season on the court, having won three tournaments already. They finished first in the Coach T Classic and the John Albert Classic. They also won the championship of the Greater Midwest Classic at McCluer North, which was probably their most impressive victory. They defeated the Mississippi Hoop Dreams in the championship game. The team from Mississippi touted some of the best players in the Southern region. STL Tead Adidas also advanced to the championship game of the Rage of the River Tournament in Memphis. In just a short time, Condra has been able to mesh all of these top high school players into a solid team unit, which is not always easy to do.

 "The hardest part is getting everyone to accept their roles because everyone is used to being the top player on their high school team," Condra said. "Once they did that, everything has taken off. At any given time, anybody can step up and be the star that day."

 The 17U team has an excellent stable of guards, led by metro east standout Erika McCaster (Belleville West) and the North County Tech duo of Yelena Rosado and Angela Randall. McCaster was an All-State performer while Rosado and Randall led Merritt's North Tech team to a historic first district title and a berth in the Class 3 state quarterfinals. Adding depth to the backcourt are Erin Anderson and Chanese Washington (Mehlville) and Ashley Sudbrock (St. Charles). Anchoring the middle is 6'1" center Brianna Puna of Class 5 state champion Incarnate Word Academy. Puni is joined up front by Brittany McNutt (North County Tech), Jamie Buehrig (Bishop DuBourg), Breanna Hawthorne (McCluer South-Berkeley) and Leah Johnson (John Burroughs).

 The mainstays of Merritt's (2012) sophomore group this year are talented combo forward Shanity James (Miller Career Academy), flashy point guard Lianna Doty (Kirkwood), dynamic guard Courtney Powell (Westminster Christian Academy), 6'3" center Alex Hilyer (Eureka) and point guard Rayna Smith (Parkway West). James, Doty, Powell and Hilyer were big contributers on last year's national championship team along with current 17U players Randall, Johnson and Hawthorne. Rounding out the 2012s are Diamond Enlow (Belleville West), Alexis Schaffner (Marquette), Anna Loveless (Metro), Alece Shumpert (Belleville Althoff) and Mariah Taylor (DuBourg). The 2013 group consists of many talented freshman players who are eager to make their mark on the girls basketball scene.

 The month of July will be a busy one for STL Team Adidas as they travel around the country to play in some excellent national tournaments. They will compete in the Adidas Nationals in Cincinnati, the Music City Madness Tournament in Nashville and the Best of the Midwest Jam in Schaumburg, Ill.

 Best of luck to the girls of STL Team Adidas. Keep up the good work. We're always watching.