Trayzia Windley heaved up a long three-pointer and looked on as it slipped through the nylon during the expiring seconds of the fourth quarter to convert what had to be the best shot of the day. Unfortunately for the Magic, her efforts were not enough as the Sparks hung on to win 31-30 and clinch the Washington Youth Basketball League championship in the 11-14-year old division.
“It feels real good,” Sparks coach Adam Williams said. “It’s been a trying year but we stuck together all year long.”
The Sparks (6-4) entered the fourth quarter confident as they held what appeared to be a commanding 25-14 lead, however, that’s when the regular season champion Magic (8-2) started living up to its name.
Erica Hopkins put on a tremendous performance in the fourth as she scored seven points, while Windley added six.
Slowly but surely the Magic chipped away at the Sparks lead and cut the deficit to 29-23 after a Hopkins bucket.
With that, the pressure turned up a notch on the Sparks sideline.
“I started getting real nervous,” Williams said of the Magic’s late rally. “I just kept telling them the clock was in our favor so let’s slow it down and run the clock.”
While the offense continued to churn out points, it was the Magic’s defense that got them back in the game as it hounded the Sparks ballhandlers.
“We went to our man-to-man,” Magic coach Sam Crawford said. “We wanted to put pressure on the ball and that led to us being able to steal it and get some shots.”
The Sparks struck back as Tierra Wiggins cooled off the Magic when she went 2-2 at the free throw to increase her team’s lead to 31-23 with 1:43 left to play.
Those free throws would prove to be big ones as they were the last points the Sparks would score.
Wiggins would lead the Sparks with 10 points, while Cierra Wiggins added seven, T’Anna Holloway tallied eight and Julie Turner scored six.
Hopkins and Windley scored 10 each to pace the Magic, while Alize Deloatch scored five, Dayna Blount chipped in three and Catherine Bell added two.
After going up 9-7 in the first, the Sparks created separation in the second and third quarters as they outscored the Magic 16-7.
Williams said his team’s abundance of desire helped it take the early lead.
“We just showed a lot of hustle for the first three quarters,” Williams said. “We came out and played well as a team.”

Sparks 9    9    7    6    —    31
Magic    7    4    3    16    —    30
Sparks (31)
Cierra Wiggins 7, T’Anna Holloway 8, Tierra Wiggins 10, Julie Turner 6.
Magic (30)
Erica Hopkins 10, Alize Deloatch 5, Catherine Bell 2, Trayzia Windley 10, Dayna Blount 3.