After winning its group at the Girls AAU Div II National Championship in Hampton, VA, Paye's TNT Undisputed lost on 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining in the Sweet Sixteen round.
The Northern California-based sixth grade girls basketball team dropped a 47-45 contest to the No. 3 seed Virginia Outlaws to fall to the ninth-place consolation bracket.
Paye's TNT Undisputed, the top-ranked sixth-grade girls team in California, recovered from the tough loss to reel off four consecutive victories - over Yonkers NY, North Carolina Flames, Georgia Pearls and Indiana Sky Digg Elite - to finish ninth in the national tournament.
For the tournament, Paye's TNT Undisputed went 7-2. The team won its group stage over the Kentucky Storm Elite, Maryland NOVA, Virginia Cross-over Hoops and Virginia Cap City Ballerz.
During pool play, Marley Langi, a student from Redeemer School, led Paye's in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double during the group stage.
Other standouts included point guards Jacqueline Kirland (Central Middle School) and Natalya Hotovec (Roy Cloud) while other leading scorers included Caitlin Dulsky (Central Middle School), Danielle McNair (St. Raymond Catholic School), and Maeia Makoni (Hillview Middle School).
Defense has been the team's calling card in its ascension to the top of the state rankings, led by Porsche Trinidad (St. Raymond Catholic School) Georgia Paye (La Entrada), Tejal Gupta (Menlo School), and Alexis Jackson (Central Middle School).
