Houston Tops Denver in Maccabi Girls' Hoops

Some refer to the JCC Maccabi Games as the "youth Jewish Olympics," and at Monday afternoon's girls' basketball matchup between Denver and Houston, at least one of the teams looked Olympic quality.

Led by the speed of point guard Taylor Bookstaff and the interior muscle of forward Mellonee Sigust, Houston raced out to a big early lead and coasted by Denver 42-22.

The game was played at the  as a four-on-four because Denver, owning to injuries and financial constraints, only brought six players to the game.

"We've never done this well in the tournament before," gushed Bookstaff, the game's sure MVP had one been named. "We're really excited to be doing so well."

The young guard added that she was impressed by the sportsmanship the Denver contingent demonstrated throughout the game.

"Usually when you're killing a team, it's not like that," laughed Bookstaff.

Kill might be an overstatement, but not much of one. Houston allowed Denver only two points the entirety of the first period, while scoring 20 themselves. Their lead reached its then high-water mark when Sigust hit a late-second period layup to expand the margin to 27-4.

"We did pretty well considering we only had six players," said Abby Mangham, Denver's point guard and leading scorer.

Though Mangham said the game was a bit of a disappointment owing to her team's stronger performance when the two squads matched up in last year's games, she pointed out that her team performed much better after the first period onslaught. They played Houston to a 22-20 near-draw in the final three quarters of play.

And she said they're going to keep working.

Mangham herself kept working. After entering the final period down 36-11, they went on an 11-2 run, capped off by Mangham draining a three pointer from the top of the key. Alas, it was as close as they would get.

Houston plays next Aug. 16 at 8:30 a.m. at Competitive Edge, while Denver plays later that morning, on the venue's second court, at 11 a.m.