The Push The Rock Basketball Club is extremely proud of its players who recently graduated from the Aus-PrEP Academy in July 2009.  The Aus-PrEP Academy is the Austin Pre-Freshman Engineering Program, sponsored by Huston-Tillotson University for those sixth thru eight graders students who are interested in pursuing a career in Engineering.  The program provides fundamentals in engineering through classroom instructions in the areas of logic, problem solving, writing, and algebra.  The 10-week summer program, which included the above mention course, work along with field trips to Johnson Space Center, NASA, Prairie View A&M University, National Bridge Caverns, Houston Natural Science Museum, and Sea World.

Seven current PTR players participated in this year’s program, which included Ms. Marissa Campbell, Ms. Aleeyah Burse, and Ms. Taylor Scott and four players from the seventh grade boy’s team, which included Jamal Sawyer, Brice Dudley, Jalen Martin, and Nosa Ebomwonyi, were part of the 2009 graduating class.   Jamal Sawyer received special recognition as a Top Student in Algebraic Structures, while Brice Dudley received Top Student recognition in First Year Pre-Algebra,   

The Push The Rock 6th grade girls, in its Prime Time National Championship debut finished eight out of 48 teams in their division.  The Prime Time National Championship held in the greater Dallas area attracted over 600 teams from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.  Mr. Prime Time himself, Deion Sanders of the Dallas Cowboys was the Guest Speaker for the Opening Ceremonies.  The National Championship was held on July 22-26.

In the first game in pool play, PTR opened with an impressive victory over the Lady Hoops team by the scored of 40-10.  Ashleigh Cooper poured in 14 points to help PTR get off to a good start for the tournament.

PTR's second round opponent was the Bryan Elite team from Bryan, Texas.  PTR had another dominating performance as Alyssa Washington scored 10 points and Kryshona Carter added nine in a 39-5 defeat of the Bryan Elite.

The third round game proved to be the best game of the entire tournament, as PTR squared off against the Plano Run and Shoot.  In a game that saw PTR jump out to an early 10 led, the Run and Shoot team fought back to take a one point led with 16 seconds left in the game.  PTR forced a turnover with eight seconds left in the game.  With game clock running down, Marissa Campbell made a perfect pass to Kara Teal, who missed the first shot, but grab her rebound and scored on a put back with less than one second in the game giving PTR a 36-35 victory.  The victory help PTR go undefeated in pool play and gain the top stop in their bracket.  Alyssa Washington had a monster game going eight for eight from the field and was perfect from the free throw line, as she scored 17 points in the victory.

In the first game of bracket play, PTR took on Corsicana Select.  PTR smothering defense lead to easy basket as PTR build an early 15 point lead and never looked back as PTR cruised to a 40-15 victory.  Kara Teal led all scorers with 14 points. PTR's next opponent was the Houston Fast Break.  Again, PTR got off to a fast start and finished strong to post a 23-8 victory.  Taylor Scott, Kryshona Carter, Alyssa Washington and Kara Teal combined to score 20 of PTR's 23 points.

In the final game of bracket play, PTR faced the Conway Lady Bears from Arkansas.  The Lady Bears played in the championship game in the 2008 Prime Time Nationals and lost to the eventually National Champions Dallas Biddy.  PTR keep the game close in the first half as the Lady Bears to an eight point led into the half.  In the second half, the Lady Bears championship experience proved to be too much as the Lady Bears defeated PTR 42-25.  Kara Teal led PTR with 13 points and Ashleigh Cooper added nine in the lost.  The lost keep PTR out of the championship bracket round and put PTR into the bracket for 5th place. 

In the battle for 5th place, PTR first opponent was the Arkansas Lady Jammers.  Like PTR, the Jammers lost their bid for the championship round with a lost to Texas Fury 2015.  PTR got off to a good start and took an early eight point led and took a six point led into halftime.  In the second half PTR watched its eight point led evaporate to a three point deficit.  PTR had several opportunities, but could not capitalize due to untimely turnovers.  PTR's shooting also abandoned them as they shot 22% (4 of 18) from the field.  In the end, the Lady Jammers held on and defeated PTR 35-30.  Kara Teal led PTR with 12 points in the lost.

In the end, PTR presence was felt at Nationals.  They went 5-2 and were the only team not from the greater Dallas area or Arkansas who advance to the final eight.  The girls vowed to be back to Prime Time in 2010, with plans of capturing the Prime Time 10th year National Championship. 

Finally, congratulation to the Dallas Biddy team who capture the 2009 6th Grade Girls Division Championship with a victory over the Texas Fury 2015.  Dallas Biddy also won the 2008 5th Grade Girls National Championship! 

July 19

Jazmyn Stevens and Khala Hanson completed a 5 week Summer Math Prep Course at Texas Empowerment Academy. This class focused on critical thinking while making math fun!  

Congrats Jazmyn and Khala