PG Samantha Prahalis (official thread)

[NYTraveller]

Sammy P is with the USA Basketball U19 team at the World Championships in Bangkok. The athletic dept. site is posting her blog during the tournament:

WBK: Read Sammy's USA Basketball Blog from Thailand - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

[backabuck]

USA 75 Russia 56


Evidently the game was tied at about 45. At that point an early Siberian cold spell froze over the Russian basket.

Scintillating Samantha dishes seven assists.

[backabuck]

USA 109 Japan 68

Next is France. We won a "friendly" with them earlier but this time it may not be so friendly......perhaps, not friendly at all.

Scintillating Sammy simply shot seventy plus percent.

[backabuck]

Wow, this is getting good ! We will not be meeting Australia in the semi's because Canada beat them in a stunner 50...49. Thus we will meet Canada who, earlier, we beat in a grinding defensive sandpaper job 64....50. Speaking of defense, both Diggins and Prahalis were in foul trouble in the first half of our game with France and so, at the half, the game was tied at 36. With those two back in the game the 3rd quarter was a different story. During a 23-9 USA run Skylar got 7 points and Sammy got 5 and Bone and Barrett got 4 each. The Bastille was stormed....

Anyway, Saturday's game with Canada is bound to be a first class, in your face, grabbing and shoving match. I don't think Canada likes us very much. If our young women pull through that then the gold medal round could even be grabbier and shovier since Spain really doesn't like us and really enjoyed beating us the first time. Go u19's !!!!!

[backabuck]

USA 82 Canada 51

Looks like we stole the canadian bacon and beat our neighbors over the head with it but I can't find any stats. It must have been like a game of HORSE because Bone had 16 points but only 1 rebound, and Prahalis had 11 points and only one assist.

[backabuck]

Spain eviscerated Argentina with a 17-0 start and though Argentina made a nice comeback in the second quarter, Spain dominated the second half and won by 18. Final...Spain 67...Arg. 49.

Spain looks to be for real folks, very big and very physical, so obviously USA needs to come out firing on all cylinders Sunday if they really want the gold.

Go USA u19's !!!............... Make a loud BANG in Bangkok !!!

[backabuck]

Posted: 08/02/09 8:26 am ::: Reply
USA...87
Spain...71

GOT THE GOLD !!!!! Super job u19's, bit of a swoon in the third quarter ( well not really but it scared me a little) as the halftime lead of 19 dropped to 12. That was as close as it got.

Two good friends did a darn good job....Nnemkadi Ogwumike lead the scoring with 22 and rebounding with 20. Sammy Prahalis had 21 points ( w/the only two 3's of the game) along with 3 steals and 2 assists. Virtually everyone contributed.....truly a team victory !!!!

Congratulations team USA, you made a BIG statement in Bangkok. Bless you.

[backabuck]

Points....Ogwumike 122....Bone 111....Prahalis 96....Diggins 93....Johnson 85....Barrett 54....Shegog 48....Spani 43....Clarendon 36....Ricketts 33....Faris 31....Williams 27.

Rebounds....Qgwumike 90....Johnson 64....Bone 42....Shegog 34....Barrett 33....Spani 29....Williams 27....Diggins 24....Prahalis 21....Faris 21....Ricketts 17....Clarendon 12.

Assists....Prahalis 34....Diggins 15...Johnson 14....Faris 8....Clarendon 8....Spani 7....Barrett 7....Bone 6....Ogwumike 5....Ricketts 3....Shegog 3....Williams 2.

[GrizzlyBuck]

Congrats to the young Womens team for winning the championship, I'm looking forward to seeing Sammy and the lady Bucks continue toward a faster paced more exciting, more nationally competetive style.

[mooktarr]

What a great player for us to have on our team, Congratulations Samantha. Well done.

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by GrizzlyBuck

Congrats to the young Womens team for winning the championship, I'm looking forward to seeing Sammy and the lady Bucks continue toward a faster paced more exciting, more nationally competetive style.

With Hill coming in next season even Foster might not be able to slow the team down

[Buckskin86]

Prahalis banks international experience
August 22, 2009 By CODY DERESPINA cody.derespina@newsday.com
Former Commack standout Sammy Prahalis


Photo credit: Newsday/Joseph D. Sullivan | Former Commack standout Sammy Prahalis (left).

For a few hours, the letters got to them.

The big, red "USA" printed on their chests gave them a false sense of confidence.

For Sammy Prahalis, a Commack High School product and standout guard at Ohio State University, it was no different. But just as the players on the U.S. women's basketball team got ready for its ''coronation'' in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, their counterparts from Spain decided to let them know they were far from home.

"I think that we, just for a second, kind of took advantage that we were USA," Prahalis said of her team's four-point upset loss on the opening day of the tournament. "Not that we're automatically going to beat everybody, but that we have an advantage over everybody already. But it was kind of a wake-up call that we have to come out ready."

Seven games - and seven wins - after that humbling loss, Prahalis dropped 21 points on Spain in an 87-71 victory Aug. 2, securing the gold medal for Team USA.

"It's real big, because when you go over there, you just know that every team is going to do whatever they have to do to beat us," Prahalis said. "Everyone wants to see you lose, and I like that. We're considered the best, and everyone's going to give us their best shot.

"I was really happy because I really didn't want to leave having lost and having that team go home and say they beat us."

Prahalis speaks fondly of her time in Bangkok, but she still sounds jet-lagged when talking about the 22-hour flight that brought her there.

"I don't like planes to begin with, and then it was just so big," she said. "Takeoff - it took a lot to get that plane off the ground. I get nervous on all flights and now I'm taking a seven-hour one and then an 11-hour one. I don't like being up in the air and not knowing what's going on."
connections

Once she got on the ground, the culture shock set in. She called her family, only to realize it was the middle of the night in America. She tried getting on a team bus but couldn't find the door, discovering that in Thailand, bus entrances are on the opposite side from the American models.

"It was crazy because I was on the other side of the world; there's pigs going through garbage, they drive on the wrong . . . " She paused to correct herself. "The other side of the road. It's a big city, so in a way, I'm used to it, but it's so different."

Prahalis banks international experience

[backabuck]

Ok, this article got me revved-up (again) about Sammy, Jantel and the Buckettes. Football is taking too long to get here and I have too much time on my hands soooo I am going to make a too early and very optimistic preseason prediction on the women's basketball rankings for 2009-10.

If I recall correctly we finished last season ranked ninth, but it seems that the team got a lot of attention nationally (and internationally). The "reasoned" bits of conversation that I have read seem to project us between 4 and 7 in the country. Frankly, going from ninth to fifth or sixth without playing any games seems like magic to me....but in this case, I like it.

My prediction is 4.......behind Ucon (who isn't), Stanford (who waxed us), and North Carolina (top recruiting class & few losses).

Could we hold on to such a high ranking ? ........Maybe.

[Buckskin86]

Can Prahalis lead No. 3 Ohio State to promised land?
November 14, 2009 By GREG LOGAN greg.logan@newsday.com
Commack native Sammy Prahalis has dynamic game and contagious passion to go with it


Photo credit: Newsday/Doug Sampson/Courtesy Ohio State

She never did win a New York State title or even a Suffolk County title while tearing up the record book at Commack High School, but Samantha Prahalis has graduated to a larger stage where her point guard talents are expanding along with her dreams.

She earned Big Ten women's basketball freshman of the year honors at Ohio State last season, then quarterbacked the United States under-19 team to the world title over Spain. Now the road of possibility lies wide open in front of her. NCAA title? Olympic gold medal? WNBA career? She wants it all.

If anyone ever doubted her ability to follow that track, she converted them to believers last season with a game that mixes the creativity and court vision of a Steve Nash or Jason Kidd with the reckless daring of a Jason Williams, to cite some male role models. The Buckeyes were good before Prahalis arrived, but adding her to a mix that includes two-time Big Ten player of the year Jantel Lavender has lifted them to No. 3 in the preseason polls.

"Unique is a word that's overused in sports, but I really think she fits in that category,'' Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "Her game is truly different in a very positive way.''

Can Prahalis lead No. 3 Ohio State to promised land?