ROCHESTER, Minnesota – Newtown residents Alyssa Finkenstadt, Jessica Jowdy and Riley Wurtz had a chance to compete against some of the best 12-and-under basketball talent in the country at the AAU nationals in Rochester, Minnesota.

Finkenstadt, Jowdy and Wurtz are members of the Wescon Fillies AAU team along with some of the best local players from Southbury, Danbury and Woodbury. Coached by Southbury residents Jim Welton and Art Wallace, the Fillies traveled to the nationals recently and came back with two wins in seven contests.

In Minnesota, the girls faced a steady diet of high caliber teams with the first draw being a team out of Chicago coached by former NBA big man Antonio Davis, a 10-year pro with the Pacers, Knicks and Raptors. His team, Illinois Central Elite (ICE) is made up of the best players from Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. The Fillies were only down by five with six minutes to go before turnovers dropped them to a 58-40 loss.

ICE continued through the tournament undefeated and were crowned the eventual National Champions. 

The Fillies victories were over the strong MBA Select team from Indiana and the Maryland Sure Shots. The remaining losses were all strongly contested games to teams from Texas, Washington, D.C., Dayton and Pennsylvania.

Going into the National tournament the Fillies were 34-5 with victories over most of the squads in the state as well as Philadelphia, New York and New England. The team qualified for nationals by winning the New England Super Regional Tournament held in Rockingham, New Hampshire.

The Fillies played a full 10-player rotation, substituting every four to five minutes, an underscoring the team motto of, “It Takes Ten!”

Other team members include Haili Welton, Lauren Barinowski, Morgan Manz and Allie Wallace of Southbury; Maggie O’Neil and Caitlin Drakely of Woodbury; and Casey Smith of Danbury.