Girls Basketball: Chehalis’ Xpress Place 4th at AAU Championships

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Chehalis Xpress, a sixth-grade girls basketball team based in the Mint City, finished fourth at the AAU National Championships in Clarksville, Tenn., on Monday.

The team won all three of its games in pool play, beating teams from Illinois, Tennessee and Ohio before advancing to the knock-out stage.

The team won each game by at least 10 points, including a 47-14 win over Cincy Blue Swish Blue of Ohio.

In the first elimination game of the championship bracket on Saturday, Xpress trailed the Staten Island Diamonds of New York 11-12 at halftime. But Xpress pulled even by the end of regulation to send the game into overtime, and eventually emerged victorious, after Drea Brumfield’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave the team a 32-29 win.

Xpress then beat Legacy Elite from Kentucky, 32-30, to advance to the Final Four.

The team dropped its final two games of the tournament — to Great Day Basketball from George, 26-20 on Sunday evening, and to the Capital City Stars of Ohio, 49-27 on Monday, to lock up fourth place.



XPress, which includes players from Mossyrock, Tenino, Rochester and Raymond, in addition to Chehalis, were entered into the National Championship after winning a pair of tournaments in the spring.

At the Best of the West tournament in Yakima, Xpress went undefeated, beating teams from Portland, Spokane and Seattle, before defeating the Sunnyside Hoopsters, 40-13 for the tournament win. In Yakima, Xpress won each of its games by at least 20 points.

In late May, Xpress traveled to Reno to compete in the Jam On It tournament, where they again went undefeated. The team went 4-0, including a 41-18 win over Shark City of San Jose in the championship game.

Several members of the Xpress have played together for the last two years, when the team played in leagues in Lewis County and Tumwater.

Xpress is coached by Taj Brumfield, an assistant coach at W.F. West High School.