Next up: Mission Rec Center

No, of course it's not basketball season yet — we don't even have the eagerly-awaited official schedule.

What's up next is the two-out-of-three championship series of the 2010 San Francisco Bay Area Pro-Am Summer Basketball League. The contenders are:

Mission Rec Center

who are led by Toni Russell, 5'3" point guard from the University of San Francisco class of '05. She was described then as, "... relentless competitor... aggressive offensively and disruptive defensively ..." and she hasn't slowed down any since. The team is based at the San Francisco Mission Recreation Center, which has a very active girls' basketball program. It is rumored that the team actually practices — an uncommon practice, if you will, for an SF Pro-Am team.

Golden State

a quasi Cardinal team, whose roster includes Sarah Boothe, Mikaela Ruef, Sara James, Toni Kokenis and Chiney Ogwumike. They practice too — five mornings a week from 7:00-8:30 — according to a recent article in The Stanford Daily.

The two teams have played each other once this summer. Mission Rec dealt Golden State its only loss of the summer 83-76.

There are seldom more than a few dozen Cardinal fans at an SF Pro-Am game. If you've been meaning to go to, but have never gotten around to it, next weekend is a great opportunity. The first two games of the championship series are next Saturday and Sunday, both at 2:00 pm at Kezar Pavilion.

Free basketball between two well-matched teams and an opportunity to see the Cardinal's entire freshman class in action — what could be better?

Chiney out-runs Mission Rec