When you are sometimes referred to as the “Best dunker ever”, you constantly have to defend that title by taking on any and all comers, even if the challenger is a girl.
That’s precisely the predicament that was on the table for resident Ball Up superstar Air Up There, who takes pride in destroying the competition on the streetball circuit, usually by throwing down some unbelievable 360 Eastbay funk to shut down the event.
For Air Up There, also known as Taurian Fontenette, there’s almost no winning in a dunk contest against a female contestant since if he puts in his usual highlight reel performance and puts her in her place, it will be seen as him just picking on a girl. But if he loses to a female, he will surely never stop being punked by his Ball Up brethren like The Professor and Special FX..
While it’s hard even coming up with a female contestant to make the contest an even dunk off, the playing field got leveled when reigning Women’s NCAA POY and Final Four Most Outstanding Player Brittney Griner of the National Champion Baylor Bears decided to take the challenge a ways back.
After all, Brittney burst on the scene as the top girls HS hoops player in the nation back in 2009, and was on the cover of numerous magazine covers for dunking more than 50 times over her 32 games as a senior. Her dunking exploits continued in college, as she became only the 7th woman to dunk in a college game, and only the 2nd female to ever dunk in an NCAA Tournament game.
The 6’8 Griner averaged 23.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5 blocks per game las tseason as a junior, helping to lead the Bears to an NCAA record 40 wins, and the 2012 National Championship. As a freshman, Griner overcame a nasty incident where she punched an opposing player, braking her nose, to go on to become the elite female hoops player in the country, and will represent Team USA in the 2012 London Olympics.
As for the dunk contest, bet you can’t guess who won……
Britney Griner vs Air Up There Dunk Contest:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.? ?Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
