The kid they call "Big Bird" really started to spread her wings late this summer and of all the kids at her position in the class she may have the most upside due to her combination of size and athleticism. As we noted last summer, her athleticism allows her to play just about anywhere defensively. She can run with the guards, make passing lanes disappear with her length or swat a shot out of the sky. She has been used to funnel players in to traps in both the full court and half court settings. She wasn't as hampered with foul trouble this summer either, in part to coming off the bench this summer but also to making better decisions.
She uses that size, quickness, leaping ability and length primarily on the defensive end right now but has shown some growth on offense as well. Last year her offense was limited almost exclusively to catching lob passes from the high post when fronted and put backs. She has added a nice turn around jumper from the left box. She goes to this over her right shoulder more times than not. Adding a drop step and step through would really open things up for her in the paint. She can make that turn around fadeaway but with her physical gifts you don't want her fading away
Ashley Gayle
from an outmatched defender too often, she should be getting and-one's with regularity at the high school level. Once she realizes she's stronger and more athletic than the opposition she can start punishing people inside.
To go with her turn around from the block she has also worked on a mid range jumper. From the high post she goes right to a one bounce to the left and raises up for an elbow jumper. She can get in a rhythm and knock several in a row. Most of the time she needs that one dribble to get her rhythm on it. She rarely will shoot that shot without the dribble. The shot in impossible to defend. Gayle has tremendous length and has improved extension on the shot and at 6-foot-4 no defender is going to bother it. On top of her elevation and extension she has a bit of fade to it with some tilt in her posture making it that much harder to bother. Ball handling work could really unlock her game from the high post. She doesn't need anything fancy but being explosive with one or two dribbles to attack defenders when they crowd her to take that shot away would help. Working on reverse pivot face ups are also things that could take advantage of her strengths. The bottom line is she needs to recognize and take advantage of the mismatches she poses.
Her play in late July really spurred a great run by her club team. The team is loaded with talent but she played big minutes down the stretch and carried the load for the second team off the bench. She rebounded the ball really well, skying and grabbing the ball at its highest point and really got comfortable with her go to move. Defensively she changed games because of her ability to bother the shot of penetrating guards as well as post players. Even on plays where she was beat to the inside position for rebounds she would block their shot and keep the points off the board. If she continues to work on her half court offense both scoring and recognizing situations she'll see marked improvement and may end up being the overlooked gem in this 2008 class.
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Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women’s Basketball at HoopGurlz.com. He leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz. Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chris@hoopgurlz.com [2].