Scheer Talent

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Sat, 09/29/2007 - 19:37 Kathleen Scheer, who will choose a college in about a week, leads off our look at the USJN event in the Chicago area.

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STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - For the past two years, Kathleen Scheer has scrawled "TQ4" on the back of her basketball socks, in honor of her brother Jake's friend, Ty Quick, who was killed in an auto accident while leaving the Scheer household for a visit.

Quick, then 19, used to wear the No. 4 on his jersey.

Scheer, a 6-foot-2 swing player out of New Haven, Mo., is about to further memorialize her brother's late friend by making a major move toward continuing her basketball career on the college level. Ranked No. 21 overall in the HoopGurlz Hundred for the 2008 class, she will choose between Duke and Iowa State in about a week. Scheer has made official visits to both - Iowa State two weeks ago and Duke last weekend.

"It's going to be a hard choice," said Scheer, who was participating in the USJN's Elite Oktoberfest. "I like the coaches a lot and I like the tradition of Duke. But I also like (Iowa State coach Bill) Fennelly a lot and Iowa State gets about 9,000 fans a game."

Whichever program Scheer chooses will be landing one of the most versatile players in the country. Though she usually plays wing or forward, HoopGurlz.com has projected Scheer as a five-star guard because of her excellent ball skills, long-range shooting and athleticism. She also knows her way around the boxes, is an excellent passer and is active on defense, especially as a shot-blocker in the lane.

Explosive enough to be a first-team, all-state selection in volleyball, Scheer quit that sport this year to focus on hoops. She said she is strength training in case she is called on to play forward at the next level. Scheer also recently began pre-season conditioning with the New Haven High School boy's team.

The very same one whose ranks once included the late Ty Quick.

RIM SHOTS

Ashley Wilson, No. 43 in the HoopGurlz.com Super Sixty for the 2009 class, is out with a fracture in her right leg. She still is in a full-leg cast, but is expected to heal in time for her junior season at Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Ill. A four-star forward, Wilson actually suffered the fracture last May during a tournament in Champagne, Ill., but played out the summer with her club team, Full Package. Wilson is considering Marquette, Notre Dame, Purdue and Wisconsin, among others. "A couple of years ago, college coaches were telling me she was a 'tweener," Full Package coach Ralph Gesualdo said of his 6-foot star. "But she's just so darned tough, and now she's getting a lot of attention from the Big East and Big Ten." ... Wing Sarina Simmons and point guard Rachel Story, teammates at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wis., both have committed to Marquette. The pair are 2009 recruits. ... The state of Michigan is back in sync with the rest of the country after switching the girl's high-school basketball season from the fall to winter. Sharena Taylor of Detroit Country Day is not happy with the move. "I don't like to be dressed like this in the winter," she said, pointing to her basketball gear. Taylor, an excellent 2009 point-guard prospect with great floaters in the lane off the dribble, likes - for now - Bowling Green, DePaul, Kansas, Marquette, Minnesota, Purdue and Syracuse. ... Briana Jones, a teammate of Taylor's on the Michigan Crossover, actually is from Toledo, Ohio. She likes DePaul, Illinois, Iowa, Marquette, Ohio State and Purdue. She also has the nickname, "Crunch." Jones explains, "When I was a baby, I was very destructive." Asked if she still is, Jones replied, "Yeah, on the court, in the post."

Another Michigan Crossover, Destiny Williams of Benton Harbor, Mich., is ranked 31st in the HoopGurlz Super Sixty for 2009 and was one of the top performers of the day. The 6-3 bundle of energy says she likes DePaul, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina and Purdue. ... Other favorites from the USJN Battle of the Programs include Ashlee Anderson (2009), a 5-9 guard out of Chicago, Ill; Jalessa Armstrong (2011), a creative point guard from Chicago, Ill.; Samantha Arnold (2009), a 6-3 sharpshooter from Medinah, Ill.; Katherine Harry (2009), a hyperkenetic, 6-3 post from Columbia, Mo.; Chanise Jenkins (2011), a 5-3 ball of fire from Chicago, Ill; Nicole Griffin (2010), a 6-6 post out of Milwaukee, Wis., and Kelsey Smith (2009), a 6-4 forward from South Elgin, Ill. ... Anderson, who plays at Whitney Young High School, likes Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. ... Arnold, who plays for Lake Park High School, is interested in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Saint Louis and Wisconsin. ... Another big-time favorite from the day, Trisha Liston, a 6-foot wing from River Forest, Ill., was the best long-distance shooter in the event. She also is an extremely savvy player, especially considering her status as a 2010 prospect. The Illinois Hustle was better whenever Liston was on the floor and they were pretty good, winning the Battle of the Programs with a 62-48 victory over the Crossover. Adrianne Godbold, a 5-11 guard from Chicago, Ill., also made several key defensive plays during decisive periods in the second half.

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Glenn Nelson is the founder and publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He is a member of the McDonald's All-American Selection Committee and SportsShooter.com (Click for Porfolio), Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, National Press Photographers Association and Online News Association. Glenn also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams and previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here. Glenn can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com.

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