Day Two of the Nike Tournament of Champions saw some surprising youngsters making statements for themselves.
Alyssa Fressle, the University of Colorado bound guard for Highlands Ranch orchestrated the biggest upset of the day. Behind her early scoring spurt catapulted her team to a double digit lead in the first quarter over favored Bishop Gorman. Her jumper is simply smooth and she made the defense pay for not closing out. She gets rid of the ball quickly and has repeated form on every shot. When the defense finally started running at her she showed a fundamentally sound and indefensible shot fake. When the defender rose up she put the ball on the floor once and knocked down a jumper one step closer. She led her team by passing and playing solid defense as well and has her team in the semifinals against Long Beach Poly.
Nikki Speed, the standout point guard for Marlborough had quite a bit of defensive attention on her, especially in half court possessions. With tough on ball defense and plenty of help in the gaps Speed went to her kick out, should shift, stepback jumper and it was on today. She goes to her kickout crossover move to free up her jumper as well. Speed is ultra shifty and even against good defense she can create scoring opportunities. Today they were tough shots and she hit quite a few of them. She also played her usual inspired defense, diving into the stands trying to steal passes and taking charges.
Talia Caldwell, a 6-3 post for Marlborough has shown a lot of improvement from a year ago. She is getting better around the basket in the half court and still shows the bursts of athleticism not typically seen by kids her size. She's a player you can see is really starting to figure the game out and how she can dominate and getting her to dominate the paint for an entire game is the next step. There are still a lot of things for her to learn but she is definitely a player.
Aaryn Ellenberg, a 5-6 point guard for Bishop Gorman played well in their upset loss to Highlands Ranch. She is a lightening bolt with the ball and she makes the players around her better. Where a lot of kids get tunnel vision on dribble penetration she sees the court and looks to dish off for a better scoring opportunity. She did a great job today of recognizing when to take the shot and when to find a teammate. She found teammates on the inside when the weakside help didn't collapse as well as kicking out to shooters on the perimeter.
Dominique Gray, a 6-0 guard for Dobson High School played great today despite her team's loss to Oregon City. She attacked the basket both in transition and in the halfcourt was by far the most athletic player on the court. She was very good once she got in the lane at making the defense pay. She finished with contact and played both ends of the floor hard.
Dominique Gray rises over Lindsey
Shearer (15) and Melair Holterhoff (50).
Brittany Knighton, a 5-11 wing for Oregon City came up huge in a close win over Dobson. She was the most physical presence for the Pioneers and always seemed to score a bucket to break a draught. She is a wing that can take a smaller defender inside and out physical them or make a sagging defense pay by knocking down a three. She had a quick release and she sets her feet upon receiving the ball, something not a lot of high school players are efficient at. She needs to improve ball handling to take her game up a notch.
Kameron Knutson, a 6-4 center for Dobson showed promise against Oregon City. She has basic footwork and moves pretty well for her size. She works hard to give the perimeter players a target. She needs to get stronger and get more physical and aggressive in the paint on offense. Oregon City didn't have a post that could really bother her. They sent a lot of double teams but with her size and coordination she should develop into a player that can score easily against smaller players.
Carlie Needles, a 5-7 do everything guard for ThunderRidge is just a freshman and plays well beyond her years. She scored, dished out assists, and tormented Marlborough's Nikki Speed, one of the top senior point guard's in the nation. The most impressive thing is the intensity and fundamental skills Needles has on both ends of the floor. You don't see to many kids play the defensive ends with as much passion as she does. She forced Speed to take step back jumpers when she guarded her. So far she is the most promising 2011 I've seen this year.
Bria Smith, a 5-8 guard for Christ the King is the first freshman in a long time to play on the varsity squad, let along start. She plays much taller than she is because of her length. She has a quick first step and combined with her length she covers a lot of ground is very good at beating defenders with her first move. She is stronger going to her right but also showed some wicked right-to-left crossovers which she usually finished with a pull-up, fadeaway jumper.
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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].
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