Prospect Watch - 10/26

By Glenn Nelson
HoopGurlz Publisher
Posted Fri, 10/26/2007 - 06:39 Our look around the country begins with a pair of 2009 stars and close friends who almost accidently committed to the same school.

---

STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

Whether with her club team or high-school team, there have been times when Sarina Simmons finds herself just standing out on the court, doing nothing. She isn't lazy. She's mesmerized.

"When I'm out on the court with Rachel, sometimes I tend to get less involved," says Simmons, a 6-foot-2 star wing with Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wis. "It's so fun watching her play."

"Rachel" would be Rachel Story, Simmons' close friend and teammate since the 7th grade. They comprise a dynamic duo for Rufus King during the winter, and the Lakeside Lady Scholars the rest of the year. In two years, the class of 2009 pair will take their act to Marquette.

While it may not seem like a surprise that two close friends will end up at the same college, it was a surprise to them. They'd talked about playing for their hometown school, for sure. But they never made any kind of pact.

"I surprised her by going first," Story says. Simmons followed a bit later, saying she'd reached the same decision independently.

The sweet accident is Marquette coach Terri Mitchell's gain. In Story she adds a quick and dynamic point guard, who has many dribble moves which she likes to combo, is a relentless attacker off the dribble and has a deadly pull-up jumper. In Simmons, she gets a long, athletic player with forward size and wing abilities, who can shoot and dribble sometimes like a guard.

Asked if she learned some of her dribble moves from Story, Simmons says, "I wish I could handle like her."

Story wishes the same thing. "We're like sisters," she says.

RIM SHOTS

Connecticut commit Caroline Doty, No. 10 in the HoopGurlz Hundred for 2008, underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a clean anterior-cruciate ligament tear in her left knee. Reports are positive - there was almost no collateral damage outside the ACL. Surgeons merely had to clean up a little of the lateral meniscus in addition to repairing the tear. Doty suffered the injury during a soccer match in September. She will miss her senior basketball season at Germantown Academy, the Fort Washington, Pa., high school that is scheduled to compete in the Nike Tournament of Champions in December. ... This one may not have the sex appeal of Van Chancellor's previous five commits from the 2008 class, but LSU picked up more size and athleticism when Swayze Black verballed this week. Black is a 6-2 wing who averaged 13.2 points and 10.0 rebounds as a junior at Brookhaven High School. She is the second commit from that Mississippi school, Nikki Byrd, who's going to Mississippi, being the first. Black joins LaSondra Barrett, No. 12 in the HoopGurlz Hundred, as LSU commits from Mississippi. ... Expect Bellaire High School, just outside of Houston, to make some waves in the state of Texas this season. The school has four Division I commits after Jasmine Hartman committed to Oklahoma and Tolu Omotola verbaled to Texas Christian last week. Previously, Tammara Marion pledged to Stephen F. Austin and Tamara Torru committed to North Texas. The prize is Hartman, a quick and big, 5-foot-11 point guard. "Jasmine is the kind of point guard that if you forget about her, she will light you up from the outside," Bellaire coach Rob Amboree says. "She can shoot the 15-footer and the three-ball very well. Her job will be to drive and dish the ball to Courtney and Ashley Paris or kick it out to the shooters. She is a lock down defender who can guard the 1, 2, and 3 spots. There is not a better point guard with all of her abilities in the state." Omotola, a 6-2 post who was named to the Nigerian senior national team, is another prize, albeit underrated. If Bellaire is to challenge for a state title, Omotola looms large because they'll have to go through Cy-Fair and Nneka Ogwumike, the No. 7 prospect in the country. ... Sacred Heart's Jazmine Jackson, the San Jose Mercury's Junior Player of the Year last season, has committed to Pepperdine. A 5-9 guard, Jackson also was offered by Michigan State, Oregon and Oregon State, among others. ... Cheritee Green of Wyoming Park High School Wyoming, Mich., has verbaled to Western Michigan. The 6-foot forward averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds during her junior season at Wyoming. ... Candace Chambers, a 6-foot forward at Seattle Prep in Seattle, Wash., has committed to San Diego. ... Cierra Harris, a 6-1 forward from Akron, Ohio, has committed to Dayton. Harris averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds as a junior for Firestone High School. .... In addition to Da'Shena Stevens, the No. 52 prospect who verbaled this week, St. John's has a commitment from Britney Murphy, a 5-5 point guard from Saginaw, Mich.

Chris Hansen contributed to this report

---

Discuss This on Our Message Board:

Click Here

---

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.

---