Gateway Challenge Team Review: Blue Star Renken 16U

1. Coach Renkens’ Blue Star 16U team showed outstanding depth during the Gateway Challenge. There were 11 strong players at Coach Renkens’ disposal and he made good use of his talent. His team boasts considerable height with 5 players over 6 foot tall on the roster.

Megan Hallerman is the tallest of those players at 6’4. She attends High School at Greenville and showed the ability to control the paint on the defensive end. During one game that I was able to watch she had 6 blocked shots and most of those came early in the game before the opposing team changed their approach. Her offensive game is still developing but her ability to control the boards and the paint make her a potential big weapon for Greenville in 2018-2019.

Rylee Luechtefeld is listed at 6’0 and showed the ability to score on the wing and in the mid range. She is a good shooter that looks like she can help continue the strong tradition that has been built at Nashville High School. With her height Rylee is also a very capable rebounder from the wing position.

Abby Manns played the Point Guard spot for Coach Renkens team and handled the pressure well. She played off the ball more for her Jerseyville High School team and had an excellent Sophomore campaign scoring 12.5 points per game. Abby is strong going to the basket and is capable of creating a shot on her own when the offense breaks down.

Molly Diekemper is a 5’11 wing from Carlyle High School that continued to show her ability to score the basketball. Molly averaged 10.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in her Sophomore campaign and proved during the Gateway Challenge that she has the range to use the 3 ball as a weapon int he 2018-2019 season.

Coach Renkens’ team had a nice weekend and really used the rotation of bigs to keep the pressure on their opponents. Madison Clarke from Highland, Kristyn Mitchell from Collinsville and Ashlyn Wrightman from Gibault all did a good job controlling the boards. Mitchell showed the range to hit the 3 point shot as a stretch 4/5 at 6’0 and Wrightman was able to work inside and get a few blocked shots. At 6’0 tall Wrightman is a nice post player that averaged 12.3 points, 10 rebounds and 5.7 blocks per game in her Sophomore campaign. The future is bright for this group.