New Castle Showcase: 2021/2022 Evaluations

I was at the New Castle Showcase all day and saw six very good games. I wrote 47 evaluations in total – here are my 2021/2022 evaluations. Lydia Andrews – 5’7 G – Central Noble – 2021 Andrews didn’t do much in the way of scoring but she rebounded the ball really well from the guard spot. Andrews has pretty solid vision with the ball and turned out a few assists. A very solid player who knows what she is supposed to be doing in the system of Central Noble. Ball-handling could get a little bit better. – 4 assists, 8 turnovers Tenleigh Phelps – 5’11 F – Triton Central – 2021 Phelps struggled a bit in this one. Just a little bit out of control but is very powerful down low. Has the ability to rebound the ball really well and absorbs contact. Can stay outside but is better down low. Has some skill to her game and will be best as a player down low at the next level. – 9 points, 8 rebounds Taylor Heath – 5’3 G – Triton Central – 2021 Heath is a very small lead guard who is able to run the offense pretty well. Solid ball-handling that lets her bring the ball up the floor. She is relied on to run the offense a little and is able to do so. Not going to get much out of her in the way of scoring but she gives you a really solid lead guard to be on ball. – 4 points, 4 assists Vanessa Shafford – 5’9 W – Linton-Stockton – 2021 Shafford may have been the most impressive player that I saw all day long. She was able to get the pull-up jumper working and hit a ton of shots. Very smooth stroke from the outside and it is very repetitive. Deadly a few steps inside the arc and doesn’t need much room at all to get the shot off. Needs to work a little on ball-handling as she did not look comfortable when pressured. Great motor but needs to work on her quickness a bit so she can beat players to the basket. Really solid prospect in the 2021 class. – 20 points (8/14 FG) Aubrey Burgess – 5’5 G – Linton-Stockton – 2021 Burgess is a strong and long lead guard who has exceptional ball handling. She has a high motor on defense and early on knocked quite a few balls away. Quick hands on defense and good decision making on offense. Very impressed with her poise under pressure. Handled on ball pressure very well. – 16 points (5/7 FG) Haley Rose – 5’10 W – Linton-Stockton – 2021 Rose has a decent amount of skill and she has a ton of length. She is able to score the ball at the rim but still needs to work on the jumper. Needs to gain more strength in order to become a better rebounder as she had a few balls taken from her. A player to keep an eye on to see how she develops. Pretty decent quickness laterally. – 10 points, 4 rebounds Katie Burton – 5’9 G – Fishers – 2021 Burton is the scoring threat for Fishers. She is very strong with the ball and has really solid handles. Isn’t overly quick but is very fast. When she doesn’t have the ball, she is always moving looking to get open and draw attention off of others. Burton is someone who really isn’t going to take a ton of shots, but she will get her share. Very impressive guard who plays a gear higher than others. – 15 points Lydia Stulken – 6’ C – Fishers – 2021 Stulken didn’t play much in this one but was still an intriguing player. Needs to gain strength as she had a few balls ripped out of her hands. Was able to knock down a midrange jumper that looked pretty decent. Needs to gain more strength and then her skills should take off by virtue of strength. Pretty solid rebounder already. – 2 points, 4 rebounds Kaitlyn Costner – 5’5 G – Elkhart Central – 2021 Costner is a player who really struggled to get anything going in this on the offensive end but was very good on the defensive end. She is a player who can be really good if she works on her ball-handling a little bit more. She makes good decisions with the ball and was really good at defending the guards of Fishers. – 9 points, 4 assists, 5 steals Taryn Roberson – 5’8 F – Elkhart Central – 2021 Roberson is an undersized forward who plays huge. She has a knack for rebounding the ball, but doesn’t score much. Plays hard but I would like to see her work on her ball-handling. She looked kind of scared to handle the ball throughout the game. Plays a lot because she is so tough down low. – 4 points, 6 rebounds Laila Smith – 6’1 F – New Castle – 2021 Smith is a raw prospect but she played pretty solidly in this one. She was able to rebound the ball pretty well and was able to block shots without fouling. Smith played pretty solid defense and rotated to the spots that she should have been. Still a little raw offensively but her defense is really improving. – 6 points, 11 rebounds Abby Sanner – 6’1 F – Warsaw – 2022 Sanner was really impressive to me. The only freshman that saw significant action was really good. She is already pretty skilled with the ball and her height presents a mismatch. Sanner is a player who will be someone to watch over the next four years. Her ceiling is really high because she is so skilled at such a young age. – 10 points Kacilyn Krebs – 5’8 W – Warsaw - 2021 Krebs is a player that played a strange role in this one. She really only patrolled the perimeter and shot it on the catch-and-shoot only if she was wide open. Made a couple shots but when she drove the ball off the arc she didn’t look to score. Will only shoot the ball if extremely open, but has a good-looking shot. Decent defender but could stand to gain foot speed. – 3 points, 6 rebounds Kyla Maxwell – 5’9 G/F – East Central – 2021 Maxwell didn’t have the best game of her career but played pretty solid. A little bit of an undersized guard but handles the ball really well. Maxwell was able to score the ball pretty efficiently and drew a lot of attention. She looked the most comfortable of all the guards for East Central in this one. – 8 points, 5 assists Charsan McCory – 6’1 F/C – East Central – 2021 McCory is a raw but pretty solid inside presence. Decently mobile and skilled with the ball. Probably not that much of a ceiling but she is a solid bench player. Carves out space on the floor pretty well but kind of still doesn’t know what to do when she has the ball in a good spot. Once she figures that out she’ll be a good weapon to have. – 2 points, 5 rebounds Lauren Horton – 5’ G – Pike – 2022 Horton is a small guard who came into the game early and knocked down a few foul shots. Didn’t play a ton but showed a good-looking shot. Very small guard who is decently skilled with the ball. Will be interesting how she is used the next four years. – 6 points, 3 rebounds Jaelynne Murray – 5’8 G – Pike – 2022 Murray is a long guard who starts for Pike. She is a really solid shooter who shoots it well from the corners. Good defensively because she is laterally quick and knows how to play defense without fouling. A freshman prospect that looks to be a four-year starter for Pike. Pretty high basketball IQ already. – 6 points, 4 assists