Gwynn Park Fall League: What Did We Learn In Week 2?

<p style="text-align: center"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080;font-size: 18pt"><strong>Gwynn Park Fall League: What Did We Learn In Week 2?</strong></span></span></p> This week we got a chance to see Riverdale Baptist School, Gwynn Park, Osborne Park, New Hope, Largo and Douglas High School.  The private schools seem a lot more ahead of the game at this stage the public schools.  This was a good first look at RBS who looks loaded and ready to make a statement in the DMV. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><strong>Riverdale Baptist School:</strong></span></span> Speaking of Riverdale Baptist they are very deep bringing in a couple of new players via transfer that will definitely help this season.  Guard Sania Johnson wasn't in the building as she was out on a college visit but the Crusaders didn't miss a beat beating a scrappy Osborne Osborne Park by 20 points. <span style="color: #000080;text-decoration: underline"><em><strong>Standout Players:</strong></em></span> <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #800000"><strong>Kaylah Ivey - 5'8" - Point Guard - 2020 </strong></span></span> [caption id="attachment_17977" align="alignnone" width="300"] Kaylah Ivey[/caption] Kaylah played the point guard position like a seasoned pro.  She found open teammates on the break and hit cutters in the back door perfectly.  She used the pocket pass well and defensively she has improved tremendously on the ball.  She gets her hands in the lane to deflect passes turning her defense into offense.  Her shooting continues to impress. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #800000"><strong>Jalyn Brown - 6'0" - Wing - 2022</strong></span></span> [caption id="attachment_27567" align="alignnone" width="300"] Jalyn Brown[/caption] Jayln was one of the most impressive players of the entire day.  She went from point to wing to center in a single possession.  She is long and athletic and moves well with the ball.  She has a good shot especially in the mid range and pulls up smoothly off the dribble. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #800000"><strong>Paris McBride - 5'4" - Point Guard - 2020</strong></span></span> Paris opened the game showing her range and used her speed and effort to split defenders and get to the basket and finish.  She complements Ivey well with both being point guards that can score it makes it very hard for defenses to apply any meaningful pressure to them.  She seemed to play at a pace a step ahead of everyone else. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><strong>Fredrick Douglas </strong></span></span> Frederick Douglas played Largo and surprisingly made easy work of one of the top public school teams in the area for the past 10 years.  The game was over early as Douglas used pressure defense to overwhelm the Lions.  With a 40 point second half lead this game was out of hand with plenty of time still on the clock. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><em><strong>Standout Players:</strong></em></span></span> <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #800000"><strong>Nia Ford - 5'9" - Wing - 2021</strong></span></span> [caption id="attachment_84176" align="alignnone" width="300"] Nia Ford[/caption] The little known Ford was the MVP at the Turf Wars All Star Game and shows that her performance wasn't a fluke. She dropped a cool 20 points in the first half and sat most of the second half after scoring twice as many points on her own as Largo's entire team.  Ford can score from all three levels on the floor and her size is an issue for defenders around the basket. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><strong>Gwynn Park:</strong></span></span> The Yellow Jackets had problems with the Depth of New Hope as the late game which looked like it would be worth the wait early on but quickly got out of hand.  The pressure was just too much leaving Coach Struthers' team with some good experience that they can work on before the season begins. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><em><strong>Standout Players:</strong></em></span></span> <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #800000"><strong>Janae Dublin - 6'2" - Wing - 2020</strong></span></span> [caption id="attachment_27105" align="alignnone" width="300"] Janae Dublin[/caption] Janae was the primary reason we thought Gwynn Park had a chance in this game.  She scored the first three baskets of the game for the Jackets in dramatic fashion and it appeared that New Hope would have their hands full with her alone.  The triple teaming that she faced proved to be too much but she showed that she can go toe to toe with any defender one on one. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><strong>New Hope Academy</strong></span></span> This team is so deep it seems like every week there is another player that steps up.  New Hope will be a tough draw for anyone in the DMV and its going to be interesting with the Independent Christian School League being stacked with talent. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #000080"><em><strong>Standout Players:</strong></em></span></span> <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #800000"><strong>Maria Gakdeng - 6'2" - Forward - 2021</strong></span></span> [caption id="attachment_94781" align="alignnone" width="300"] Maria Gakdeng[/caption] Maria has improved leaps and bounds over the past year and she is holding down the middle for the Tigers.  Outside of Riverdale Baptist there may not be a team in this fall league that has an answer to her.  She elevates and finishes well in traffic and with contact and she is a really good rebounder.