Mascoutah Holiday Tourney Weekend Preview

The annual Mascoutah Invitational tourney got under way on Monday. The seeds held up giving us the top 8 in the winners bracket and 9-16 in the consolation bracket this weekend. The championship bracket quarterfinals are as follows: 8:30am—#1 O’Fallon vs #8 Freeburg 10:00am— #4 Mater Dei vs #5 Belleville West 11:30am— #2 Highland vs #6 Breese Central 1:00pm— #3 East St Louis vs #7 Nashville In the Auxiliary Gym the consolation quarterfinals are as follows: 8:30am— #9 Belleville East vs #16 Althoff 10:00am— #12 Okawville vs #13 Cahokia 11:30am— #11 Centralia vs #15 RiverviewGardens 1:00pm— #10 Lift for Life vs #14 Mascoutah The semi final games are Friday night and all final games are Saturday. Here are some predictions on how the tourney will play out. <em>Championship Bracket</em> I believe the seeds will hold up and O’Fallon will meet Highland in the championship game. This will be two similar teams going head to head. Both teams boast two strong post players and good senior point guards. This game will likely come down to the scoring of options 3,4,5 and 6. Right now Highland has had more consistency in those players but O’Fallon had to play without <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/amelia-bell/">Amelia Bell</a> for 2 games and that forced others to step up. It should be a great game to watch. Foul trouble inside for either team could be the curse of death in this game. The 3rd place game in this scenario would pit East St Louis against Mater Dei. That would be an interesting game to watch. The Flyerettes are off to a good start and have good young talent. Mater Dei is led by experienced wings that can do everything. In the other two championship bracket games I see Belleville West against Breese Central for 5th and Nashville against Freeburg for 7th. These are teams that would be fighting for a title run in most other tourneys. These will be exciting games for the fans to see. <em>Consolation Bracket</em> On this side of the bracket I also see the seeds holding true. I see the consolation finals being a battle of Belleville East vs Lift for Life Academy. I believe this is a point in the season where Coach K and the Lady Lancers begin to hit their stride. Replacing the class of 2019 is no easy task but I believe the talent level exceeds the wins/losses they have on the board so far. Here is a list of players to watch in this deep field. <em><strong>2020</strong></em> <ul> <li><strong>Haley Kimes </strong> Freeburg</li> <li><strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/kayla-gordon/">Kayla Gordon</a> </strong>O'Fallon</li> <li><strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/shania-nunn/">Shania Nunn</a> </strong>Belleville West</li> <li><strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/shannon-lampe/">Shannon Lampe</a></strong> Mater Dei</li> <li><strong>Ellie Eichenlaub </strong>Freeburg</li> <li><strong>Ellie Brown </strong>Highland</li> <li><strong>Rylee Luchtefeld </strong>Nashville</li> <li><strong>Bria James </strong>Belleville East</li> <li><strong>Claire Toennies </strong>Mater Dei</li> </ul> <em><strong>2021</strong></em> <ul> <li><strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/amelia-bell/">Amelia Bell</a> </strong>O'Fallon</li> <li><strong>Tyana Lovelace </strong>O'Fallon</li> <li><strong>Bella LaPorta </strong>Highland</li> <li><strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/taylor-kesner/">Taylor Kesner</a> </strong>Highland</li> <li><strong>Tyler Butler </strong>Belleville East</li> <li><strong>Kirsten Taylor </strong>Highland</li> <li><strong>Chloe Book </strong>Breese Central</li> <li><strong>Miah Weems </strong>Breese Central</li> <li><strong>Alanna Brooks </strong>Mascoutah</li> </ul> <em><strong>2022</strong></em> <ul> <li><strong>Alyssa Cole </strong>Nashville</li> <li><strong>Jazzman Westly-Young </strong>East St. Louis</li> <li><strong>Maddy Schwemmer </strong>Freeburg</li> </ul> <em><strong>2023</strong></em> <ul> <li><strong>Laylah Jackson </strong>Belleville East</li> <li><strong>Sophia Loden </strong>Mascoutah</li> <li><strong>Kylie Kisgen </strong>Freeburg</li> <li><strong>Natalie Peterson </strong>Freeburg</li> <li><strong>Jailah Pelly </strong>East St. Louis</li> <li><strong>Shakara McCline </strong>East St. Louis</li> <li><strong>Haley Ottenschneider </strong>Breese Central</li> <li><strong>Megan Rennegarbe </strong>Okawville</li> <li><strong>Briley Rhodes </strong>Okawville</li> <li><strong>Shannon Dowell </strong>O'Fallon</li> </ul> Of the 2020 -players only Nunn has made a college commitment. Kimes, Brown and Gordon are excellent point guard prospects at the D3/NAIA/JC level. Eichenlaub and Luechtefeld are both left handed stretch 4 players that show potential. Eichenlaub has a perfect 36 on her ACT. Lampe is a long atheltic 2/3 and can really defend. Bria James is a smaller guard that can score and may need to go the JC route to develop her game for the next level and Toennies is a very fundamental player that can shoot the mid range shot and defend. The 2021 class is full of excellent 4/5 players with potential to the D2 level and all capable of the NAIA/D3 level. Bell,Lovelace. LaPorta and Kesner are prospects that should be high priorities for small school programs looking for 4/5's in the 2021 class. This tourney is full of good teams, good competition and good talent. If you can make it down Friday it would be worth your price of admission. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;