Clear Springs advances to R-3 Elite 8 in win over North Shore
I figured this would be the better of the two 6A matchups in the city, even though both North Shore and Clear Springs were without a key starter, sophomore Ja’Nyla Kennedy with the Mustangs and junior Jermia Green with the…
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Continue ReadingI figured this would be the better of the two 6A matchups in the city, even though both North Shore and Clear Springs were without a key starter, sophomore Ja’Nyla Kennedy with the Mustangs and junior Jermia Green with the Lady Chargers and since both are in the PGH Texas Top 100 for their respective classes, this would be a game for the supporting casts to step up and to be honest both sides had some that actually did. I’d have to say that ’21 Niyah Johnson set the tone early for Clear Springs with 7 opening quarter points, North Shore didn’t score until an Ebonie Sallie layup with 1:38 left in the opening quarter which ended with a jumper from ’22 Kenna Gibson at the buzzer giving them a 13-2 lead. The Chargers also led 25-16 at the half but the second half saw the Mustangs flip the script and apply pressure as Zaida Burris, Chrishelle Burris and Makayla Patterson helped force turnovers while Shalayne Gould and America Castillo were attacking, the OMG shooting performances from Kylie Minter, Gibson, and Blaise Blair, well their defense along with D’Nae Johnson, helped seal the victory but here are the standouts
North Shore
Shalayne GouldShalayne Gould-the freshman just brings so much energy on both ends and no matter what the score is, she’s going to play the same way and that in itself is something that caught my eye about her years ago when she was playing sparingly on a club team. She understands how to get to the rim, how to play the passing lane and how to defend man to man full court, again, she’s a freshman
Zaida Burris
Zaida Burris-tried to get the offense going early but it clicked in the second quarter. One thing that she has always done to impress me is to understand how to create her shot and she knows when and how to attack but her outside shot is fluid but even more impressive is that she gets hers in the flow. She plays hard on both ends, will defend “old school” which includes diving on the floor and in the stands for loose balls
Clear Springs
Kylie MinterKylie Minter-I love watching her shoot, in fact, I really love watching her shoot because she sets defenders up and understands how to get her shot off against taller players. Her stutter step to get to the midrange or that in your face dagger from beyond the arc, she continues to show she can score multiple ways against good defenders which is very important, well to me
D’Nae Johnson
D’Nae Johnson-although she might have been the only starter that didn’t score in double digits, she did things that helped each of them achieve that goal, if you don’t truly know the game, you’d miss it but her energy forcing turnovers, combined with her own steals led to easy baskets. I love watching players that understand how to trap as much as those who can play the passing lane, she does both
Kenna Gibson
Kenna Gibson-smooth and silk and loves the pressure but importantly, delivers but her BB-IQ, like knowing how much time was left on the clock to nail that opening quarter buzzer-beater or helping set teammates up continues to speak volumes and speaking of volumes, her long-range exhibitions certainly get the Chargers fands going but even more importantly, she gets her baskets in the flow or just takes over
Niyah Johnson
Niyah Johnson-from when I first saw her a few years ago to what she is now, what she has become is all desire but I’m sure someone will take undeserved credit for it. You can’t teach desire and her opening quarter performance set the tone, I know I said that in the opening paragraph but that was more than 140 characters, well 280 characters ago, so you need to know and understand that’s what started the onslaught. She had to have a double-double and may have had a triple-double if not for foul trouble
Blaise Blair
Blaise Blair-she came out with a fury and vengeance as she definitely did not want this to be the last HS game of her career. Created her shot and picked her spots nicely, rebounded on both ends and defended but that inside-outside shooting helped her reach double-digits if she wasn’t, she was also close to a double double do Elite 8, here they come