Don’s Class of 2022 Front Court Newcomers and Stockrisers

With our recent update to the Class of 2022 I wanted to highlight some front court players that are either stock risers within the list or newcomers to the list. These girls have all had very good sophomore seasons that have put them in a position to be tracked by college coaches. <strong>(51)[player_tooltip player_id="124895" first="Jillian" last="Hamilton"] </strong>is a 5’11 Forward from Pana. Jillian is a strong and athletic player that has success inside the paint despite being a bit undersized against some of her competition. Her true upside is based on the obvious athletic abilities and talent that can be transitioned to playing more on the wing. As she improves her ball handling and outside shot, Jillian could really enhance her game. She scored 14.5 points and had 8.6 rebounds per game last year along with 3.5 steals per game. Jillian does a very good job off the ball of reading long passes and using her speed to go get the ball. <strong>(54)[player_tooltip player_id="160144" first="Claire" last="Christeson"] </strong>is a 6’0 Forward from Civic Memorial. Claire is a great energy player that has come off the bench most of her career at CM. She can affect the game immediately on the defensive end where she uses her length and athletic ability to be able to guard all 5 positions. Her energy and effort gets her points by running the floor and crashing the boards. Her junior year will provide a breakout opportunity as All State player [player_tooltip player_id="121834" first="Anna" last="Hall"] graduates. This will increase the number of paint touches she gets and allow Claire to show her ability to score in the post. <strong>(57)[player_tooltip player_id="160152" first="Alyssa" last="Cole"] </strong>is a 5’9 Wing from Nashville. Alyssa has shown great improvement over her two years on the Nashville varsity. She came into high school as a big strong girl with good athletic ability that had played inside as a younger player. She is very tough to handle inside for smaller wings and guards. But, the reason she is here on our rankings is the clear improvement in ball handling and outside shooting. Alyssa is a definite threat to hit the 3-pointer and beat you off the dribble. She should play a big role for perennial power Nashville over the next two years. <strong>(62)[player_tooltip player_id="161014" first="Tessa" last="Towers"]</strong> is a 6’4 Post from Batavia. Tessa is a tall and strong inside player that is still improving her game every day. I first saw her at the PGH Top 250 camp last fall and saw a player with great touch around the rim. She averaged 11.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game as sophomore. Tessa just started playing as a 7th grader so she is still learning the nuances for the game. I believe that as she continues to become more agile and quick with her reads in the post, she has the natural ability to have a nice upside. <strong>(63)[player_tooltip player_id="159606" first="Sydney" last="Tebbe"] </strong>is a 6’0 Post from Okawville. Sydney is a fundamentally sound post player that does a very good job of getting good position in the lane. she can finish with either hand off a variety of good moves in the paint. She does most of her damage inside but shows the athletic ability to play in the high post as her ball skills and outside shot improve. Despite playing at a 1A school Sydney plays a tough schedule with multiple 3A and 4A teams on their schedule. She stacked up well in these games which paid off with double/doubles come playoff time. <strong>(81) [player_tooltip player_id="160154" first="Charlize" last="Luehman"] </strong>is a 5’9 Forward from Father McGivney. Charlize is a bit of an undersized power forward for the Lady Griffins. She averaged 9.4 points per game, but started out with a bang as senior Madison Webb dealt with an injury. Playing as the primary inside threat at that time Charlize averaged 16 points and 7 rebounds per game to start the season. That gives a preview into what she may be able to do next year. Charlize has the athletic ability to play away from the basket and will further improve her stock with smaller colleges as she expands her game in the high post area. All of these players need to be watched by college coaches. With some post players with size ( Towers) and good size and athletic ability to play the 4 ( Christeson and Tebbe) to go along with the size and athletic ability of wings (Hamilton and Cole), there is some exciting upside potential in the front court players in the bottom half of the 2022 class. &nbsp; &nbsp;