Standouts from Shadow Creek @ Langham Creek

When two of the areas legitimate top teams are playing each other when you’ve seen many of these players play very early, some before their first middle school game and when a couple of the seniors from opposing teams will team up in the Big 12 next season, where do you think I was. Raichel Anderson (Shadow Creek) and Akyra Hodges (Langham Creek) set the tone early as neither would back down but this was a game that saw runs from both teams, stars step up at the right time, Brooklin Brown playing the passing lane and hitting a huge bucket late for Shadow Creek Sharks or [player_tooltip player_id="135377" first="Saija" last="Cleveland"] putting her Lobos squad on her back down the stretch before she fouled out, but this was my type of "good game" and although the gym wasn’t quite half-full, it was noisy and felt like a playoff atmosphere as Langham held on for a 56-49 victory <strong>Langham Creek Lobos </strong> <img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-227550" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0115-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> &nbsp; <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="96161" first="Aniyah" last="Sanford"]-5’4 PG</strong> Sanford keeps showing me improvement and her handling this type of pressure told me even more about her growth, on and off the court and watching her not only run the team but also control the tempo and understand when to push it, who to get the ball to and do it effectively just made my evening because I’ve been watching her since she  was around 10 years old but what set it off for me was when she took the defender, went behind her back and split a couple of more for a lay-up early <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-227549 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0085-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="158882" first="Heather" last="Baymon"]-5’6 SG</strong> I said early before the season even started that she has one of the best stop and pop pull-up jumpers in Texas, any class right now before the season started yet her mindset, couple with both speed and athleticism makes her a threat on both ends as she sliced by defenders with ease to go with the pull-up but she also played the passing lane which led to baskets, she had 18, not to leave out her defense and coming from  behind the offensive players to get steals, she has that type of speed <img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-227551" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0070-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="136349" first="Kaley" last="Perkins"]-6’1 SG</strong> Perkins hadn’t played her first middle school game when she was dropping game-winning threes and watching her size, length and release told me big things were coming so the Oklahoma signee will fit in perfectly in that system, just as she is right now and her pressure baskets throughout the game, some from a different stratosphere, were a big part of their victory but what I like along with her offense is the defensive job she gave as well as her rebounding <strong>Shadow Creek Sharks</strong> <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-227554 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0050-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97626" first="Bre’Yon" last="White"] 6’0 SF</strong> White has this switch called BRE-MODE and it was turned completely on and I remember when she came from Louisiana I asked her if she brought some boudin which probably startled her since she was clueless about who I was but she brought something I love, even more, I saw it then and it’s blossomed that it will translate quickly when she joins Oklahoma next season. She’s a powerful scorer on the inside, she can defenders off the dribble yet she can also flat out shoot the mid to long-range <img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-227555" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0059-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135363" first="R’Mani" last="Taylor"]-5’7 PG</strong> Taylor was dribbling a ball in street clothes in the 5th grade when I called her a #D1Lock, yes I’m that good because I knew she would be, just like that, and watching her throw pinpoint passes through traffic, running the offense to precision as well as handling the ball under pressure all stood out last night but she also attacked off the dribble, she understands how to create her shot and her range is from around the NBA line, that keeps the defense honest <img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-227556 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0063-1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /> <strong>Da’Nae Williams-5’0 PG/SG</strong> Williams falls into several categories including the one I hashtagged #Sizedontmatter because she can flat out play and I labeled her as one of the areas top defenders and if you were at this game, you would have seen what I’m talking about, remember it’s not what you do it’s who you do it against and she made play after play, especially down the stretch to keep the Sharks within striking distance but her energy always gives me a boost and she has added that mid to long-range to the equation