6A State Championships – All-Tournament Team

First off, congratulations to the state champion Norman Tigers who finished the season undefeated at 19-0 after a final victory over Bixby, 48-37. The final eight teams who began the state championships in Sapulpa featured numerous outstanding players - probably enough to fill five or six all-tournament teams. Here is a look at the top-5 players who stood out to this scout. <strong><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0144-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615671022.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-262694 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0144-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615671022-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a>[player_tooltip player_id="197965" first="Gracy" last="Wernli"] | 5-9 G | Bixby | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/GracyWernli">@GracyWernli</a></strong> Perhaps bumping Gracy up to No. 8 in the 2023 rankings wasn’t enough. Against the best teams in the state, Wernli was absolutely on fire. In the first game against Choctaw, Wernli was unconscious from behind the arc! Gracy made seven three-pointers and totaled 26 points for the game. Even though she was held to five in the championship against Norman, Wernli ended the State Championships with a total of 43 points. Gracy has the ability to create space and drains a lot more shots than she misses. She is a good defender with great lateral movement. Coming up short in the state finals can only serve to stoke her fire a little more and the next few years will see the offers come rolling in. <strong><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0049-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615671091.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-262696 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0049-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615671091-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a>[player_tooltip player_id="197981" first="Laci" last="Steele"] | 5-11 F | Edmond North | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/LaciSteele2023">@LaciSteele2023</a></strong> Speaking of potentially underrated sophomores, Steele is our No. 7 player in the class of 2023 and could be rising up in the next iteration. Steele is an absolute beast of a scorer. Laci tied Wernli for the best scoring performance in Edmond North’s opening game against Putnam City North with 26. She made one bucket from deep and five from the line, but the majority of her points came as she worked her way to the line with outstanding handles and the tremendous ability to finish through contact. Laci is a Division-I star and it is just a matter of figuring out where she is going to end up. Steele has great size, is very strong and is a vocal leader for her squad. <strong><img class="size-medium wp-image-222419 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/11/DSC_0225-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" />[player_tooltip player_id="30552" first="Kelbie" last="Washington"] | 5-7 G | Norman | 2021 | <a href="https://x.com/kelw35">@kelw35</a></strong> Sherri Coales and the Oklahoma coaching staff have to be salivating at the potential star they have coming their way next season. She isn’t the biggest player on the court, but her heart definitely is. Kelbie is a fiery player and her teammates feed off of her every emotion. She is also the absolute fastest player in Oklahoma Girls High School basketball when it comes to getting to the rim. In the championship game, she was virtually unstoppable and probably the number one reason that the Tigers are now state champions. Washington was 7-of-10 from the field and totaled 15 points in the final game. She gets to the rim less with handles - which she does have - and more so with her ability to blow by absolutely any defender. Nobody could stop her. The Big-12 gets to spend the next four years potentially realizing that they can’t stop her either. <strong><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0145-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615670940.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-262692 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0145-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615670940-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a>[player_tooltip player_id="197943" first="Alyssa" last="Nielsen"] | 5-11 C | Bixby | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/AlyssaN2023">@AlyssaN2023</a></strong> The No. 6 player in the 2023 rankings showed exactly why she is there during Bixby’s run to the finals. Nielsen has always been a presence inside, a good teammate and a great defender. She has added a phenomenal turnaround jumper this season that just isn’t seen at the high school level and is now a legitimate Division-I prospect. Nielsen scored 10, 10 and 16 in the quarterfinals, semi’s and championship, respectively. Nielsen is a vocal leader, fiery in a good way. She is also a good teammate and very talkative on both ends of the floor. She is everything that a college coach could want and I have a feeling that putting on such a good show in the championship against no less than [player_tooltip player_id="30543" first="Chantae" last="Embry"] - whom she held to her lowest total of the tourney - will definitely help to put her on a lot of radars. <strong><img class="size-medium wp-image-262701 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/DSC_0291-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1615671352-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" />[player_tooltip player_id="30543" first="Chantae" last="Embry"] | 6-1 F | Norman | 2021 | <a href="https://x.com/chantae_embry">@chantae_embry</a></strong> The top prospect in the entire tournament did not disappoint, though she was clearly playing through some pain. She had ice on her hip during every timeout and we truly hope she gets well soon and that the injury is no more than just the bumps and bruises accrued in a hard-fought state tournament. Embry had 10, 14 and then eight in the championship. She is an immovable force on the block. She moves well for a big and does a great job of creating space underneath. She works open without the ball and then with the ball in her hands goes into an absolute flurry of elite footwork and mesmerizing moves. Embry is headed to Texas Tech to play for head coach Krista Gerlich on a young and up-and-coming Red Raider squad. Back at 100% next season, the Oklahoma State Champ will be putting on a show in Big-12 arenas everywhere. &nbsp;