Battle in the Big Friendly: Second Team All-Tourney 16U

Here’s a look at the Second Team performers from last weekend in OKC at Solid Rock Gym. As I’ve said before picking these teams is extremely tough and it can be really hard to distinguish between First and Second Team - sometimes even Honorable Mention. All of that being said, here they are. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="261721" first="Kayley" last="Alt"] | 5-8 CG | Banshees 2023 | Pryor High, OK | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/AltKayley">@AltKayley</a></strong> Alt is a long, lean scoring machine. She is a tremendous spot up shooter - a silent assassin. She has a workman like demeanor while going about her business on the court and she works hard to do everything that a coach could want from her. She’s a very good defender who has good hops and uses her long arms to disrupt passes and shots. Alt can handle the ball at the point and does a good job of reading the defense and precisely running the play her coach has called. That being said, her ability at the two-spot is unparalleled. She receives the ball in great shooting position and uses her smooth jumper with a nice high release to finish consistently from deep. <strong>Laila Hamilton | 5-8 CG | Banshees 2023 | Owasso High, OK | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/16uArkansas">@16uArkansas</a></strong> Hamilton is well-built, very strong and does a lot more than your typical guard. She gets to the rim and can survive a lot of contact and finish. She also rebounds very well and had we been keeping rebounding stats would have probably seen that she had - or was very close to - a few double-doubles over the course of the weekend. She has good handles and a nice jumper. She is also a tough defender that really has no problem defending positions one through five. She is strong enough to put a body on post players and quick enough to defend even the quickest guards out on the perimeter. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="261728" first="Taneya" last="Howard"] | 5-10 PF | Oklahoma Swift 2023 | Broken Arrow High, OK | 2023 | @oklahoma_swift</strong> Perhaps it was the scoring prowess of her Broken Arrow squad that made her offensive abilities not stand out as much during the high school season. That being said, maybe I just missed it. I mean, this kid can score. She is a force to be reckoned with inside. She pulls down a lot of rebounds and does a great job of getting the "hoop and the harm" on the offensive end. She is a very long player who racks up the blocks. Her defense has always stood out and distinguished her from a lot of post players around, now it looks like her offense is catching up and she is going to be a very dangerous player in the very near future. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="267341" first="Monica" last="Marsh"] | 5-5 G | Platinum Basketball 2023 (Walker) | Plano West Senior High, TX | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/monicamarshh">@monicamarshh</a></strong> This kid is just a bucket. That’s all there is to it. I saw her make some shots that just made no sense last weekend. Off balance, in traffic, running full speed - the kind of shot that makes a coach say "Nooooo... yes! Great shot!" She can just flat fill it up. She is a smaller sized guard who somehow still has pretty long arms and her shot from deep is so quick that it can be pretty hard to even challenge her shot. She is lightning fast and is just a plain tremendous scorer. Coaches, you need to get a look at her on future PGH Circuit stops. You won’t be disappointed. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="197950" first="Ellie" last="Brueggemann"] | 5-8 SG | Team Griffin 2023 | Lincoln Christian High, OK | 2023 | <a href="https://x.com/ecbruegge2023">@ecbruegge2023</a></strong> Ellie was making it rain from deep all weekend. It can be hard to really stand out on a loaded team like Team Griffin, but she did it. A very long shooting guard who does a great job of moving without the ball, Brueggemann finds herself in shooting position and almost just doesn’t miss. I was really impressed with her ability to work within the Team Griffin offense considering that the team has played together for a long time and four of the five starters are together during the high school season - and were in the Oklahoma State Finals. She just slots right in and makes the team a lot better by offering another absolutely deadly scoring threat. Ellie is fun to watch and she is still very young. The sky is the limit for this young lady. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;