2023 Rankings: New Guards

Mindy McCarthy September 14, 2021 @ 04:01 PM

The class of 2023 rankings were updated last week. Here are some new names that should be on your radar. [player_tooltip player_id="323881" first="Olivia" last="Boyce"] | Carmel Christian Boyce has spent the summer doing a little bit of everything for her team. As the main ball handler for her Lady Attack Elite team, she controls the tempo of the game. She drives hard to the basket, and she slides into the gaps on defense to put up an open shot. She does a great job adjusting to put the ball through the hoop, and she crashes the boards on both ends looking for rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id="323894" first="Jessica" last="Clemons"] | Millbrook Clemons is someone who will certainly play both ends of the court for her teams. She’s an excellent on ball defender knocking the ball out of opponents’ hands with ease, and she jumps into passing lanes with ease to grab steals. She can handle the ball well finding open teammates along the way, or she has a nice floater she can take to the hoop. Opposing teams need to make sure to close out on her quick as she has a nice shot from downtown. [player_tooltip player_id="323884" first="Nadiya" last="Hairston"] | High Point Christian Get you a point guard that can block shots like Hairston! This girl tracks the ball well on defense showing off her shot blocking ability even in transition. She uses her vision of the court to make effective plays on offense finding her open teammates, and she knows how to draw defenders towards her to open up her teammates for their own shots. She can certainly take it all the way to the hoop herself. [player_tooltip player_id="323897" first="Maddy" last="Powell"] | North Raleigh Christian Powell is a flat out scorer. She can shoot well from downtown, and she’s an excellent backdoor cutter finding ways to catch passes with ease and finish at the rim. She doesn’t shy away from contact either on defense going after the ball smacking it out of her opponents’ hands or jumping into passing lanes. She can certainly track the ball down blocking shots, too. [player_tooltip player_id="323900" first="Destanee" last="Trammell"] | Robbinsville Trammell (pictured above) made sure her name was known this summer with a hot shooting season. She was knocking them down from deep consistently including a game hitting 7 three pointers for her team. She has a nice crossover that she uses to blow by opponents taking it all the way to the rim or pulling up for a midrange jumper. She does well handling the ball finding her open teammates, too. [player_tooltip player_id="323902" first="Valerie" last="Veauthier"] | Pine Forest This past high school season, it seemed to be a consistent occurrence that Veauthier would score 20 points or more even as a sophomore. She has a nice shot from deep even showing off her ability to score three pointers in transition. She makes smart decisions with the ball knowing when her opponent is closing out quickly opening up a lane for her to drive the ball instead of shoot.