2021 Duncanville Shootout-Sophomore Watch

The Duncanville Shootout gave me a little bit of everything, including players I hadn’t seen or had seen yet have shown progression, remember for me, that’s the key so let me unlock a few from the 2024 class <strong>Adhel  Tac 6’4 C (South Grand Prairie HS)</strong> Tac is long and athletic, that’s the base, and she’s 76 inches tall, that’s the home run so as she rounds the bases she’s showing "grand slam" potential for a number of reasons. First of all, I love her timing to alter, block or even deflect shots, she makes her presence felt on the inside and does a good job going after the ball for rebounds, on both ends of the court, and yes, she finished on putbacks as well as around the paint so that upside is, well up there <strong>Lena Newby-6’1 PF (Cibolo Steele HS)</strong> Newby is also long and athletic yet watching her play the passing lane numerous times and handling the ball the length of the floor to score told me a lot yet she also sets the defender up to score off the dribble yet on the flip, she applies "on the ball" heat defensively and did a good job rebounding but I also liked the pull-up jumper <strong>Tajenae Gooden-5’10 SG (Duncanville HS)</strong> Gooden was one of those players I labeled #D1Lock in probably the 6th or 7th grade yet I lost track of her for whatever reason yet the race ain’t over as she’s definitely being added in the next update. Here’s the deal, she has a college-ready body right now, she can punish on either end but watching her create contract attacking the rim to give herself "and one opps", that’s opportunities, just floored me yet I got right back up because that mid to long-range is creating some problems <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="309647" first="Vernell" last="Atamah"]-6’0 PF (Horn HS)</strong> Atamah consistently shows how powerful she is around the basket as she battles for everything off the rim and finishes strongly on putbacks after contact however she also showed the outside shot works as well as putting the ball on the floor to finish, again, after contact yet she also defends well in the paint and uses her athleticism to also defend outside the paint, even showed she could do it baseline to baseline <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="206963" first="Taylor" last="Craver"]-5’9 G (Lancaster HS)</strong> Craver had me craving for more as she showed she could get to the basket multiple ways from multiple angles but let me add with what I should have started with, she’s long athletic and again, that’s the base and her deceptive first step is nice, so are her finishes which include after contact but she also rebounds on both ends and defends but that ballhandling and court vision are also very nice <strong>Ava Shane-5’9 SF (Plano West HS</strong> Shane gave me a good first impression and if I’ve seen her, I didn’t have a roster or I had an erroneous one but nevertheless, I probably kept it moving and she showed she could do the same thing, keep it moving as she was active around the  rim, both garnering rebounds as well as finishing strongly on putbacks yet she also finished after contact showing some nice moves inside the paint, good upside <strong>Courtney Bluitt-5’7 SG (Red Oak HS)</strong> Bluitt showed me she is fearless, which is good and poised, which is sometimes better and her shooting was pretty good as well as she created her shot, under pressure to drop the mid to long-range yet she also understands something very important and that is "she plays within herself" <strong>Janiya Murphy-5’8 SG (Summer Creek HS)</strong> Murphy is going to have some calling Law before it’s also said and done because of her ability to get to her "spot" and drop the midrange, a lost art, which is definitely going to create some issues. She’s athletic and strong, her release is quick and she understands how to score off the dribble as well