West Texas Individual Showcase 2024 Tip Sheet

Plainview Texas was a place I had never been and I’m still beaming from ear to ear at the new faces I had a chance to catch in person and get a great look at. This group of sophomores was, how can I say this, "solid as a rock" but importantly filled with upside and that’s impressive in itself at this stage so here ya go <strong>Brenna Francis-5’7 PG (Silverton HS)</strong> Francis is a heady guard that understands the game and is under control at all times yet her desire is what immediately caught my attention as she was going after loose balls on the floor, before the games even started yet she handles the ball well under pressure and let me also add she sees the floor the same way, under pressure and her pinpoint passes in traffic stood out, so did her shooting which is from mid to long-range but the way she created her shot was nicely done as she could also attack off the dribble but let me not leave out her quick release on the "catch and shoot" was nice as well <strong>Azalea Alaniz-5’5 SG (Hereford HS)</strong> Alaniz is a smooth ballhandler and her nifty moves in the open court enabled her to get wherever she wanted so she showed the slight hesitation, I often refer to that as "The Hez" and it’s a good move to get the defender off balance yet she also has a good crossover going full speed, trust me, that ain’t easy, nor is it easy to stop her as she has a nice pull-up jumper, not only in transition, but coming off the screen, and she can drop it from mid to long-range but she adds "attacking the rim off the dribble" to the equation and she can dish or score while driving but seeing the floor was easy for also <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="342238" first="Taylor" last="Wallace"]-5’10 PF (Plainview HS) pictured</strong> Wallace is two inches shy of "the magic number" which is 6’0 and I call it that because "college coaches love players at that height" trust me, but she mixes her game up quite a bit to be effective and by that I mean, yeah, she knows how to maneuver in the paint and score with either hand, after contact, and contact is basically irrelevant because she loves banging on the inside for rebounds. She also does a good job playing defense, that’s either inside the paint or stepping out of it yet her versatility takes me back to the offensive side where she showed she could knock down the jumper or attack the rim <strong>Andrea Sustaita-5’8 SG (Caprock HS)</strong> Sustaita definitely left a lasting impression as she wanted the ball under pressure and did a good job of knocking shots down, big shots yet I love how active she was on the floor, yes she’s long and athletic, I call that the base, and seeing her anticipate passes and go after them, aka "playing the passing lane" was nice but when you add that she could handle the ball, that resulted in scoring opportunities, either for her or from her hitting teammates for assists, yes she sees the floor but she also scored off the dribble in the set and finished with contact yet let me not leave out the "pull-up" jumper worked when there wasn’t any pressure too <strong>Jaydan Bagwell-5’7 G (Valley HS)</strong> Bagwell is a feisty guard that uses her athletics well. She played good defense, both "on the ball" as well as staying in front of her man in the open court but she also "plays within herself" meaning she doesn’t force shots nor passes and got hers "in the flow" many times yet she also did a good job of creating her shot, under pressure is the key, and she unlocked attacking the rim numerous times to finish strongly yet that same creating of her shot also let me see the pull-up jumper which was also effective. Her upside is pretty good, her BB-IQ is solid as well