Tuesday Night Across the State Pt.2: Freshman Phenoms

Before anything is said, any freshman who makes the Varsity roster is a phenom. But some freshies went above and beyond Tuesday night, balling at a level much beyond their years. Here are some of the best freshman performances from last night’s action: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="329555" first="Georgia" last="Acompanado"] | Greenfield | Guard</strong> Acomponada was the most impactful two-way presence on the court in Greenfield’s win against Whitnall. No qualifier needed. Let’s start on the end that pays the bills: defense. Early on, Whitnall ran BLOB sets and offensive motions with intentions of attacking G.A..They did not work. Acomponada consistently fought through screens and adjusted her body to deny inbound passes. And when her matchup tried attacking her to the rim, Acomponada absorbed the contact and denied her at the rim. Her strong full-deny defense put Whitnall on notice. On the offensive end, she’s as selfless as she is polished. She routinely attacked the spaces in the defense either through her passing or with her high-level handling. On the break, she angled her runs to force the defense away from the hoop and dropped off easy dimes for her teammates. In the halfcourt, she split doubles and through a couple of in-and-outs/hesitation dribbles to throw the D off balance and attack the rim. Acompanado is one of the most refined freshmen in the state. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="338948" first="Peyton" last="Musial"] | Notre Dame | Wing</strong> Having natural chemistry is an underrated talent and Musial is already so good at working alongside her talented teammates. She’s a willing and smart passer within the flow of the offense, reads when to cut, and adapts her movement based on how the defense focuses their attention. Against Sheboygan North, the simplicity and precision of her movements outsmarted the Golden Raiders. Every player from the moment they play basketball is taught to pass-and-cut, but few first-years have worked on this skill as much Musial. No two cuts are the same. Off one pass she rounded the cut to get a cleaner angle for the pass-back and easy deuce. On another, she hit the defense on a backdoor and worked off of [player_tooltip player_id="262971" first="Sarah" last="Hardwick"]’s passing ability at the top of the key. She’s also able to finish smoothly at the rim with her left and works hard on the defensive end. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="338942" first="Madison" last="Fitzgibbon"] | Homestead | Guard</strong> Simply put, Fitzgibbon is playing like the best freshman in the state of Wisconsin. She dropped a 30-piece on Slinger and is averaging an obscene 31 points per game over her last three contests. Against Slinger, she built on much of the same attributes that contributed to her 38-point outburst against West Bend. Her jumper extends out beyond the three-point line and her ability to take a direct ball-screen and go into a shot is lethal. Fitzgibbon’s constant off-ball movement lulled Slinger’s defense to sleep and she was able to capitalize on spot-up shooting opportunities. And while her consistency at range as a freshman is exciting, her speed gives her the opportunity to take her game <em>even </em>further. She can get past the first level of defense with relative ease, especially since the defense has to press her 25-feet and in. A tighter handle along with the respect she commands could see her take another step forward, and considering she’s dropping 30-burgers left and right, that’s a scary thing for the state of Wisconsin. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="338945" first="Makena" last="Christian"] | Hartford | Guard/Wing</strong> Christian splashed in 22 for Hartford and did it however the defense wanted her to do. When heavily pressed, she demonstrated the ability to blow by her marker and attack the basket with force, using her 5’10" frame to finish above opposing guards. When her defender was screened off, she elevated for midrange shots with ease. And though she was inefficient from beyond the arc, her willingness to take outside shots opened up her game. The ultimate reason she was able to hurt West Bend East was because of her sound handle. It’s the key to her three-level scoring. She handles close to her body and in a controlled manner, so when she has the opportunity to take her defender off the dribble or manipulate a screen defenders can’t get to her. Again, she’ll need to improve her three-point efficiency, but Christian is well on her way to becoming a dominant player in the state.