Holiday Hoopfest at E-town (part 2)

The inaugural Cochran Mechanical/Smith Realtors Holiday HoopFest and Elizabethtown High School was a very competitive field with some very good teams and full of talented players. I would recommend it to any team looking for a high-level tournament and to coaches looking for players. Below is part two of my coverage from E-town focusing more on the Guards and Small Forwards. [player_tooltip player_id="106160" first="Isabel" last="Grimes"] - ’22 5’6"/PG - Breckenridge County Grimes is a closer when her team has the lead. She knows when to start burning a little extra clock early with some dribbling that to the untrained eye appears to be part of setting up the halfcourt offense, but is actually there to squeeze some precious seconds off the clock without arising suspicions that her team has even begun the stall. Against the press this crafty Point Guard is magic with the ball in her hands and is so quick she is nearly untouchable by most opponents. The thing is we have her listed as a Shooting Guard. She could certainly play both averaging 21 points, 5 rebounds, 35% shooting from three-point range, and making 76% of her free throws during the tournament. She scored layups on a curling drive from the left wing, a straight drive along the right side of the lane, after a stolen pass in the press and can finish with either hand. She also made a free throw line jumper after penetration in transition and dove to the floor to save a ball that was going out of bounds to a teammate. [player_tooltip player_id="164385" first="Timberlynn" last="Yeast"] - ’23 5’10"/SF - Mercer County Yeast is a great athlete and averaged 21 points, 8 rebounds, shot 33% from three-point range, and made 69% of her free throws. She is so quick and uses her explosiveness to be an out-of-zone rebounder and to run the court. She is the kind of do-it-all Small Forward that defines the position for most people and doesn't seem to be missing any aspect of the game you would typically want in your Three. It is not surprising to see she is ranked the #2 player in the class of '23. [player_tooltip player_id="106147" first="Amaya" last="Asher"] - ’23 5’6"/PG - Central Asher is a quiet leader who seems to let the game come to her in the first half and takes over in the second. I think it works well in that it allows her to assess how is going to show up the most for her team in that game. You know how it can be with basketball. In one game it is one teammate that scores 15 points and in the next game, they score 5 while another teammate steps up as the big contributor. Sometimes it is the match-up, other times it is who has the hot hand. I think she takes over and continues to feed whoever is eating big for the day. She averaged 12 points, 7 rebounds in the tournament and scored 18 points, and grabbed 9 rebounds on the day I was there. Most impressive was a fullcourt straight-line drive for a finger-roll layup where she rolls past all 9 other players on the court looking like Super Mario with an Invulberabilty Power Up. And her court vision is phenomenal as she finds sprinting teammates up the court with pinpoint passes and in the offense with skip passes and over-the-top passes. If you want a team that runs, this is the Point Guard for you. She doesn't get many opportunities to prove herself in the halfcourt offense in many ways like running off the multiple types of screens or cutting without the ball. But she is a High IQ player and will learn it quickly (if she doesn't already know it - I don't read minds. I can only tell you what I could see.). [player_tooltip player_id="106149" first="Amaya" last="Curry"] - ’22 5’6"/CG - Apollo Curry averaged 18 points, 4 rebounds during the tournament and made a straight-line drive from halfcourt for an impressive high-flying layin through contact. She made a top of the ket three, a wing drive for a 5-foot pull-up, curling drive into the lane to force a foul, and a 15-foot jumper. Graci Risley - ’23 5’8"/SG - Henderson County Risley average 18 points and made 41% of her three-pointer during the tournament scoring 21 points when I was there. This is a Shooter that made threes from the left and right wings, a few elbow jumpers after penetration, and some 10 footers from the corners. She also blocked a shot, took a charge, and made a blowby drive from the wing on clear-out play. Skylar Tucker - ’22 5’8"/SF - Breckenridge County Skylar Tucker averaged 10 points, 7 rebounds while making 37.5% of her three-pointers and tallied a double-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds in my presence. She made a three from the right wing, a rebound putback, drove from the high post for a layup, and also from the short corner. Sydney Tucker - ’22 5’8"/SG - Breckenridge County Sydney Tucker averaged 10 points, 5 rebounds, and had 10 points, 3 rebounds when I was there. She scored in the paint, on a drive from the corner for a layup, and made a three from the left wing.

The inaugural Cochran Mechanical/Smith Realtors Holiday HoopFest and Elizabethtown High School was a very competitive field with some very good teams and full of talented players. I would recommend it to any team looking for a high-level tournament and to coaches looking for players.

Below is part two of my coverage from E-town focusing more on the Guards and Small Forwards.

Isabel Grimes Isabel Grimes 5'8" | SG Breckinridge County | 2022 State KY - ’22 5’6"/PG - Breckenridge County

Grimes is a closer when her team has the lead. She knows when to start burning a little extra clock early with some dribbling that to the untrained eye appears to be part of setting up the halfcourt offense, but is actually there to squeeze some precious seconds off the clock without arising suspicions that her team has even begun the stall.

Against the press this crafty Point Guard is magic with the ball in her hands and is so quick she is nearly untouchable by most opponents. The thing is we have her listed as a Shooting Guard. She could certainly play both averaging 21 points, 5 rebounds, 35% shooting from three-point range, and making 76% of her free throws during the tournament.

She scored layups on a curling drive from the left wing, a straight drive along the right side of the lane, after a stolen pass in the press and can finish with either hand. She also made a free throw line jumper after penetration in transition and dove to the floor to save a ball that was going out of bounds to a teammate.

Timberlynn Yeast Timberlynn Yeast 5'8" | SF Mercer County | 2023 State KY - ’23 5’10"/SF - Mercer County

Yeast is a great athlete and averaged 21 points, 8 rebounds, shot 33% from three-point range, and made 69% of her free throws. She is so quick and uses her explosiveness to be an out-of-zone rebounder and to run the court. She is the kind of do-it-all Small Forward that defines the position for most people and doesn't seem to be missing any aspect of the game you would typically want in your Three. It is not surprising to see she is ranked the #2 player in the class of '23.

Amaya Asher Amaya Asher 5'7" | PG Central | 2023 State KY - ’23 5’6"/PG - Central

Asher is a quiet leader who seems to let the game come to her in the first half and takes over in the second. I think it works well in that it allows her to assess how is going to show up the most for her team in that game. You know how it can be with basketball. In one game it is one teammate that scores 15 points and in the next game, they score 5 while another teammate steps up as the big contributor. Sometimes it is the match-up, other times it is who has the hot hand. I think she takes over and continues to feed whoever is eating big for the day.

She averaged 12 points, 7 rebounds in the tournament and scored 18 points, and grabbed 9 rebounds on the day I was there. Most impressive was a fullcourt straight-line drive for a finger-roll layup where she rolls past all 9 other players on the court looking like Super Mario with an Invulberabilty Power Up. And her court vision is phenomenal as she finds sprinting teammates up the court with pinpoint passes and in the offense with skip passes and over-the-top passes.

If you want a team that runs, this is the Point Guard for you. She doesn't get many opportunities to prove herself in the halfcourt offense in many ways like running off the multiple types of screens or cutting without the ball. But she is a High IQ player and will learn it quickly (if she doesn't already know it - I don't read minds. I can only tell you what I could see.).

Amaya Curry Amaya Curry 5'6" | CG Apollo | 2022 State KY - ’22 5’6"/CG - Apollo

Curry averaged 18 points, 4 rebounds during the tournament and made a straight-line drive from halfcourt for an impressive high-flying layin through contact. She made a top of the ket three, a wing drive for a 5-foot pull-up, curling drive into the lane to force a foul, and a 15-foot jumper.

Graci Risley - ’23 5’8"/SG - Henderson County

Risley average 18 points and made 41% of her three-pointer during the tournament scoring 21 points when I was there. This is a Shooter that made threes from the left and right wings, a few elbow jumpers after penetration, and some 10 footers from the corners. She also blocked a shot, took a charge, and made a blowby drive from the wing on clear-out play.

Skylar Tucker - ’22 5’8"/SF - Breckenridge County

Skylar Tucker averaged 10 points, 7 rebounds while making 37.5% of her three-pointers and tallied a double-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds in my presence. She made a three from the right wing, a rebound putback, drove from the high post for a layup, and also from the short corner.

Sydney Tucker - ’22 5’8"/SG - Breckenridge County

Sydney Tucker averaged 10 points, 5 rebounds, and had 10 points, 3 rebounds when I was there. She scored in the paint, on a drive from the corner for a layup, and made a three from the left wing.