The Mecca HS Showcase Standouts
The Mecca High School Showcase was a massive event held in the Bronx, NY over the past weekend. We already took time to recap the games involving New Jersey teams in a previous article, but in this article, we’ll be…
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Continue ReadingThe Mecca High School Showcase was a massive event held in the Bronx, NY over the past weekend. We already took time to recap the games involving New Jersey teams in a previous article, but in this article, we’ll be talking about some standout players that caught our eye on Sunday.
Lashanda Smith (Sr.) – G/F, Life Center
Smith has been quite the impact player for Life Center in their last few games and has recently joined the 1000 point club in her high school career. She’s a gifted scorer and knows how to find lanes to the basket and opportunities to score. Smith is an aggressive player, which really factors well into the system Life Center likes to play. The more that Smith can continue to attack the paint with tenacity on both sides of the ball, the more she’ll continue to stand out for this team.
Tiara Bellamy (Sr.) – 5-9 G, Montclair Immaculate
Bellamy has improved a great deal from last season, her first on varsity at Montclair Immaculate, and is become a much more consistent scorer overall. We can see it in her production levels this season that she’s more confident and more poised with the ball in her hands. Bellamy, at her best, has all the traits of a multi-dimensional forward. She’s learning more and more how to dominate on offense, but that’s translated well on the glass for rebounding and in passing. She’s an excellent passer and perimeter defender, and is aggressive in rebounding that’s allowed her more opportunities to get opportunities going down the floor.
Shariah Baynes (So.) – 5-6 PG/SG, Paul VI
Baynes has found her stride as one of the best passing guards in the Olympic Conference this season. Not only that, but she’s shown herself to be a great scorer and a great three-point shooter. She’s becoming more confident as the season is progressing and other parts of her game have improved. We wanted to highlight her passing as it’s been really stellar. Her court awareness has allowed her to pick out opponents and find open spots to dish the ball to them for scoring opportunities.
Katie Ledden Katie Ledden 6'0" | SG Rutgers Prep | 2023 State NJ (Jr.) – 6-0 F/G, Rutgers Prep
Ledden has emerged into a near-complete forward for Rutgers Prep now in her junior season and she’s consistently been dominant on both sides of the basketball. We start out first talking about her offense where she’s been averaging career-highs in scoring. Her height is the main reason for that success as she’s taking advantage of mismatches and taking it to opponents at the rim. The same can be said on the glass and defensive end of the floor. Ledden is a strong defender and has done a fantastic job at not getting backed down toward the lane. The confidence and drive in her has really taken over this season.
Ashley O’Connor (Sr.) – 5-9 G, St. John Vianney
We talked about O’Connor this past summer during the AAU season as she had a stellar campaign with the NJ Shoreshots. She rode the momentum from that into the season, where she’s having arguably her most complete year of her high school career. O’Connor has been a massive factor as a passer and is easily one of the top passers in the Shore Conference. Her court awareness has steadily improved and she’s now finding open teammates more easily than ever. Keep an eye on her perimeter defense and scoring as well because she frequently comes up big in clutch situations.
Ally Lovisolo (Sr.) – PF/C, Blair Academy
Lovisolo has been the real deal for Blair this season and while she didn’t really get the chance to showcase her skills as a junior, she’s more than made up for it as a senior. She’s excelled most as a forward for this team and uses her height and size to get great positioning in the lane on offense and defense. It comes in handy as she’s swatting away shots and hauling rebounds as a defender, or when she’s creating space on offense to put up an easy field goal or draw in defenders to create contact and go to the foul line. It’s created much success for Lovisolo so far this season and we’re excited to see her continue to dominate.