Thursday’s Top Performers

I caught Memorial vs Fort Bend Austin, hadn’t seen FBA yet they looked pretty good, especially their role players. <strong>Aminah Dixon-5’5 PG</strong> is a freshman I hadn’t seen yet her upside is solid, has good BB-IQ, and scored off the dribble while <strong>India Jackson-5’10 PF</strong> is a talented junior that showed she could drop the pull-up but her putback gave them a 9 point lead however Memorial kept fighting. Kendall Lyons-5’7 SG came off the bench to hit a huge bucket in the first half but the talented sophomore was steady throughout the game, so was senior <strong>Mary Fielder-5’9 SG </strong>yet with senior<strong> Mackenzie McCown-6’0 SG</strong> out with an early season-ending injury, you just wonder how this game may have gone with one of their top long ball shooters <strong>Here are the Top Performers</strong> <strong>2022</strong> <strong>Gabrielle Johnson-6’0 PF (FB Austin)</strong> Austin scored 24 points in a variety of ways yet her off-the-dribble finishes were virtually unstoppable but she also rebounded on both ends, scored on putbacks, and showed she could drain the midrange. Saw her briefly on another platform a while back and she definitely could play at the next level, well she is, volleyball <strong>Giana Vlahakos-6’0 C (Memorial</strong> Vlahokos has been one of the area's most improved players every season and she went out with a bang finishing strongly after contact and dropping the shot from outside yet her strength and rebounding played a huge part in her team's success all season and watching her play the passing lane multiple times made me smile <strong>2023</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134041" first="Riley" last="McCloskey"]-5’5 PG (Memorial</strong> McCloskey ran her team with precision, that's always a given yet her court vision and ball-handling under pressure has been solid all season and she dropped some late buckets and assists to help them make a run, then came the big 3 yet I'm expecting a huge summer for the talented young lady <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="204172" first="Abigail" last="Tomaski"]-6’0 SG (Memorial)</strong> Tomaski can shoot the ball, colleges love big guards that can shoot yet I was even more impressed with her going after the ball off the rim and finishing on putbacks. She also was solid on defense, help force some turnovers which led to scoring opportunities <strong>Kelechi Dike-5’11 PF (FB Austin)</strong> Dike used her athleticism quite well, she rebounded and scored on putbacks and came up with some huge blocks, including late in the 4th quarter but her pressure was smothering at times yet that timing to block, alter and (or) deflect was huge <strong>2024</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="158872" first="Nicolette" last="Polocheck"]-6’0 SF (Memorial)</strong> Polocheck scores in the paint yet she's also attacking from the wing and dropping the midrange, plus she is defending "on the ball" and rebounding on both ends. She keeps elevating her game and is showing she's more than a back to the basket player <strong>2025</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="385702" first="Andrea" last="Sturdivant"]-5’6 PG (FB Austin)</strong> Sturdivant has definitely taken her game to a different level, she's under control and has an explosive first step in the open court or the set yet she also dropped multiple long balls to go with her acrobatic finishes. Her defense was solid, she played the passing lane and was poised handling the ball under pressure