Grassroots Preview: Lady Strong/Strong Center 2024
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The regular season and playoffs have given way to the travel slate across the country – including here in North Carolina. Among the many grassroots teams that captures the attention of many a hoops fan in a state as passionate…
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Continue ReadingThe regular season and playoffs have given way to the travel slate across the country – including here in North Carolina. Among the many grassroots teams that captures the attention of many a hoops fan in a state as passionate about basketball is this one is a team that calls Fuquay-Varina – near the Research Triangle – its home base.
That team would be Lady Strong/Strong Center 2024. Coached by Danny Strong, the team has won USBA national championships in 2018 and 2019 as well as a NTBA national championship last year. Lady Strong 2024 is coming off impressive showings at the LBI March Madness event in Concord as well as CGHR March Madness in Florence.
For this year’s Lady Strong/Strong Center 2024 rendition, it will feature a 12-person roster with five of those 12 wearing the colors of nearby Grace Christian HS during the high school season. As expected, the entire Lady Strong/Strong Center roster is comprised of Hoop State talents in addition to featuring a number of players who can operate in either the frontcourt or the backcourt.
Here is what the full roster looks like for Lady Strong/Strong Center 2024 as AAU remains, for now, in its opening stages.
Danauje Brooks – 2025 – Grace Christian HS – Brooks has been garnering the attention of many a basketball fan in the state since her seventh grade days. She is listed as 5-foot-1 on the Lady Strong/Strong Center roster and is coming off a season where she averaged 9 points, 4.7 assists and 2.8 steals for the Crusaders.
Serenity McNair Serenity McNair 5'5" | PG Grace Christian | 2024 State NC – 2024 – Greenfield HS – A two-sport athlete who also plays soccer, one knows that one is good when she has already assumed captaincy duties as a freshman. McNair averaged 24 points, 5.2 assists, 4.1 steals and 3.7 rebounds for the Knights in 2021-22.
Miyah Campbell – 2025 – Grace Christian HS – Campbell played in 26 games this past season for the Crusaders. Her scoring, ball distribution and defense were all key elements in Grace Christian winning 23 consecutive games en route to a NCISAA 1A state championship.
Krystal Haddock Krystal Haddock 5'10" | CG NC GBB | 2024 State NC – 2024 – D.H. Conley HS – Save for a pair of six-footers, Haddock is the tallest sophomore sporting Lady Strong/Strong Center pink and black. She averaged 10.6 points, 4.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 steals for the Vikings.
Emerson Thompson Emerson Thompson 5'9" | CG Falls Lake Academy | 2024 State NC – 2024 – Falls Lake Academy – Thompson may be a guard, but she can play as if she were a forward or big with the rebounds she collects. Her 5-foot-9 height helps out too in complimenting the 19.2 points she averaged for the Firebirds.
Lexie Dawson Lexie Dawson 5'7" | SG Ashe County | 2024 NC – 2024 – Topsail HS – The No. 14 Dawson wears with the Pirates is the same No. 14 she wears with the travel team. Dawson is another of the Lady Strong/Strong Center underclassmen who put up big numbers at the high school level – 12.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and three steals.
Victoria Coleman – 2024 – Greenfield HS – Coleman plays a big role, man. Standing tall at 5-foot-11, she has some of the most height of any of this season’s Lady Strong/Strong Center participants. Coleman displays her versatility when she is on the floor as she can play as either a forward or guard.
Sarah Strong Sarah Strong 6'2" | PF Grace Christian | 2024 State NC – 2024 – Grace Christian HS – The Crusaders’ resident big who has built up a robust national profile. A five-star prospect, she presents plenty of problems for opponents on both offense and defense in the low post.
Halisi Whitley Halisi Whitley 5'6" | CG Grace Christian | 2025 State NC – 2024 – Grace Christian HS – Whitley was a transfer from Millbrook and managed to find her footing with the Crusaders. Ball distribution, defense and scoring are elements she has brought to the team.
Icyss Storm – 2024 – Hillside HS – Storm stands as one of three six-footers that comprise the 2022 rendition of Lady Strong/Strong Center 2024 hoops. She earned 2nd Team District 6 All-District honors this past season.
Amanda Mitchell Amanda Mitchell 6'2" | C Willow Springs | 2025 State NC – 2025 – Willow Springs HS – There are many things that can be coached, but a big that stands at 6-foot-3 is not one of them. It especially helps when that big uses that height advantage to average 10.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game as Mitchell did in 2021-22 for the Storm.
Antonia Hughes Antonia Hughes 5'9" | C Grace Christian | 2025 NC – 2024 – Grace Christian HS – The last, but certainly not least of the Crusaders representatives for Lady Strong/Strong Center 2024. Hughes is a transfer from Athens Drive HS in Raleigh and has talents – including her stellar interior play – to Grace Christian.