Lone Star Fall Event- Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I was so impressed with the talented players I caught at the event in College Station and ALL PLAYERS WILL BE EVALUATED. Here is my Elite 8, I'll be dropping standouts from both the Orange and White teams later, so here ya go</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Brooke Jacobus-G (2024)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jacobus gets the cover because she was hard to cover and as I have mentioned over and over, TALENT IS EVERYWHERE, if you know what you're looking at and I definitely know. She dropped the mid to long-range, showed she could "catch and shoot" as well as score off the dribble using a deceptive first step. She also went after loose balls as well as rebounds, even went coast to coast to score a few times</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tianna Hickman-G (2027)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hickman is an athletic guard who uses her athleticism on both ends very well. Her "on the ball" defense helped to create turnovers, yet watching her come away with steals and see the floor in the open court was really nice. She also saw the floor in the set, off the dribble included, but her pull-up jumper was nice and she showed it from mid to long-range </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kenzie Couch-G (2029)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Couch has some impressive upside based on her skillset right now and since she already gave me a glimpse of being able to "catch and shoot" it, that will be one of her many pluses moving forward. She attacked the basket and finished off balance, body control is ahead of her years, she also saw the floor and dropped it from mid to long range. Guess what else she does, plays the passing lane so voila </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>A'Layah Childress (20230)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Childress had me hearing "Not Afraid" and "Never Scared" in my head because she was one of the youngest players in attendance and falls into that #sizedontmatter hashtag I love to use because she can play. She's heady and understands how to set the defender up to score, her slight HEZ had me leaning, but she has good body control on her finishes, she dropped the jumper and saw the floor, all while playing against older player </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='790223' first='DeAnna' last='Cole']-G (2027)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cole has the right last name because she is COLE (sic) but let me add watching her float like a butterfly to the basket and sting like a bee from mid to long-range, I was overly impressed with the progression I have seen since the club season. In one of her drives, she actually defied gravity and changed hands to score, more importantly, she did it instinctively but she handled the ball and saw the floor under pressure, she also applied pressure defensively and played the passing lane</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Val Hernandez-G (2027)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hernandez opened it up showing she could defend "on the ball" baseline to baseline" as well as in the set. Her playing the passing lane and handling the ball afterward was nice, especially since her court vision in transition got her teammates scoring opportunities. She scored off the dribble, nice crossover helped enable her to get by defenders easily, she dropped it from mid to long range and she showed the "catch and shoot" </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ja'Mya Johnson-G (2028)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Johnson goes hard on both ends and her passion and energy stayed the same throughout the event. She's explosive off the dribble and finished strongly after contact yet she also did a good job of not only creating her shot but knocking it down while being defended. Her court vision was solid, both in the set as well as in the open court. She has good timing and quick hands, both helped cause turnovers but so did her playing the passing lane </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mariam (Maro) Dirani (2030)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dirani was also one of the youngest players in attendance and her ability to score in the flow as well as play within herself and stay under control in spite of pressure being applied all were nice. She showed the EURO, as well as the pull-up jumper yet she's a "long and athletic" guard who understands positioning which helped her rebound on both ends, and even scored on putbacks </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->