Tournament Of Champions Pt. 3

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the week of December 18-21, many of the nation's top girls' high school basketball teams assembled at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa at the <strong>Nike Tournament of Champions</strong>. Quite a few teams performed well, including the Bella Vista Bears, going undefeated and winning the Prep division.<br><br><strong>Here, I take a look at more standout players from Arizona high schools that I personally saw.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='205638' first='Dominique' last='Nesland'] <strong>Xavier</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nesland ran the show for the Gators during this event, putting her teammates in a position to score. In addition, she also was in attack mode on the offensive end. She displayed a quick release on her perimeter shot which caused the defenses to play her tighter. That opened up the lanes for her to create for herself and her teammates. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='216733' first='Gianna' last='Whiteside'] [program_tooltip program_id='713512' first='AZ' last='Compass']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior forward was active around the rim offensively using an array of moves. Whiteside is tough and has very good footwork for a post player. Her effort was always on go and often wore down whomever was guarding her. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='205643' first='Aniyah' last='Riddell'] <strong>Desert Vista</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Riddell looks like she is getting back into the rhythm of things after sitting out the first half of the season. She showed the ability to initiate contact and finish through it. She also showed the instincts to pass out of the double team to open teammates. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='205674' first='Isabela' last='Molina'] <strong>Cibola</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Isabela is a tough point guard that showed good ball handling ability and was able to finish in the paint with either hand. She displayed a nice burst to get the defender on her side and go to work. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='751754' first='Dashia' last='Richardson'] <strong>Millennium</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Richardson stepped up in the absence of Millennium star player [player_tooltip player_id='205641' first='Elli' last='Guiney']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She showed that she could handle even more of the ball handling responsibilities in addition to looking to score more. She is a very good ball handler and changes speeds well to keep the defense off balance. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='608452' first='Bernadette' last='Carranza'] <strong>Canyon View (Featured Image)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Carranza quietly went about her business and played a very nice overall floor game every time I saw her. She knows how to space the floor and wasn't forcing shots. The shots she did take were good shots and she hit a good percentage of them. When she wasn't shooting, she was always looking for open teammates. <br><br><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->