Nixa Invitational Tournament Class of 2024 Standouts

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prep Girls Hoops Missouri got a chance to watch several games from last weekend's WNIT on the Nixa Live Network. The tournament was hosted by Nixa High School. It featured excellent teams from the SWMO area, St. Louis and SEMO areas. Here is a look at the top Class of 2024 players that caught our eye at Nixa. The athletes that were featured in our New Names story are not listed in this group.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='429284' first='Misora' last='Nambara'] (Republic): The 5'4" point guard was stellar all weekend in leading the Tigers to the tournament championships. She is one of the slickest, smoothest point guards that I like to watch. She had handles on a string and she has the uncanny ability to score in the lane amongst the taller players with either hand. She is also hitting the 3-pointer, which makes her very difficult to defend to go along with her quickness.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='255499' first='Lauren' last='Luebbert'] (Marshfield): The 5'11" point forward led the Bluejays to a berth in the championship game. She can excel just about anywhere on the floor with her versatility and high basketball IQ. She was a good playmaker in addition to her ability to score inside and out. She led a near-dramatic comeback in the closing minutes of the championship game when she made three consecutive 3-pointers to cut Republic's 10-point lead to just one point. She really put a charge in the building with that late barrage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='194413' first='Adalyn' last='Koelling'] (Helias): The 6'1" forward was one of the leading scorers in the tournament as she averaged 18 points in the Crusaders' three games. Her full versatility was on display throughout the weekend. She can really stretch the floor with her 3-point shooting off the pick and pop. She also passes the ball very well from the top as she can see over the defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lauren Chastain (Republic): A 5'6" shooting guard who was lighting it up from 3-point range in the championship game as the Tigers took home the title. She moves without the ball well to get to the open spots. She also makes good use of ball fakes to attack the close outs to hit the pull up jumper.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='255500' first='Abby' last='McBride'] (Marshfield): The 5'8" shooting guard had a big tournament offensively as she can score off the dribble or with her good movement off the ball with her cutting ability. She has a quick first step on the drive and she uses that burst to get by defenders for layups. She is also very good in the open court and she was making open 3-pointers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lilly Mahy (Nixa): A 5'9" point guard who is known for her perimeter shooting ability, but I was really impressed with her passing skills when I watched her in the third place game against Fair Grove. Her court vision was excellent as she made the simple pass to teammates in a position to score. She also added a few no-look passes that had a little flair.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->