2024 State Tournament: Morning Movers & Shakers – Day 1
In this article:
Wednesday was the kick off for the Girl’s High School State Basketball Tournament throughout the State of Nebraska. In the morning we had handful of teams and prospects show out in a big way. In the article below, we cover…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingWednesday was the kick off for the Girl’s High School State Basketball Tournament throughout the State of Nebraska. In the morning we had handful of teams and prospects show out in a big way. In the article below, we cover five of those players, detailing how they performed in their contest.
Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!
AJ Bosak
AJ Bosak
AJ Bosak is the real deal for Bishop Neumann and I’m upset that it took us this long to figure that out. Within a program that runs an interesting defensive scheme, Bosak is their “do-it all”, type Guard. In her team’s First Round game on Wednesday morning, she was flying all over the floor and doing everything at a high rate. This may sound dumb but looking the part when it comes to athleticism and size for your position matters and Bosak looks the part. She has good size, above average athleticism, and a positive attitude in any given situation. I’m not sure what she has in mind for her future after the high school level but she could find her way onto a lot of successful rosters out there, based on her hustle and hard-work alone. She just needs to figure out if she is in love with the game that much to take things to that level. If she is, college coaches better start lining up because Bosak should have some options!
A prospect that has shown a really good “feel” for the game on both sides of the floor in their early morning contest was Jaylen Dimmit of Sandhills/Thed High School. Dimmit isn’t going to kill you with speed or a crazy move, instead she is going to be patient and take advantage of her mismatches whenever they present themselves. If they don’t present themselves, she is very good at changing her speed while attacking off of the dribble, opening up the middle of the floor for herself or other teammates around her. In the first half against Howells-Dodge, Dimmit hit 3 three pointers, along with recording a few Rebounds and Assists. I think that this is just a small sample size of what she can really do on the hardwood. In a contest that was intense and highly competitive, Dimmit showed out as one of the best in the end.
On the other side of the Bishop Neumann Cavaliers was a Shooting Guard that lit it up from behind the arc in their contest and that was Senior, Lilly Peterson Lilly Peterson 5’10” | SG Cross County | 2024 State NE . Peterson hit 3 three’s in the first half against the Cavs 1-3-1 zone, showing off her ability to get hot from deep in a hurry. The Cougars were down 7 at halftime but it could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the shooting display by Peterson. She registered about half of her team’s points in the first half and that was a major reason as to why they stayed in it. This is another prospect where I am not sure what her future holds but she has demonstrated the ability shoot it at a high rate. I haven’t seen any public commitment out of Peterson that she might be competing collegiately next season but from what I’m noticing, she is also a promising talent on the Volleyball court so I’m sure she has some sort of idea at this point.
The Overton Eagles got a convincing win in their First Round matchup on Wednesday against Paxton High School thanks to some halftime adjustments. At half the score was tied 15-15 but as soon as the third quarter tipped off, it was a much different story. The Eagles came out on fire and flat out dominated. They won the second half 36-12 and that basically tells the tail of this one. The most sound and efficient player for the Eagles was Forward, Natalie Wood Natalie Wood 5’9″ | C Overton | 2024 NE . Wood shot over 50% from the field, while scoring 15 Points and grabbing 21 Rebounds. You saw that correctly. She had an eye opening double-double to say the least. When the end of this week comes and we cover the best performances from this State Tournament. This one is going to be in that conversation. Wood has size, athleticism, and skill but this stat line is still pretty incredible on a State Floor.
#2 Howells-Dodge matched up against Sandhills/Thed on Wednesday and one of their standout prospects, that put on a respectable performance was Forward, Kenadie Throener Kenadie Throener 5’11” | C Howells | 2026 NE . Throener is a Post that understands her position and role within in own team. She does a great job of posting with her back to the basket, usually ending it with a finish at the rim. On a number of occasions in this ball game, her team ran their action, she moved from block-to-block, making herself available to the ball and she scored a good amount because of her teammates finding her. At halftime she already had recorded 10 points and her game only got better from there. I’ve had the chance to see some really good Forwards/Posts this morning but one of the most productive has been Throener with how she keeps it simple. This contest was a BATTLE. It went back and forth but in the end, Throener and her Jaguar’s team got the upset, moving them onto the Semi-Finals.