Opening Day New Faces #NevilleJonesInvitational pt 1

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here's part 1 of players I hadn't seen or seen enough of</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Olivia Rankin-5'3 G (Allen) A-1 Sauce [2027]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rankin is an athletic guard who does well attacking the basket and finishing after contact. She also dishes off the dribble and her court vision in the set was nice. She applied pressure defensively and used her quick hands to come away with steals </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Zakaria Hunt-5'6 G (Madison) Lady Athletic Elite Black [2025]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hunt is also an athletic guard who showed she could set the defender up to score off the dribble yet creating her shot and dropping the jumper was nice, and so was her "catch and shoot" from deep</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='885873' first='Nadia' last='Dotson']-6'3 F/C (Rockwall Heath) Lady Athletic Elite Black [2025]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dotson is "long and athletic" which is the base and stands above the magic number, which is 6'0 yet her impressive timing to block, alter, and (or) deflect shots was nice, as was her rebounding and diving on the floor for loose balls. She also scored around the basket</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Deshya Williams-5'6 G (Lutcher) Dream Big Elite [2026] Louisiana </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Williams was inadvertently left off the Louisiana list so I wanted to give her a S/O because she did a good job of keeping the defender guessing by attacking from multiple spots to score as well as dropping the mid to long-range, catch and shoot included</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Leah Gutirrez-5'6 G (Bishop) [program_tooltip program_id='956243' first='Corpus' last='Christi Aces'] 2025 [2026]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gutirrez was one of many surprises on this squad, more caught my eye in the later game yet she brought heat on both ends, finishing around the basket strongly as well as "baseline to baseline" pressure defensively</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kiyah Taylor-5'6 G (Moody) [program_tooltip program_id='956243' first='Corpus' last='Christi Aces'] 2025 [2025]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Taylor is a "log and athletic" guard, that too is the base, and seeing her slice to the basket by defenders to score from multiple angles was nice, so was her defensive pressure yet even nicer was seeing her do what I love to see, playing the passing lane</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tatyana Price-5'5 G (Caprock) Amarillo Lady Blue Devils [2026]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Price was right yet again as her athleticism on both ends was solid. She created havoc with her "on the ball" pressure both in the set as well as in the full court yet she also did a good job of taking the defender strongly off the dribble and finishing </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Elianna Gaines-5'6 G (Midlothian) 287 Elite 17U [2026]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gaines patiently set the defender up to create her shot from outside and get the jumper off yet her deceptive first step came in handy to catch the defender leaning so she could score off the dribble</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Boston Tyler-5'9 G/F (Midlothian Heritage) 287 Elite 17U [2025]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tyler also created her shot nicely yet her getting hers "in the flow" was smoothly done and she also played within herself and didn't force anything offensively. Her jumper was nice, this includes her "catch and shoot" 3</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kennedy Jones-5'6 G (Frisco Lone Star) BIQ NE2K [2025]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jones mixed it up offensively by showing she could drop the jumper in the set, as well as the "stop and pop" in transition, yet her "catch and shoot" from BTA was solid, plus she did a good job scoring off the dribble </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->