Blackville-Hilda Hawk Invitational: Top 4 Performers

The holidays are typically a point in the schedule where many teams and coaches get a bit of a break from the grueling grind of the season.    That did not apply to those participating in this year's Blackville-Hilda Hawk Invitational. Last season's event may have been larger and featured cameos from larger schools such as Swansea and White Knoll, but the competition level for this season's rendition was still as high as ever.    We at Prep Girls Hoops made the trip to the CSRA for the day's festivities. There was no shortage of standout performances, but these four are what caught our attention the most.     We remember writing about Wilson following her stellar performance at last season's Blackville-Hilda Hawk Invitational where she scored 18 points to defeat 2A Pelion. The 5-foot-7 three forward continued her superb play at this season's rendition as she led her team with 12 points to an opening round victory over another 2A assembling in Barnwell. As a small forward, much of Wilson's scoring damage can be done in proximity to the rim but her game also has elements commonly found in many guards. Wilson also has no problems drawing contact to get to the free throw line and is a tall task to prepare for on defense as well.      When one player has more points than an entire team, that is a sign that a winning team had themselves a productive evening (or afternoon or morning) at the office. That was the case for Brown on Thursday afternoon as her 1A Bamberg-Ehrhardt displayed why it is ranked No. 7 in the state with its 73-25 drubbing of Ridge Spring-Monetta. Brown tallied 32 points. Included in those 32 were seven 3-pointers. She is also an effective attacker of the rim and her strong defensive play can lead to additional offensive possessions for her team. There was a reason why Brown was a preseason 1A Girls Senior selection.     There probably were not many positives that Ridge Spring-Monetta could take away from its game with Bamberg-Ehrhardt. The standout wearing No. 2 for the Trojans was one of them. She finished with 10 points in what was a valiant effort for Ridge Spring-Monetta. Leaphart is an effective defender who understands the art of turning defense into offense. Those steals can lead to Leaphart getting out in transition and either converting on a layup or drawing contact to get to the free throw line. She is very familiar with competition on the hardwood as she also participates in varsity volleyball at Ridge Spring-Monetta.     Homestanding Blackville-Hilda did not provide much of a contest against Badger's Allendale-Fairfax assembling and the Hawks defense had few answers on how to contain the Tigers' talented sophomore shooting guard. Badger finished with 12 points which led all scorers for the game. As a two, one would expect her to provide plenty of accuracy from behind the 3-point line – both of the 3-pointers Allendale-Fairfax connected left Badger's hands. Badger – as did the rest of the team – had plenty of opportunities to make open-floor transition plays where they attacked the basket and those would at times result in Badger going to the free throw line.

The holidays are typically a point in the schedule where many teams and coaches get a bit of a break from the grueling grind of the season.