Nebraska Girls Basketball Showcase - Thoughts From Afar

Saturday was filled with jam-packed action in the gym at the Nebraska Girls Basketball Showcase. I wasn't able to make it into the gym in person but I watched every contest from a far.   Here are are my thoughts about some of the best performances of the event! -   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    We always talk about how dominant [player_tooltip player_id='502331' first='Hadley' last='Walsh'] is with her mismatching size and that was no different at this Nebraska Girls High School Showcase. Walsh showed that it's VERY tough to matchup with her individually anywhere on the court. She has size to dominate small matchups by the hoop and then if someone bigger tries to step in her way, she can spread the floor and compete from the outside, attacking from 15FT and beyond at any given moment. Pender has some playmakers, who will be competing at the college level one day but their best hooper right now is definitely Walsh so far this season.     Coming off of being ranked #1 for the 2029 within the state and [player_tooltip player_id='1221233' first='Kinley' last='Ford'] is looking GOOD moving into the thick of her team's high school season. On Saturday afternoon Ford hit her team's game winning jumper to send them to victory after a slow start earlier in the ball-game. This was a contest that finished with a score of 31-29 so you can know it was a defensive battle in the grand scheme of things. With about 5 seconds left, Ford caught the ball from a BLOB on the left Wing, she attacked with her right into a two dribble pull up from the elbow. A shot that hit off the front of the rim, the backboard, and then in for the win as time expired. There were some good battles at this event from the looks of it but this had to be one of the best finishes. If not THEE best, when looking at the big picture.     Arapahoe plays a fast pace of basketball. They love to press their opponent into bad choices and run out into transition buckets in the blink of an eye. Suttyn Shafer was a name that did this time and time again throughout this one. She also did a little bit of everything else as well statistically, being cited as everyone's Player of the Game with over 20 Points. This team will keep on winning this season. Now it's just about how far they can take things. If they play it one game at a time, they should love where they are at come playoffs.     [player_tooltip player_id='820511' first='Briar' last='Ray'] was too much to handle for Cross County in her team's 27 point victory. Ray dominated inside the lane with her step-through ability. She caught in favorable positions and used her length to step past opponents for easy looks at either side of the hoop. She was really unstoppable overall attacking from 12-15FT out on the offensive side, while being her team's top rebounding force on the floor as well. In the end, Oakland-Craig handled business per usual and Ray stood out as the best hooper on the floor throughout the contest.     [player_tooltip player_id='865313' first='Ansley' last='Elofson'] showed up in the second half on Saturday afternoon to help her Fort Calhoun secure a victory against a scrappy opponent. Elofson has height, lengthy arms, touch, and she loves physicality. That is a hard combination to stop on any floor when that player is motivated and Elofson was motivated to finish things off in this battle. She was relentless as she cleaned up everything between the blocks, which was too much to handle. Overall, this group should be tough to stay in-front of in the Post season in a month if they continue to play this way with Elofson at the helm.     It's always fun to watch [player_tooltip player_id='884235' first='Shayla' last='Rautenberg'] compete in the middle of the lane. She is the show-stopper defensively against any opponent because of her size and athleticism. In her Milord team's game today, Rautenberg held a block-fest. She altered several shots the opponent tried to take in the paint, while also cleaning up on the boards as well. She ended up sealing the game with some big put-backs in the fourth and that's just something you love to see out of a future college committed competitor. (Probably Volleyball but Basketball would be cool!)     Central City kept it close throughout the main portion of the their battle against Malcom High School but in the end the Dolliver sisters were too much to handle. [player_tooltip player_id='757558' first='Halle' last='Dolliver'] worked inside to out. Offensively, she hit little step back faders near the rim and then spread the floor in the second half with some trey balls. Defensively, she made some blocks, rebounds, and valiant efforts to wall up to alter shot attempts that the opponent wanted to attempt at the hoop. Like I said, Malcolm was too much to handle in the end here and a major part in that was because of production like that.     [player_tooltip player_id='1255620' first='Hallie' last='Garner'] showed off why she is a Top 15 rated prospect in the 2029 Class throughout the state this evening. Garner hit big shots from deep off the catch, she made plays for others at high rates leading to all sorts of scoring opportunities, and she defend her own as well as she could. She demonstrated a sound dribble against pressure with some craftiness to her play-style on both ends whenever those opportunities presented themselves. If Garner continues to produce like she did tonight against other college level prospects at the Guard position, she will continue to move up our Ranking board come the start of AAU season.

Saturday was filled with jam-packed action in the gym at the Nebraska Girls Basketball Showcase. I wasn't able to make it into the gym in person but I watched every contest from a far.