Akiem’s Long Island 2025 Players to Watch (Part 3)

With the start of the 2024-25 basketball season right around the corner across the basketball hotbed that is New York State, what better way to get fans psyched for said season than by spotlighting a number of the standout seniors sure to finish their high school careers strong.    This is a state that is loaded with talent – and Nassau and Suffolk counties are among the more talent-heavy areas of the entire state (and region).    We at Prep Girls Hoops have already put out two articles with 2025s from Long Island that should be on the radars of fans. But there is so much veteran talent across the Island that two articles is nowhere near enough.     Two months ago, we got a college commitment decision out of this standout for Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK. Heaney will play her collegiate basketball at Division I Lafayette College in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley region. As a defender, she is difficult to score on as her height advantage enables her to reject many of an opponent's shots. She is also an efficient floor runner and knows how to deliver strong finishes at the basket. Heaney has also made a name for herself in flag football circles. Her team, in a clash of undefeateds, defeated Scarsdale in the first-ever Division I flag football state championship. Sometimes, she can see a play develop before the opposing team does and her handles enable her to escape precarious situations that may leave many ball carriers turnover-prone.     Daube excels on the hardwood – both in basketball and in volleyball at Mepham. Over the spring and summer, she played her final AAU season with Rising Stars – an organization she has ran with on the club scene for nearly a decade. A hallmark of Daube's hoop game is her rebounding capabilities. She was recognized by the NYSPHSAA as having the second-most rebounds in a single season with 387. Her six-foot stature will certainly help with her work on the glass. And she is as efficient a rebounder as she is a scorer, making her a virtually guaranteed double-double on a game-by-game basis.     With one final season completed with [program_tooltip program_id='714714' first='Long' last='Island Renegades'] on the AAU circuit, Twible hopes to translate that into saving her best for last with one more high school campaign at East Meadow. Listed at 5-foot-9, Twible had a banner season in 2023-24 as she averaged 17.4 points, six assists and five rebounds. The Jets compiled a record of 20-6 and advanced to the 2A Long Island championship. Prior to arriving on the scene at East Meadow, she played at Holy Trinity. Just as Rams coach Peter Olenik has been delighted to coach Twible, it will surely be the same for what collegiate program she decides to take her talents to.     Clark's odyssey through New York girls high school basketball has included stints with St. John the Baptist as well as St. Anthony's and Bay Shore. While she may primarily play as a two in the backcourt, she can put herself in position to grab rebounds as a defender. Her active hands can cause problems for opposing offenses and she has no problems getting out into the open floor and converting on transition buckets. Defensively, she is also very likely to reject an opponent's shot. Offensively, a defense must not leave her open behind the arc or said defense is practically giving Clark – and her team – three more points.

With the start of the 2024-25 basketball season right around the corner across the basketball hotbed that is New York State, what better way to get fans psyched for said season than by spotlighting a number of the standout seniors sure to finish their high school careers strong.