Charleston City Rankings: Point Guards

<em>Note: The Charleston city rankings will encompass players from the entire Kanawha Valley including all 13 schools in Kanawha and Putnam Counties. </em> The game of basketball has become a point guard’s game over the past few decades and that holds true on all levels. In the girls game, this can often hold even truer as point guards are looked upon to facilitate and score in addition to locking down the perimeter defensively. The Kanawha Valley saw its fair share of point guards graduate a year ago, specifically Winfield’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153301" first="ZZ" last="Russell"] (2020)</strong>, Riverside’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153302" first="Jasmine" last="Symns"] (2020)</strong> and <strong>Nitro’s Haley Carroll (2020)</strong>. But there are several returning players at the one that will be pivotal in races next season as well. Here is a look at five of those players. [table id=110 /] <strong>#1 [player_tooltip player_id="153392" first="Natalyia" last="Sayles"] -- 2022 -- Capital</strong> The rebuilding at Capital High School continues and the Cougars have shown slow, yet steady improvement. Much is do to the arrival of Sayles two seasons ago, giving Capital a dependable scoring option and a steady hand leading the offense. Sayles is athletic, has good speed and finishing ability on fast breaks and has a solid jump shot as well. She’s a bit of a hidden gem state wide, playing on a team that has struggled in terms of wins over the last handful of seasons, and needs more dependable help on a game-in, game-out basis to help bring the Cougars further into relevancy. But with two more seasons to go and with a young supporting class in tow, Sayles should continue to make a name for herself over the back half of her prep career. <strong>#2 [player_tooltip player_id="153422" first="Maggie" last="Odour"] -- 2023 -- Hurricane</strong> The Redskins too struggled to an 8-15 mark last season but were a respectable 5-5 over their last 10 regular season games. Much of that late surge came as Odour shook off early-season injury woes and settled into the high school game. Odour is also a tremendous midfielder for the school’s soccer team which fell in the semifinals at the state tournament. Along with that comes outstanding athleticism and stamina, which she showed as the season advanced into its late stages. The Redskins are young, starting three freshmen and a sophomore last season and have the potential to improve over the next few seasons. Odour led the team scoring 10.9 points per game and should continue to ride a hot finish in which she averaged over 13 points per contest. <strong>#3 [player_tooltip player_id="153350" first="Vivian" last="Ho"] -- 2021 -- George Washington</strong> Ho does a lot of good things for the Patriots. She’s a good 3-point shooter, she’s fearless in driving the ball to the rim despite being undersized and she’s a deceptively good rebounder, especially for her height. Her motor is also never in question. But if there are flaws in Ho’s game, it comes in terms of occasional lapses in decision making and at times trying to force things that aren’t there. Ho has the Mary Ostrowski Award winner, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153323" first="Kalissa" last="Lacy"] (2021)</strong>, playing alongside her and the two make up one of the best backcourts to be found in the Kanawha Valley and beyond. But for GW to make it back to the state tournament for the first time in three seasons, Ho will have to continue to mature mentally. The physical pieces are certainly all there. <strong>#4 [player_tooltip player_id="153423" first="Taylor" last="Ray"] -- 2023 -- Herbert Hoover</strong> Like Odour, Ray started from the outset of her freshman season last year, scoring 10.2 points per game and helping lead the Huskies to 16 wins, the school’s third-highest win total since the 1980s. The lefty displayed a dependable mid-range jump shot and beyond and looked comfortable in transition as well. The biggest question mark for Ray and Hoover moving forward is the departure of shooting guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153296" first="Allison" last="Dunbar"] (2020)</strong>, who leaves as the school’s all-time leading scorer on either the boys or girls side. Obviously with that graduation, Ray will likely carry a significantly elevated level of responsibility in terms of scoring and will have to be more consistent as the Huskies can nil afford an off night from its point guard. <strong>#5 [player_tooltip player_id="153353" first="Kiki" last="Terrell"] -- 2021 -- South Charleston</strong> In terms of talent, Terrell could easily be even higher on this list. But for the second straight season, Terrell tore an ACL, playing just seven games a year ago after playing none the year before. Terrell’s participation at all this season is in question, but if she does play, she’s part of a big senior class that could put the Black Eagles back in the state tournament for the 10th time in 13 seasons. Even in seven games a year ago, her presence made a big difference as SC went 6-1 in those games. So far, in a small sample size, Terrell has been more of a facilitator than a scorer, but the reach of her potential and her ability to overcome two significant knee injuries are certainly question marks. Health willing, they’ll be answered in her final prep season.