Charleston City Rankings: Post Players

You won’t necessarily find the most established players in the Charleston area/Kanawha Valley in the post, but that doesn’t mean that the position is void of talent either. There are several centers and power forwards (or a combination of both) in the area that have displayed promise and potential over the last season or more. Here is a look at five of those players. [table id=113 /] <strong>#1 [player_tooltip player_id="153361" first="Mia" last="Terry"] -- 2021 -- South Charleston</strong> The Black Eagles predicate themselves on defense and Terry is a big part of that, anchoring the middle of the team’s 2-3, trapping, hybrid zone. A bit undersized at 5-foot-10, Terry is a solid rebounder on both ends of the floor and she’s athletic enough to get into position on the help side. Terry is also fleet footed enough to run the break when the opportunity for an easy basket presents itself. The rising senior missed her entire sophomore season with a torn ACL and at times, that long break from the game showed. Terry will have to find a way to finish at the rim next season, especially with leading scorer <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153286" first="Myra" last="Cuffee"]</strong> graduating this spring. But there is a ton of upside here and plenty of scoring slack to be taken up next winter, meaning Terry is a breakout candidate once the season arrives. <strong>#2 Emily Lancaster -- 2022 -- Nitro</strong> If there would have been a most improved player award in the Kanawha Valley a year ago, Lancaster would have been a frontrunner to win it. She added another dimension to the Wildcats’ attack as she reached double figures in scoring seven times including career highs of 24 and 21 points in wins over Sissonville and Mingo Central. Meanwhile her size helped clog the lane defensively and she has the tools to become an elite rebounder for a team with arguably the best scorer in the state, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153322" first="Baylee" last="Goins"] (2021)</strong>. While she’s come a long way, there’s a long way to go as well. Lancaster will need to improve her hands offensively and become stronger with the ball after a rebound. But she’s slowly gained the trust of her teammates and coach Pat Jones and chances are, that will continue next season. <strong>#3 [player_tooltip player_id="154951" first="Kennedy" last="Dean"] -- 2022 -- Winfield</strong> For her size, Dean is an extremely gifted athlete and has legitimate Division-I softball talent. But she also found a home on the school’s basketball team a year ago as the Generals’ second player of the bench and she presented an entirely different challenge than the rest of the team’s roster. Winfield is a pressing, up-tempo, run-and-gun attack while Dean is comfortable posting up on the block or producing her own offense after offensive rebounds. The Generals were in the Class AA semifinals when play was halted by the coronavirus and the squad loses four of its five starters, making Dean a shoe-in for a starting spot next winter. Along with that roster overhaul will likely come some strategic adjustments and it wouldn’t be surprising in the least to see Dean become a focal point of the Winfield offense next year. <strong>#4 [player_tooltip player_id="153435" first="Alanna" last="McKenzie"] -- 2023 -- Riverside</strong> Speaking of becoming the center of a team’s offense, McKenzie is another solid candidate when it comes to players most likely to take a leap in production next year. The Warriors say goodbye to the program’s all-time leading scorer <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153302" first="Jasmine" last="Symns"] (2020)</strong> as the team continues to try and claw itself back to respectability. McKenzie hit double figures in scoring 12 times in her debut season and was a fairly consistent scoring option, especially for a freshmen. One of the team’s biggest challenges next year will be getting solid enough guard play to be able to feed McKenzie in the post, but if the Warriors can figure out how to fill the massive hole left by Symns, it could be a massive year for McKenzie. Wins and losses aside, McKenzie is on the short list of players in the area to watch over the coming seasons. <strong>#5 Sydney Bolles -- 2021 -- Charleston Catholic</strong> Perhaps the only team in the area that leans more heavily on its defense than South Charleston is Charleston Catholic. The Irish are an extremely athletic team and instead of a zone, rely on man-to-man and pressure defenses to blitz the opposition. Scoring hasn’t traditionally been a strong suit of the Irish, but Catholic showed promise in that category a year ago and returns its starting five this season. In the middle is Bolles, a player with post-player height and guard athleticism. Bolles has a great knack in terms of shot blocking and scored in double figures 15 times last year as she and teammate <strong>Hannah Rahin (2021)</strong> battled it out for the team’s scoring title. Rahin eventually won out by five total points, but another year together with a roster full of elite-level defenders and Catholic could be a postseason threat next season.