Carolina March Madness: All-Defense

With the SCHSL and SCISA regular seasons in the rear-view mirrors, many of the Palmetto State’s premier girls hoops talent is hitting the road as the travel seasons have commenced. For many of those players, the first stop on that offseason trek took them to Comenius School, the home of the Knights, in Fort Mill just outside of Charlotte and only a hop, skip and jump shy of the state that separates our pair of Carolinas. We at Prep Girls Hoops were on hand for what was an exciting kickoff to the travel schedule (more to come in the coming months). Here is a look at some talents who made it difficult for offenses to put up points. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="268527" first="Madison" last="Hoffman"] – Carolina Forest – Confidence Cougars</strong> – Coaches love it when players emphasize defense as part of their overall game. Hoffman certainly does that to compliment her offensive attributes which include her ball handling and her midrange jump shot. Coaches particularly love it when the two are able to blend together and the defense manages to translate itself into offense. Hoffman’s defense can lead to her finding herself with the ball and taking it back down the other end of the floor for a transition basket. Hoffman, late in Confidence Cougars’ Saturday game with CLT Dream Elite also made plenty of baskets, another element of a game coaches look for when looking to allot minutes in crunch time situations. <strong>Taylor Brown – Wando HS – TMP 16U White</strong> – As everyone knows, there are plenty of aspects to the game that can be coached – but one of them that cannot be is height and Brown provides that for TMP’s 16U team, being one of two players listed on its roster that are at least six feet or taller. Brown provides plenty of defensive help and will also grab her collection of rebounds. Of course, that advantage is something that can help on the offensive end of the floor as well. Look out for if one of her teammates is at the line and misses a free throw attempt as Brown will corral the board and put it back for two points instead of one. Brown proved to be an integral piece the puzzle for a Wando team that came within one game with Sumter shy of heading to Aiken to compete for a Class 5A state championship. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="171771" first="Tiana" last="Spann"] – First Baptist – TMP 17U Black</strong> – TMP’s 16U White team is not the only TMP club that knows how to bring in players with plenty of tall. Listed at 6-foot-2, she has a game that “spanns” different elements. She will collect her fair share of rebounds and is an all-around defender. The 6-foot-2 helps plenty with scoring also. Spann is coming off a season with the Hurricanes where she averaged nearly 18 points per game, over 10 rebounds and just under three blocks. Spann also shot a robust 59% from the field on a First Baptist Hurricanes team that came within one victory of the Class 3A semifinals of this past year’s SCISA tournament. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="171770" first="Samiya" last="Grant"] – Goose Creek HS – Charleston Swarm</strong> – If you have Grant on your team, all one has to do is replace the T with a D to describe your team’s chances of winning. Grant particularly has shown her defensive prowess as someone who can force an opposing ball handler into a mistake (or mistakes). If it is not stealing the basketball she is doing, Grant is likely grabbing rebounds and providing opportunities for her team to tally baskets. And she is also scoring many of those baskets, as she is fresh off a 2020-21 season that saw her average over 11 points per game for the Gators. <strong>D’Essence Graham – Carvers Bay HS – Confidence Cougars</strong> –  If one were to try to find out more about Graham, one may discover that she once won a statewide free throw contest when she was 10 years old. That obviously bodes well for the rest of her career, but Graham can do much more than simply drain shots from the charity stripe. She is a potent defender as well as a rebounder who makes sure she is always in position for misses that can translate into doing work on the glass. Graham, on the offensive side, also has impressive speed to in driving to the basket and can attract contact from defenders to put her at the free throw line.