'24 Rankings Update - Small Forwards

Moving on to the Small Forwards in the Class of '24 the Commonwealth of Kentucky is blessed with a plethora of talent. Which should not be surprising in a state that is basketball crazy. Love of the game is passed down from previous generations and finds a home in the hearts of various residents. That love encourages kids to pick up a rubber sphere and hurl it ten feet in the air at an age where they are too young to make even the closest of shots. The players I write about today are all on their way to extending their careers which may stretch back to a hoop in a backyard, park, or gym into the College Ranks. I don't know the whole story of these players but you can bet somebody put a ball in their hands and taught them to dribble and shoot several years ago.     [player_tooltip player_id='167104' first='Audrey' last='Biggs'] - 6'0" - SF - Boyd County - West Virginia Thunder It doesn't take much to see why various high-powered basketball programs are recruiting Biggs. She is tall, quick, skilled, versatile, driven, and talented. She led her school out of the 16th Region and into the State Tournament last year without any Juniors or Seniors on the roster. She may be a bit of a secret to many of the more casual fans of Kentucky Girls High School Basketball but the top College Coaches know exactly where to find her.   Last season she scored 17.4 points per game, just 0.1 more points per game away from breaking into the KHSAA-maintained Top 50 Leading Scorers List. To phrase that another way, if she had scored 4 more points last season she would be on the leaderboard. She made 174 Free Throws with 77.3% shooting at the foul stripe. Made 44% of her Field Goals, 28.4% of her Threes, and pulled down 279 rebounds for an average of 7 per game.   Her team tends to stay in the Mountains most of this season, so it might be difficult for most fans to see her in person. But perhaps they will be in Owensboro for the 2A State Tournament or back in the Sweet 16 at the end of the season. But I highly recommend taking a trip East like I did last season to see her and her team play. I caught a District Tournament to catch four teams in one place. This is our Top Ranked Small Forward for good reason.     [player_tooltip player_id='245899' first='Reagan' last='Bender'] - 5'10" - SF - Sacred Heart Bender is coming back for her Junior year with 2 State Championships in her school trophy case. At one point last year I considered dropping her a bit in our rankings because I thought despite all of her skills and high basketball IQ that she was slow. That same night she proved me wrong by being the fastest player on the court, proving that, as Scouts, we are only as accurate as what we have seen. Apparently, she hadn't needed to sprint to do her job in previous games I had witnessed, leaving me with an inaccurate opinion of her talents. I want to mention this to encourage all players to be patient with Scouts. We don't always see you at your best. due to our schedules and maybe sometimes we do see players you think you are better than at their best. Still, even with what I thought was a lack of speed, Bender was going to be highly Ranked. Playing on a team that was absolutely loaded with talent, and still is, Bender was the 2nd leading scorer last season at 11.4 points per game, shot 44% from the floor, and made 33.9% of her three-point attempts. She made 76.8% of her Free Throws ending up 0.3% away from making the KHSAA's Top 50 Free Throws Leaders List. With five Seniors graduating from last season's roster there is some room to grow for the remaining players on the team and Bender figures to get her share of those stats.     [player_tooltip player_id='167107' first='Liz' last='Freihofer'] - 5'9" - SF - Cooper - [program_tooltip program_id='712592' first='Kentucky' last='Premier']   Freihofer's team made it to the Semifinals of the State Tournament last season and she was a key contributor. Like many players on her team, she is excellent at passing to the open teammate, cutting for the ball, and getting open. The synergy of how they are playing as a team on both ends of the court was great to behold. Freihofer is a great shooter making 40.3% of her three-point shots and 48.1% from the field. Her mid-range game is impressive and she also has the skill to put the ball on the floor to score and create within the offense. She made 74% of her Free Throws and collected 171 rebounds for an average of 5 per game. If you don't live in the Northern Kentucky Region you should try to see her play at Elizabethtown between December 20th through the 22nd, at Franklin County in a big event on January 7th, or another event at Mercy on January 21st. There will be tons of talent on-hand in all of these places on those days.   [player_tooltip player_id='231485' first='Savannah' last='Gardner'] - 6'0" - SF - Christian Academy-Louisville - Cincinnati Angles U17 If you like hustle in a player you will love watching Gardner. She is the epitome of someone that fits the phrase "playing with her hair on fire". She would be a prospect if all she could bring to a team is her size, speed, and effort on defense and chasing down loose balls and rebounds. The KHSAA doesn't keep stats as some Coaches do on deflections, blocks, forced turnovers, etc, etc but if they did I wouldn't be shocked to see her name on the top of those lists. The team I am Coaching this year has to face her and I am just hoping she gets the flu. Just kidding, but not kidding. Anything minor that keeps her away from my team for one night but doesn't have any effect on the rest of her life or playing career. She is scary good on defense and there are a ton of great players on her team, but I don't know how you can game plan to limit the effect she has on a game. She was the 3rd leading scorer on her team last season and 2nd leading returning scorer at 8 points per game and the leading rebounder averaging 8.3 points per game. She collected 250 rebounds last season and made 40.3% of her Three-point Field Goals. At the moment only 15 games are posted on their schedule, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her in Owensboro for the 2A State Tournament and she will be playing in the LIT in late January. Check back in a few weeks after I work up a preview of her team after attending a practice and see one of their early season games.     [player_tooltip player_id='413440' first='Rachel' last='Shropshire'] - 6'2" - SF - Franklin County - [program_tooltip program_id='712644' first='Louisville' last='[program_tooltip program_id='712635' first='Legends' last='']']   Shropshire made some strides over the summer to improve and that improved her ranking on our site. She was part of a State Tournament roster last season that had six players that collected over 100 Rebounds and she was one of them. Some of those boards are likely to be available for her to grab this year due to some attrition by transfer and graduation. Right now her ranking is mainly due to some forecasting on my part, the work I have seen her put in, and her physical attributes. Her actual ceiling is unknown and unknowable at the moment and she will likely enter College as a bit of a project. But the risk she poses for a Coach is one very likely to pan out in my opinion.

Moving on to the Small Forwards in the Class of '24 the Commonwealth of Kentucky is blessed with a plethora of talent. Which should not be surprising in a state that is basketball crazy. Love of the game is passed down from previous generations and finds a home in the hearts of various residents. That love encourages kids to pick up a rubber sphere and hurl it ten feet in the air at an age where they are too young to make even the closest of shots.
The players I write about today are all on their way to extending their careers which may stretch back to a hoop in a backyard, park, or gym into the College Ranks. I don't know the whole story of these players but you can bet somebody put a ball in their hands and taught them to dribble and shoot several years ago.