3A State Championship Semifinals

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I had a chance to catch some exciting basketball yesterday while watching<strong> [player_tooltip player_id='204179' first='Jalynn' last='Bristow']</strong> go completely off for<strong> Holliday</strong> had me pumped. I only caught the <strong>3A semifinals</strong>, I'll see the 4<strong>A and 6A semis</strong> today and most of the championship games on<strong> Saturday </strong>but here are my <strong>Top Performers to crank the State Championship off</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='204179' first='Jalynn' last='Bristow']-6'3 F (Holliday) Iowa State</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bristow was simply amazing, well that's an understatement because she came out off the top with fire, passion, and energy. She's long and athletic and she's above "the magic number" which is 6'0 let me say this, it won't take her long to translate over at Iowa State, it's all about the right fit and system, and her diving on the floor for loose balls, her rebounding and handling the ball coast after rebounding had me going. 35/18 in this setting was special as she scored around the basket, off the dribble, and with the pull-up jumper</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Faith Acker-6'2 C (Winnsboro)</strong> <strong>[2023]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Acker was virtually unstoppable around the basket and her 22/16 tells part of the story yet I enjoyed her using the "hands and footwork" thing that is definitely <strong>#THROWBACK</strong>. She even <strong>threw</strong> a couple of shots <strong>back </strong>but her finishing around the basket with either hand was nice, and so was her interior defense as well as running the floor on both ends </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='158699' first='McKinna' last='Brackens']-6'0 F (Fairfield) UNLV</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brackens scored off the dribble, nothing new there, yet she was everywhere as she played the passing lane to perfection, 8 steals, and my <strong><a href="https://x.com/girlzprepreport/status/1631398416902156288">tweet fit perfectly </a></strong>because unbeknownst to me, her dad played in the NFL. She doubled down to tie the ball up a few times, which was huge, especially late in the game and her on-the-ball pressure was more than nice</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='267345' first='Shadasia' last='Brackens']-5'11 G (Fairfield) North Texas</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brackens just missed a double-double, 10/9 yet her free throws down the stretch helped seal the victory. She too scored off the dribble and applied baseline-to-baseline heat but she also did a good job of hitting the boards on both ends </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jimilyah Nash-5'7 G Fairfield [2025]</strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nash was more than efficient with her instant offense off the bench. In fact, she was the team's leading scorer, with 13 points in 18 minutes, and her scoring off the dribble, dropping the pull-up jumper as well as hitting some clutch free throws down the stretch also helped seal the victory</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blayke Brackens-5'9 G Fairfield</strong> <strong>[2026]</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brackens' poise under pressure as a freshman spoke volumes as she showed she could create her shot and drop it with a hand in her face but I was equally impressed with her handling of the ball under pressure as well as her court vision as she led her squad with 5 assists </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Holiday vs Fairfield</strong> should be exciting, I'll definitely be glued to the screen for that, and here is the<strong><a href="https://www.uiltexas.org/basketball/state-girls" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> link to the State Championship games </a></strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->