London really played well for Grayson in Athens and like Liberal, she is another player who I have seen with some regularity playing with Winners United this Spring on their very talented 16U EYCL team. I had not seen enough of her before the most recent rankings update to move London higher, but will certainly be moving her up now after seeing her play twice on Sunday in a more prominent role for Grayson. Her activity and energy level was very high throughout the day and she made several plays with just her effort alone. London outworked and outran other players in transition and was rewarded for her efforts with several scoring opportunities on the break. She showed very good quickness and leaping ability slashing to the basket and finishing. There were several more opportunities for London to score, but I saw her pass up those opportunities to get her teammates involved in the scoring rather than trying to pad her stats or make herself look good. She is definitely a player that I will be tracking and will be moved up in the rankings on the next update.

London did her job in a win over Team Elite Hubbard, rebounding and finishing dump-off assists. Backman-Grier benefited from the ball dominance of Hailey Houlder and Ja’Nyrie Robinson who weaved around the defense before either finding their own shot or collapsing the defense to dump to London.  In the second half London scored 10 crucial points including a baseline drive late in the game to stymy a run. Backman-Grier totaled 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists in the 76-66 victory.

In a 55-37 win over Loganville, London posted 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals. I like her physicality, a strong tweener forward. She sealed in the post for an And-1 and later scored on a putback.

London has the package to trend up! She’s got that tough, hard nosed energy that you love to see. While she may not have traditional wing size, she makes up for it with grit and a serious chip on her shoulder. She had multiple strong finishes at the rim and never back down, no matter who was in front of her. What really stood out was her emotion and effort. She played as if the game was on the line the entire time. She even took two charges, showing just how locked in she was on both ends. London finished the game with 10pts and continues to grow every time she hits the floor. Coming from a competitive, well coached high school program, she’s only scratching the surface. Keep eye on her because she’s got more in the tank this summer.