Player Profile: Kayla Gordon
Next in our series of player profiles is Kayla Gordon. Kayla is a 5’3 Junior point guard at O’Fallon. She was just mentioned in one of my articles about players that are making a name for themselves early in the…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingNext in our series of player profiles is Kayla Gordon. Kayla is a 5’3 Junior point guard at O’Fallon. She was just mentioned in one of my articles about players that are making a name for themselves early in the season. Kayla plays AAU with Team St Louis during the spring/summer. She is a part of a good program at O’Fallon. The Lady Panthers are working to establish themselves as a contender in the SWC.
Kayla really enjoyed her off season playing time. The O’fallon school team played in multiple shootouts and had a good record. Kayla estimated that they played around 30 games and won 23. The team really worked well together and bonded. She feels like that was very important as they all come together this year with high expectations. It will take each girl playing their role and working their hardest to get there. She also really enjoyed traveling to Georgia, Florida, Kansas and Texas with her AAU team. While they did not win enough games to make it all the way to a National Championship they did play some great competition. She felt like in Texas she really saw some great players and was able to measure herself against them.
Kayla worked hard on her game in the off season. She wanted to improve her shooting, defense and point guard skills. She would like to be a better communicator on the floor. In addition she is working on her passing and court awareness to always know where the open man is at. Kayla mentioned her ability to drive and control the ball and her body as her best asset on the floor. While I agree I would add her speed and quickness. Kayla will get the ball down the floor in a hurry. She would fit very well in college with a team that likes to push the ball. She handles it well and distributes the ball very well.
So far for the season Kayla is leading a very balanced team in scoring at 10 per game. She is shooting over 50% from both the 2 point and 3 point range. In addition she is shooting 74% from the line which is critical for a point guard. She averages just over 2 rebounds, assists and steals per game. Kayla has been a rock for Coach Knolhoff as his point guard. She has played most of the minutes in the games I have watched. It is obvious that she is the quarterback of this team.
While she has not had any offers yet, Kayla wants to play in college. She is an obvious fit at a smaller college level with a team that wants to push the ball. Kayla can defend and run the point guard spot. She is learning to be a ball hawk on defense and will cause opposing guards problems. Kayla is unsure what she will study but enjoys her math classes in high school.
As a junior Kayla has plenty of time to attract college coaches. I would suspect after a strong school season she will have the chance to catch the eye of the right NAIA or D3 school this summer. Once she does they will be getting a good point guard that they can build around.