Lady Gym Rats Invitational: 2021 Prospects Of Note
This past weekend was the annual Lady Gym Rats Invitational in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While I primarily cover the state of Indiana, I was able to see the Michigan Crossover teams in 17U/16U/15U, Mac Irvin Lady Fire Godfather in 17U,…
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Continue ReadingThis past weekend was the annual Lady Gym Rats Invitational in Fort Wayne, Indiana. While I primarily cover the state of Indiana, I was able to see the Michigan Crossover teams in 17U/16U/15U, Mac Irvin Lady Fire Godfather in 17U, the WPA Bruins in 17U, and the Dayton Lady Hoopstars Premier 17U team. In this article, I wanted to highlight nine ladies in the Class of 2021 who weren’t from Indiana but who stood out throughout the weekend. I have only seen each of them once, so these are literally my first impressions based on that performance.
Kailee Davis, 5-3 PG, Renaissance H.S. (MI), Michigan Crossover EYBL 16U
Kailee isn’t very tall, but she is strong for her height, very quick and athletic, and she plays with a really good motor and toughness to her. She is quick with the ball, can change directions in an instant, and she can get through gaps in the defense and score or find open teammates when the defense collapses. I didn’t really see her shoot it enough from the perimeter to gauge that part of her game, but she was good at the 1-dribble and 2-dribble pull-up stuff. She can also be a pest defensively, and she is quite the competitor. Even at her size, it’s easy to see why she’s starting to see Mid-Major Division-I interest and offers.
Emily Dixon, 6-1 C, The International Academy of Macomb (MI), Michigan Crossover EYBL 16U
Emily doesn’t try to stand out in a flashy way whatsoever, but she plays with a great motor, she’s tough, physical, and she looks like she just loves to play. She is a strong, true post with some length, and she’s a solid athlete who runs the floor North/South well…I really like how she rim-runs at times. She does a nice job of sitting down and establishing position early in a possession, she has good hands, solid feet, and she does have some post skill to score it over defenders. Emily also looked comfortable in the mid-post and even knocked down a 15-footer with ease. I think she’s still figuring it out skillfully to some extent, but she plays the post position the “right way”, and I can definitely see Division-I schools showing interest once she adds a true go-to move.
Lizzy Groetsch, 5-10 G, North Allegheny Senior H.S. (PA), WPA Bruins UAA 17U
Lizzy was one of the more enjoyable prospects to watch last weekend. She is a wiry strong guard, she is a solid all-around athlete, and she plays with a great motor. She has really good ball skill and can handle and pass it like a point guard, plus she has a great overall feel for the game, but I don’t know if athletically she translates as a point guard at the next level or more of a ‘2’ with great ball skill. She can knock down open shots, she rebounds her position reasonably well, and she uses her wiry strong frame to absorb contact and finish around the basket. She reminds me a lot of a 2019 Indiana kid who recently committed to Michigan, only Lizzy is two inches taller and more of a natural point guard.
Damiya Hagemann, 5-9 PG, Detroit Edison Public School Academy (MI), Michigan Crossover EYBL 17U
Our guys in Michigan have Damiya as the #1 prospect in the state in the 2021 class, so of course I was interested in watching her play. She didn’t start the game I saw, got off to a slow start, but by the second half you could see a completely different player…an elite talent who could do just about anything she wanted on the court. She is a strong point guard, she absorbs contact very well off the bounce, but she’s also quick (more quick than fast) and quick with the ball, so she easily creates separation to get by defenders or knock down shots over them. She seemed like she could become an elite defender, and when they needed stops at the end she was one, but I’d like to see that sense of urgency earlier in the game. Otherwise, she is a High-Major Division-I prospect.
Janae Hoying, 5-6 G, Minster H.S. (OH), Dayton Lady Hoopstars Premier 17U
Janae is one-half of a nice young backcourt at Minster High School, but she doesn’t get quite the attention of backcourt mate Ivy Wolf (below). Janae is a fairly strong little guard, she’s reasonably quick/fast, and she’s a nice all-around athlete. She plays more off the ball for both her grassroots and high school teams because she is a very good perimeter shooter and she can go by defenders and get into the lane for scores. However, she does possess ball skill and can handle & pass, but she’ll need to prove she can take on more of that to help her recruiting, especially considering she’s 5-6. I really liked what I saw of her Saturday, and I can see her drawing a ton of small college interest, and possibly even a little Division-I interest.
Ally VanTimmeren, 6-2 F, Jenison H.S. (MI), Michigan Crossover EYBL 17U
Ally is a player I did actually see a year ago, because she was with the Gym Rats program at the time. She is a nice-sized power forward with solid strength, a long, athletic frame, and good all-around skill. She plays with a good motor, can post some on the low-block, she’ll knock down the occasional 3-pointer, but she’s outstanding in the mid-post as both a scorer and a high-low passer. What’s attractive about her from a recruiting standpoint, is she can do so many different things well, and with good size, that she fits in just about everywhere, so she’s highly recruitable by most programs at the Mid to High-Major Division-I level. If she could improve anywhere, I would say her lateral mobility could be quicker, especially at the defensive end of the floor, but she’s a really nice basketball player.
Shannon Wheeler, 6-1 F, Renaissance H.S. (MI), Michigan Crossover EYBL 16U
I’ll tell you what, Shannon might not be a complete player yet skillfully, but she is as talented of an athlete as I saw throughout the weekend, and she is budding with potential. Shannon has great length, she’s wiry strong, and she’s extremely bouncy and a quick-jumper, which is a mismatch in the women’s game. She played with a great motor when I saw her, she was all over the glass, and she even pushed it in transition a couple of times. Right now, I think she is probably a ‘4’ offensively, because she does still need work on her handle and jumper, but she is outstanding attacking from the mid-post, and she’s just too athletic on the block. Defensively, however, I feel like she can be elite, because she can already defend wings, and I think she can develop into a forward who can defend most guards as well. That versatility is huge. I can see her drawing a great deal of Mid-Major Division-I interest right now, with possibly some High-Major interest if she can develop that skillset.
Morasha Wiggins, 6-0 W, Kalamazoo Central H.S. (MI), Michigan Crossover EYBL 17U
Very much like Shannon Wheeler (above), Morasha is that same wiry strong, extremely long and athletic kid who can run and jump with the best of them. The difference between the two right now, though, is that skillset. Morasha is kind of a point forward type. She can get out and go in transition and makes solid decisions with the ball in the open floor. She can break you down and attack from the wing to score around the basket with a variety of moves and finishes. She still needs to work on a consistent perimeter jumper, but I really like her mindset and ball skill offensively. Defensively, she definitely has the physical talent to be an elite defender, but I think it would benefit her recruiting-wise to work on defending true point guards more often. She is a really nice high-level Division-I talent.
Ivy Wolf, 5-7 PG, Minster H.S. (OH), Dayton Lady Hoopstars Premier 17U
The other half of Minster’s backcourt, Ivy has already drawn a great deal of attention from colleges over this last year or so. She’s a fairly strong, tough-nosed point guard with a good all-around feel for the position. She is a solid on-the-floor athlete, she has a little length, and she just understands how to play. She senses tone well, knows when to manage a game and distribute, but she also knows when it’s time to take/create shots and be more aggressive scoring it. She’s a capable perimeter shooter when in rhythm, she’s solid finishing through contact, and she is a gritty defender who doesn’t mind mixing it up a little. I think she’s a really nice, steady, confident point guard prospect.