Highland Tournament Take-Aways
The highland tournament had some of the best teams in state in it and it really showed a lot. The tournament left me with a lot of thoughts/take-aways once the tournament concluded. Today, we’ll go over those take-aways: Sabino Wins…
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Continue ReadingThe highland tournament had some of the best teams in state in it and it really showed a lot. The tournament left me with a lot of thoughts/take-aways once the tournament concluded. Today, we’ll go over those take-aways:
Sabino Wins it All
Sabino went 5-0 this week and won the championship in a tournament that matched them up against Chaparral, Pinnacle, and Chandler. These three teams may be the best competition Sabino runs into all regular season. This leaves me with the thought that they may have a chance to go undefeated throughout the regular season. That would be some impressive accomplishment.
Player Struggles
As mentioned in another article covering the tournament, some of the states best talent really struggled this tournament and that has me wondering why. Jess Finney, Anna Ostlie, Ally Stedmna, and Kiya Dorroh looked off this week. I have seen all 4 play at a much higher level than what they showed and all 4 have received numerous D1 offers and are highly ranked in their classes. When you are ranked that high, I expect a different level of play from you and I expect these girls to bounce back and come back stronger throughout the season. I am still left wondering what threw these great players off this week. Maybe it’s just early season nerves?
Emerging Players
Two players that really impressed me this week were Alaya Fitzgerald and Victoria Perez. Funny enough, these players surprised me for the complete opposite reasons. Fitzgerald really impressed me with her scoring ability, while Perez impressed me with her defensive efforts and play making ability. Fitzgerald won my MVP of the tournament and looked unstoppable. She could score virtually whenever she wanted. Perez may have had the hardest defensive assignments throughout the tournament, having to guard Ally Stedman, Anna Ostlie, Kam Rhodes, and Kam Doty. I thought she did a really good job of slowing them down. She isn’t the biggest but she definitely the fastest played on the court. She got a ton of steals and a ton of assists. Perez has elite court vision!