Battle in the Big Friendly: First Team All-Tourney 15U
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This weekend I covered the 15U and 16U teams and I can tell you right now that the future is very bright for Oklahoma girls high school basketball. These youngsters put on a show on the Prep Girls Hoops Circuit which is saying a lot. All of the teams on the circuit are extremely talented and well-coached and the ability to stand out at that level says a lot about these players. With no further ado, here are the top five 15U players from the Battle in the Big Friendly!
Jill Twiehaus | 5-9 G/F | Oklahoma Swift 2024 | Jenks High, OK | 2024 | @Jill_Twiehaus
Man, what can I even say about a player who put up 77 points for the weekend? I’m still in the process of checking, but I think her 77 total points in four games may be the PGH Circuit record. This kid is a walking bucket. She has so many ways to get the ball in the basket. She can stroke the three. In fact she had eight in one game and six in another. She gets to the rim with very good handles and has no problem inside among the bigs due to her tremendous length and footwork. She is a threat that the defense has got to key in on or risk losing by a large margin. When she senses the double team, she is very good at splitting it and driving or dishing the ball to the open shooter. She has a very high basketball IQ and it shows in her play. It is most evident on defense where Jill senses the flow of the play and almost always finds herself in the right position to grab the ball for the tie-up or swat it three rows into the bleachers. Twiehaus is an absolute superstar on a very, very good team and the D-I offers should begin coming in very soon!
Gabrielle Tilley Gabrielle Tilley 5'5" | CG Yukon | 2024 State OK | 5-8 CG | Oklahoma Swish 2024 (Fitzgerald) | Yukon High, OK | 2024 | @GabrielleTille1
Tilley is a “baller” according to my notes from this past weekend. I use that term when a player plays with a fluidity that either belies her age or just puts her at a level far above her peers. Tilley is both of those things. Looking a defender dead in the eyes as they begin to back up from you because they fear your handles and then dropping a three on them is not only demoralizing, it is a “baller” move. Plain and simple, Gabrielle can put the ball in the bucket. She is a hustler who is long for a 5-8 player and she goes hard all game long. Tilley is fun to watch and it will be fun to see her and her undefeated Swish squad on future PGH Circuit stops. If you hear that the Swish is going to be there, you’re gonna need to book yourself a trip to see the show.
Allison Heathcock
Allison
Heathcock
6'0" | SG
Edmond North | 2024
State
OK
| 5-10 CG | Team Buddy Buckets 2024 | Edmond North High, OK | 2024 | @Aheathcock2024
Heathcock started for the state semi-finalists as a freshman and when surrounded by freshmen and eighth graders on the PGH Circuit, she especially stood out. It wasn’t just her height and outstanding length, it was mostly her ridiculous shooting ability. She can hit the three, but she is really deadly when driving or stopping and popping from inside the free throw line. She gets the shot off thanks to her aforementioned length and more often than not is fouled in the act. She hits her free throws at a more than 90% rate. She is just a scorer. She hustles, her long legs propelling her from end to end like a rocket. She is quiet and unassuming, but Allison’s level of play is screaming for attention. She is a D-I player. There is no doubt in my mind.
McKenzie Mathurin | 5-10 CG | Oklahoma Swift 2024 | Broken Arrow High, OK | 2025 | @mathurin2025
McKenzie played not only for the 2024s, but also for the 2023s and performed well with both over the past two weekends. She is also the youngest player of the five first team athletes on this list. On this particular team, the one with Jill Twiehaus, Mathurin didn’t have to take on as much of the scoring load and was opened up to show off her distribution skills. She is a coach’s kid and it shows out there. Her basketball IQ is off the charts and she runs the offense with the confidence and precision of a senior who has started for four years. She moves players around with her hand or just her eyes, she is a motivator verbally and an example with her play. She makes everyone better around her on both ends of the floor with her heart and hustle and her future is incredibly bright. As soon as the weekend was over, Mathurin picked up yet another D-I offer – from UT-Arlington – and it is sure to not be the last.
Kate Melton Kate Melton 5'7" | CG Edmond North | 2024 State OK | 5-7 CG | Team Buddy Buckets 2024 | Edmond North High, OK | 2024 | @KateMelton23
Yet another Edmond North freshman who got big minutes on a state 6A semi-finals team, Melton is a beast of a scorer. Don’t let her 5-7 height fool you, she is potentially the toughest athlete on the floor at any given time and racks up the free throws for her very good Buddy Buckets squad. Her incredible maturity showed in the second game when she was having trouble making shots and instead switched roles to dish out passes to her teammates and play lockdown defense on the other team. It is a big step for a player to be able to admit they just aren’t hitting right now and switch roles. That is D-I level thinking. Then, of course, she came back and had 19 in the next game – shooting the lights out from deep and racking up the free throws as she typically does. Melton is a player that any coach would absolutely love to have and you’re most definitely going to want to catch Team Buddy Buckets 2024 on their next PGH Circuit stop.