Frountcourt Prospects at Warren Central Tournament
Briontanay Marshall Briontanay Marshall 6'0" | C Central | 2022 State KY – ’22 6’0″/C – Central Marshall has good athleticism and a developed post-up game. She made 14 points, 8 rebounds, and has season averages of 5.6 points, 7.5…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingBriontanay Marshall Briontanay Marshall 6'0" | C Central | 2022 State KY – ’22 6’0″/C – Central
Marshall has good athleticism and a developed post-up game. She made 14 points, 8 rebounds, and has season averages of 5.6 points, 7.5 rebounds. She seals opponents deep in paint to score, a post-up pivot-turn score, and a power move for layins.
The matchup wasn’t on Central’s level as a team but she performed well against very good bigs that I believe will both play on the next level. I don’t know exactly where to project Marshall as a player next year but she will certainly play in college.
Kenady Ward – ’23 6’4″/C – Jackson County
Ward is a prospect that has gone undiscovered up until this point and there are reasons for this. She is from a remote area, lacks speed, and struggles against athletic bigs. But what player doesn’t have their drawbacks. What she has the size (6’4″) and a good IQ on how to position herself to limit some of her lack of footspeed and the ability to block and challenge shots in the paint.
Don’t get me wrong. She is a project Center but with the right coaching to develop Bigs she could be a force in the paint for a D-2 or NAIA program or some lower-level D-1 teams. Worst-case scenario she will be a great practice player for other Bigs to go against on a daily basis and that is hardly a bad thing. On the season she is averaging 9.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, and making 70.8% of her free throws.
if you go by just the box score, when I saw her play she scored 2 points and had 0 rebounds, but I see more than that. She keeps has good fundamentals and keeps the ball high. She has more of a low post game but had to play in the high post the help alleviate the pressure being applied by the defense on her Guards. She made effective dump-down passes into the post for assists.
I would have liked to see her used a little more for some give-and-go passes to the Guards, dribble handoffs or some pick-and-pop situations in the halfcourt offense. The opponent’s overall team quickness may have prevented the give-and-go because she certainly demonstrated the passing ability as a safety valve against their press. I am not sure she has developed the free throw line area shot to be effective in the pick-and-pop yet. So that is an area she needs to develop in the off-season.
Destiny Jones – ’24 5’10″/SF – Central
Jones is very athletic and has great speed for running the floor and causing havoc on defense. She scores a majority of her points from the up-the-street passes and passes over the top of the defense for layups. She is also an asset on the break, scoring off of turnovers in the press. and as an off-the-ball shot blocker.
More than anything she seems to be steady and reliable at putting up numbers. Look at these stats: The day I was watching 19 points, 10 rebounds. Her average in the tournament 19.7 points, 9.3 rebounds. Her season averages 17.7 points, 8.9 rebounds. That is consistency.
Abby Gilbert – ’25 6’3″/SF – Jackson County
Gilbert is a star in the making a lock to play Division 1 basketball if she wants it. At the moment she primarily plays in the lane area and with her size, she should always spend some time there, but she has and is developing the skills to play any position on the court. The only unknown at this point is will she be one of the most sought-after recruits in the class of ’25 or more moderately recruited, but the offers will come.
As a Freshman, she is still a bit too thin of frame commit to becoming a Center or Power Forward at the next level although it is conceivable that she will grow into that body naturally over time. But it is her current skill level that leads me to project her as a Small Forward and maybe even Guard. It is too early to tell.
On the season she is averaging a double-double of 16.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, and averaged 13 points, 13 rebounds, during the tournament while making 80% of her free throws. I saw her play against a great team with a loaded frontcourt with tons of athleticism and she blocked three shots by my count and tallied a double-double against them as well: 13 points, 13 rebounds making 4 of 6 free throws.
She scored by posting up for a couple of dump-down passes with her feet deep in the lane, made layups by running the floor against the press, hit a three from the left corner, and handed the ball against pressure with a controlled dribble followed by a spin move.