’22 Queens Of The Hardwood-New Faces-Elite Division

I love seeing new players or players I haven't seen a lot of, typically if I'm at an event with a whole lot of teams and games and no roster was provided, I keep it moving because of the time it takes for me to find out who a player is is time I could be looking at someone where the roster was provided, it's simply common sense yet here we are, however sometimes I get excited about players that are definitely in the "UNDER THE RADAR" category on if you do the math, many are so here you go, all are from 2023 Class unless noted <strong>Tyra Oliver-5'7 CG (Harker Heights HS) Austin Elite RFW</strong> Oliver had me scratching my head on "how did I miss her" because immediately she grabbed my attention with her "on the ball" defense, baseline to baseline and I love heat yet on the flip, her explosive first step and acrobatic finishes were nice, so was her pull-up jumper, in the set as well as in transition <strong>Crystal Jones-5'9 PF (Glen HS) Austin Elite RFW</strong> Jones definitely gave opponents the JONESES because when I write UPS, that's all I need because everything is embedded in my memory. She battles for everything that comes off the rim, she also did a good job scoring off of putbacks, which includes players literally hanging on her so that tells you about her strength <strong>Madison Ortega-5'2 CG (Warren HS) SA Unite</strong> Ortega creates her shot well under pressure, she's deliberate and doesn't force anything yet she also understands something very important, how to get hers in the flow yet she also can score off the dribble, and speaking of flow, that pull jumper looked good as she knocked it down with a hand in her face <strong>Bolu Odumosu-5'10 (Clark HS) SAHE Gold </strong> Odumosu plays within herself yet she does many things that may not show up on a score or stat sheet but let me back it up, she's long and athletic, that's one of the bases I use when I evaluate and she covered quite a few as she has nice timing to make the offensive player think about challenging her and she finishes around the basket <strong>Arissa Garcia-5'9 SG/SF (Holmes HS) SAHE JK</strong> Garcia had me thinking about Home On The Range because she showed she could drop it from deep, with the deer and the antelopes but she also showed she could shoot off the screen with her quick release. As an added bonus, she set the defender up nicely to attack off the dribble and her body control on finishes was nice <strong>Yulissa Yebra- 5'11 PF/C (Nikki Rowe HS) STX Lady Hoops Elite</strong> Yebra is also "long and athletic" and it's still the base and she does a good job attacking the basket with a deceptive first step yet she dives on the floor for looses balls, let me drop that #THROWBACK hashtag which always takes me back to another era however she dropped the mic by "playing the passing lane" <strong>Emily Carranco-5'10 PF (Edinburg HS) STX  Lady Hoops Elite [2024]</strong> Carranco is one of those players that just fills in so many blanks, you need a huge rebound or a clutch basket, she did it but she also showed she could defend and change the momentum of a game. She goes after the ball off the rim, she scores off the dribble, off putbacks, and has nice moves around the basket <strong>Zoe McClaskey-5'10 PF (Vista Ridge HS) Centex Attack {2024]</strong> McClaskey has good size and she uses it well as she understands positioning around the basket, this enables her to rebound against taller players but she also showed she could not only score on the inside, she could step out, face the basket and drop the jumper. Nice upside <strong>Emily Mathis-5'8 CG (SA Christian School) Player First [2024]</strong> Mathis isn't related to Johnny, it doesn't matter but her acrobatic shots were definitely a hit for me. I enjoyed watching her run her squad, she understands how to "control the tempo" that's always good but even better, her court vision and making crisp passes to teammates were nice, so were her scoring and (or) dishing off the dribble