With two months from tipping off the high school season, here are a few happenings/observations on the local scene.
- Former Smithson Valley Star and Tulane player, Danielle Blagg is in good company. Seen here in the weight room with NBA and New Orleans Hornets star, Chris Paul!
-HoopGurlz Terrific 25- ESPN HoopGurlz just debuted its first ranking of the 2014 class. Johnson's Recee' Caldwell is considered the #8 player in the nation with a 94 rating. Caldwell is ranked #10 by Blue Star Report. She is currently ranked #5 by All-Star Girls Report.
-BlueStar Ranking- Steele's McKenzie Calvert is ranked #21 in the country for 2014. This would put her on pace be a McDonald's All-American if she stays in the top 25 players in the nation.
-Speaking of Caldwell, The Johnson High School team will be the sleeper in the city this season. The Lady Jags will follow up their first 20 win season with two future D1 additions in Gabbi Bowie(2014) and Erica Sanders(2015). Bowie ,the New Comer of the Year in an El Paso district last season, is being recruited by New Mexico St., North Texas, and University of Texas Arlington. Sanders has a Division 1 offer before playing her first high school basketball game and is being pursued by UTSA, North Texas, University of Houston, Tulane, UAB and UTA. The Lady Jags also have two new 5-11 sisters to help make the race for the NEISD title a great one.
- NEISD will be hotly contested this season:
- Defending champs Reagan return three D1 kids in the line up in Sabrina Berry(UTSA), Moriah Mack and Wendy Knight. Add future college player and much improved Corrigan Tibbs in the post and the Rattlers have to be the favorite to win district. Coach Terry Barton is one of the better coaches in the city.
- Churchill is still stacked even with the reported lost of Carly Truesdale. The Lady Chargers sill feature point guard extraordinaire, Leslie Vorpahl. Danni Espinoza had a monster summer and has at least one D1 coach calling San Antonio area coaches and inquiring about her. Jordan Holub is one of the better high school 2 guards in the city. The Chargers main asset is Coach Cal Wulfsberg who seems to have most area coaches intimidated by his colorful sideline personality. No local coach rides referees and influences games like Wulfsberg. His 1-1-3 zone gets the ball out of the hands of the oppositions best player by using a full court defender to essentially play full court man. He and his team will be tough to beat.
- Roosevelt lost a seasoned senior class but still has the ShesBallin #1 player in the class of 2012, Niaga Mitchell-Cole. Lookout for a monster season from Mitchell-Cole. She must be the Alpha in the city if Roosevelt is to have any success. Roosevelt has one of the Top 5 freshman in the city in Endia Peterson and the well respected but little known, Muanyae Melancon.
- Watch out for Lee. The new coach William Taylor, is father of former Jay star and Texas Southern player, Kiarra. He, like his brother Keith(asst. for John Jay), are dedicated developers and GO HARD! Lee has a capable leader and will surely not be an easy out in the next few years.
- Madison should surprise many teams this years with a terrific 1-2 punch in Briana Jones and Monica Perez. Ashton Gulczweski and "Peechy" Alcibar will help fuel pretty good back court. Perez and Jones are much improved and had great summers that will have college coaches visiting the campus this fall.
-Speaking of Roosevelt, Coach Rob Rheinberger apparently gets it! According to numerous college coaches, Coach "Berger" is very proactive in the recruiting process of his players. He works with club and college coaches with providing video and updated stats. He actively calls colleges on the behalf of his players and does not try to "oversell" his players. He is getting the same reputation with some college coaches that Wagner's Tina Camacho, Jay's Mike Floyd, Triva Corrales and Steven's Anissa Hastings has, and that is of a GIRLS high school coach who takes the job seriously and goes above and beyond for his kids.
- Visits-Some local players are taking official and unofficial visits soon:
Boerne Champions' Brooke Allemand is reportedly planning on taking an unofficial to UTSA, University of New Mexico and Rice this fall.
Roosevelt's Niaga Mitchell-Cole is reportedly visiting Texas State on Friday. She is said to be attending the inaugural UTSA football game on Saturday followed by an official visit at a later date. She has official visits set up for Weber St. and Fresno St later in the fall.
Floreville's Erica Hernandez recently visited Southeastern University last month.
- High School preview coming soon!- The best two players in the city for class of 2015, Kyra Lambert(Steele) and Erica Sanders are attending the prestigious EBA Rising Stars Camp in Georgia this upcoming weekend. The event is an invite only camp by Peach State Hoops, one of the most respected entities in girls basketball.
