In a new feature, I will highlight some of the players in the city who do the grunt work. These players may not get the recognition of higher profile teammates but they put in the work to help their teams go. These are the kids that do the dirty work and are "extra possession kids".
Samira Rodriguez(2013)- The gritty guard for Stevens is a headache defensive match up for opposing guards. She came up huge in a season opening win over Churchill. She gave standout guard Leslie Vorpahl a tough time. She followed up with a great effort to slow down Recee' Caldwell in a loss to Johnson in Corpus Christi Tournament championship game. Samara is quick and physical. She plays with moxy and is becoming one of my favorite players to watch.
Bailey Ulrich(2012)- The undersized post is tough! In a game vs Austin Westlake and their 6'2 post, Ulrich was down right nasty. She fronted her, pushed her with lower body leverage and she out hustled her to loose basketball balls. Johnson does not win that game without Ulrich efforts.
Jasmine Thompson(2015)- The frosh post for Mac is a game changer. She immediately makes her presence felt with big time boards. She is very active on both ends of the floor. She is the Dennis Rodman of the city. Besides defending and boarding, she is averaging 10 points early.
Jamee Jorgenson(2014)- Jorgenson is a double digit rebounder for a high scoring Boerne Champion team. She is the hard screen setter and cleans up the numerous long attempts shot by her gunning teammates. Her huge hands and hockey strong body allows her to rebound out of area and bang with the best bigs in the city.
Mikki Flores- The Churchill frosh is an energizer for her team. She is a floor burn kid that dives for every loose ball. She is a pretty good young scorer but she is huge on the defensive end of the floor. I have seen Flores actually dive for the steal while an offensive player was dribbling. Incredible motor!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Signing Day!
Elena Gumbs and Fam signs(Rice) on the dotted line!Today is the first day that players can sign Letter of Intents . Congrats to all you young Stars! Your hard work has paid off. In a conversation with a very proud father, he stated that his daughters' scholarship is worth over $250,000 over the four years! Talk about a making a good investment.
Opening Days Quick Hitters
Though the season is still very new, some early hints signal a different year and new standouts.
Anissa Hastings and Stevens- This blog named Stevens the #10 ranked team in the city. The Stevens team showed the entire city that they are underrated. Coach Anissa Hastings is too underrated. Her team mirrors her passionate coaching style with hard nosed defense. No zones! She makes sure she gets after it and instills an "us against them" mentality. Hastings must be commended for keeping her cool in the big victory over Churchill(preseason #5). The Churchill crowd surprised many onlookers with the verbal assaults toward Hastings and her Stevens group. She steadily led her squad to a 1 point win over one of the better teams and coaches in the city, Cal Wulfsberg. In a telling play, Hastings showed that her X and O ability is first rate. Churchill caused a turnover with 10 seconds left in the game, down by 1 point. The ball was under the Churchill basket. Wulfsberg called a timeout to draw up a set, a baseline drift play to the weak side shooter. The beautiful thing about Hasting's defensive strategy is that she forced the ball to the left side of the floor, thus making the baseline drift pass difficult because it had to be thrown accurately with the Churchill player's weak hand. The result was a turnover, game time.
Johnson High School- A local high school coach was overheard saying that "all they(Johnson) have is Caldwell" as he smirked to his audience. Another coach bragged to a D1 visiting coach that he "beat them(Johnson) 30 twice" last season. Opening day showed that those days are long gone. Gabbie Bowie(2014) introduced herself to the city with 20 points and numerous rebounds over Taft. Erica Sanders (2015) provided a few electric moments telling the uninformed of her promising future. Morgan Stern may be the difference maker when it is all said and done. The standout soccer player has the body, athleticism and grit to give Johnson the physical presence versus elite Bigs. Coach Audra Bredemeyer has picked up the defensive pace and is pressuring all over the court. The 30 point win over Taft exhibited the bright outlook for Johnson.
East Central- East Central beat Roosevelt last night 48-46. Apparently, East Central is no longer an easy out.
Brooke Allemand- This blog stated that Brooke Allemand(Champion) would lead the area in scoring. She backed up that proclamation on Monday night with 29 points, including seven 3 balls. Allemand hit over 100 treys last season.
Wagner #1?- Wagner made its case of being #1 in the city with a solid victory over Jay last night. Wagner holds a couple advantages over most teams in the city, namely, the Twins! Adriane and Aundrea Davis are nightmare defenders for opposing guards. Individually, they are quick and aggressive. They both get into defenders hips and stay low on defensive slides. However, it is the help side defense of their teammates that make them very good. Their aggressive on ball stances inevitably lead to some ball handlers getting by them. That's when the Wagner weak side defense picks up the slack and makes scoring against them very tough. 2013 post, Tesha Smith will lead the city in rebounds. The word most used to describe "Smitty" by onlookers is BEAST. She is one of the few kids in the city that volleyball spikes opponents shots. She reportedly had 7 blocks last night vs Jay.
Mismatches- The opening days showed huge disparities in the city basketball programs. Incarnate Word, Johnson, Brennan, Sam Houston, Southwest, and Johnson all won by 25 pints or more. Steele and Brandeis throttled their opponents by 50 plus!
Reagan- The Rattlers made their case for #1 in the city by beating a good Judson team at Judson. The return of Sabrina Berry, out for personal reasons, may vault them to the top of the city rankings.
Huge Games- Reagan faces both Steele(11/15) and Wagner(11/18) next week in a battle of Top 5 teams in the city. Johnson may face Stevens in Corpus Christi this weekend. Churchill has a tough schedule and faces Steele(11/15), Wagner(11/21) and Jay(11/29) over the next few weeks.
Anissa Hastings and Stevens- This blog named Stevens the #10 ranked team in the city. The Stevens team showed the entire city that they are underrated. Coach Anissa Hastings is too underrated. Her team mirrors her passionate coaching style with hard nosed defense. No zones! She makes sure she gets after it and instills an "us against them" mentality. Hastings must be commended for keeping her cool in the big victory over Churchill(preseason #5). The Churchill crowd surprised many onlookers with the verbal assaults toward Hastings and her Stevens group. She steadily led her squad to a 1 point win over one of the better teams and coaches in the city, Cal Wulfsberg. In a telling play, Hastings showed that her X and O ability is first rate. Churchill caused a turnover with 10 seconds left in the game, down by 1 point. The ball was under the Churchill basket. Wulfsberg called a timeout to draw up a set, a baseline drift play to the weak side shooter. The beautiful thing about Hasting's defensive strategy is that she forced the ball to the left side of the floor, thus making the baseline drift pass difficult because it had to be thrown accurately with the Churchill player's weak hand. The result was a turnover, game time.
Johnson High School- A local high school coach was overheard saying that "all they(Johnson) have is Caldwell" as he smirked to his audience. Another coach bragged to a D1 visiting coach that he "beat them(Johnson) 30 twice" last season. Opening day showed that those days are long gone. Gabbie Bowie(2014) introduced herself to the city with 20 points and numerous rebounds over Taft. Erica Sanders (2015) provided a few electric moments telling the uninformed of her promising future. Morgan Stern may be the difference maker when it is all said and done. The standout soccer player has the body, athleticism and grit to give Johnson the physical presence versus elite Bigs. Coach Audra Bredemeyer has picked up the defensive pace and is pressuring all over the court. The 30 point win over Taft exhibited the bright outlook for Johnson.
East Central- East Central beat Roosevelt last night 48-46. Apparently, East Central is no longer an easy out.
Brooke Allemand- This blog stated that Brooke Allemand(Champion) would lead the area in scoring. She backed up that proclamation on Monday night with 29 points, including seven 3 balls. Allemand hit over 100 treys last season.
Wagner #1?- Wagner made its case of being #1 in the city with a solid victory over Jay last night. Wagner holds a couple advantages over most teams in the city, namely, the Twins! Adriane and Aundrea Davis are nightmare defenders for opposing guards. Individually, they are quick and aggressive. They both get into defenders hips and stay low on defensive slides. However, it is the help side defense of their teammates that make them very good. Their aggressive on ball stances inevitably lead to some ball handlers getting by them. That's when the Wagner weak side defense picks up the slack and makes scoring against them very tough. 2013 post, Tesha Smith will lead the city in rebounds. The word most used to describe "Smitty" by onlookers is BEAST. She is one of the few kids in the city that volleyball spikes opponents shots. She reportedly had 7 blocks last night vs Jay.
Mismatches- The opening days showed huge disparities in the city basketball programs. Incarnate Word, Johnson, Brennan, Sam Houston, Southwest, and Johnson all won by 25 pints or more. Steele and Brandeis throttled their opponents by 50 plus!
Reagan- The Rattlers made their case for #1 in the city by beating a good Judson team at Judson. The return of Sabrina Berry, out for personal reasons, may vault them to the top of the city rankings.
Huge Games- Reagan faces both Steele(11/15) and Wagner(11/18) next week in a battle of Top 5 teams in the city. Johnson may face Stevens in Corpus Christi this weekend. Churchill has a tough schedule and faces Steele(11/15), Wagner(11/21) and Jay(11/29) over the next few weeks.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Our Best to a SA great.
Former Taft star, Lyndsey Cloman has reportedly torn her ACL and is out for the season. Cloman is a junior post for Oklahoma University. We wish her a speedy recovery.
November Quick Hitters!
Shana Holmes shining already for Harding! FIT!!!! November marks the start of another great basketball season. It also marks the start of a new chapter in local players lives as they sign National Letter of Intents next week. Here are a few quick hitters.
- Tabatha Richardson-Smith will sign with Seton Hall. The former SA area player for Seguin verbally committed last week. The remarkable thing about her commit is her journey. Richardson-Smith is a 6'0 guard with a flair for the game. She prefers to play with boys and spent the preseason at her new school, Bay City High in Houston, practicing with the boys team, not the girls. Tabatha had a very tough time at Seguin. She was stuck in an environment that put very little emphasis on girls basketball. It is very difficult to shine in a situation where your passion is treated as a hobby, but shine Tabatha did! Tabatha sought refuge with her club Sophia Young Elite and found herself playing the NCAA October Fall Exposure period playing in front of many college suitors. While she was already well known to many D1 schools, Tabatha took advantage of the fall period to showcase her skills. Her club coach, Mike Ekenam, also sent video to numerous schools and worked diligently to help her get additional looks.(He called one of the best and most progressive coaches in the city and asked her for tape on Tabatha, even though Tabatha was not her kid. Of course she helped provide the tape that warranted a personal visit from Seton Hall!) Seton Hall is led by women's basketball legend, Anne Donovan. Congrats Tabatha! Your perserverence paid off! Your passion is too strong to be deminshed!
- Speaking of taking advantage of the Fall Exposure Period, point guard extraordinaire,Leslie Vorpahl made a Western Athletic Conference coach stand up and take notice. The Churchill pg put on a show with her SA Heat team. The school will be in San Antonio to visit her at school on November 9th.
- In a SA area battle, Southwest scoring great Shana Holmes(South Texas Hoyas) led her Division 2 Harding University squad to a win over Lipscomb. The Divison 1 Lipscomb features former La Vernia star, Chealsea McMeans(TeamXpress). Holmes led all scorers with 14 points and McMeans chipped in with 4 points for her team.
- To follow San Antonio area action starting on Monday, text "follow shesballinsouth" to 40404. We will be covering games throughout the city with the help of numerous correspondents. Tuesday coverage includes Wagner vs Jay, Reagan vs Judson, Johnson vs Taft.
- My San Antonio with "5 burning questions" and "Preseason Predictions".
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