We Back Pat & Edmonton Bank Classic

2018 Seygan Robbins of Mercer Co (KY)

A FREE REPORT brought to you by Aaron Holland – @dutchy34

A basketball road trip was in store for Trevor Goodson, Tim Lounsdale, and I during the weekend of December 5-7. We had the opportunity of visiting two great high school events, the We Back Pat Showcase held at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, TN and the Edmonton State Bank Classic held at South Warren High School in Bowling Green, KY. After the two prep events on Friday and Saturday, we were able to attend one of the top rivalries in Women’s College basketball as we saw Louisville play Kentucky for in-state bragging rights. Let’s take a look at all the action that took place over this great basketball road trip.

We Back Pat Showcase

Four of the nation’s top girl’s basketball programs converged in Murfreesboro for the We Back Pat Showcase. This event featured Myers Park (NC), Conway (AR), Elizabethtown (KY) ranked, and the host Blackman (TN). Here is a little background on each team to show how dominant these four programs are in their respective state.

Myers Park (NC) began the season ranked fifth in MaxPreps’ preseason poll. Myers Park finished 30-1 last season with its lone loss to the Lady Blaze. It is 90-3 over the past three seasons and featured guard Aliyah Mazyck and forward Rydeiah Rogers. Mazyck, a 5-foot-9 point guard, has signed with Southern California. Rogers, a 6-1 post, has signed with North Carolina State.

Conway is Arkansas’s defending Class 7A state champion, which is the state’s highest classification. The Wampus Cats went 27-5 a year ago and return Jordan Danberry, Alexis Tolefree and Kianna Speight. Danberry, a 5-7 point guard, signed with Arkansas and was the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2013-2014. Tolefree is a 5-7 junior guard and dynamic scorer. Speight, a 5-7 point guard, missed last season due to a torn ACL, but has signed with Davidson.

Elizabethtown who is currently ranked #4 in the TN/KY Top 40 Poll and was also ranked eighth in MaxPreps’ preseason poll, finished 32-5 a year ago, was the Kentucky state runner-up and returns all five starters this year. They have a feature line-up that features all Division 1 level players and is lead by Erin Boley, a do-it-all forward who is one of the top players in her 2016 recruiting class and committed to Notre Dame.

Blackman, who is currently #2 in the TN/KY Top 40 Poll, finished 34-1 a year ago and claimed its first Class AAA girl’s basketball state title. The Lady Blaze returns four starters off that squad that was the ESPN, MaxPreps and USA TODAY national champion. Blackman has four college signees in guard Angel Allen (Western Carolina), guard MeMe Jackson (Tennessee), center Alex Johnson (MTSU) and guard KK Williams (Georgia State).

To say that these four teams are loaded in talent is an understatement. Friday night featured matchups between E-Town and Conway, and between Blackman and Myers Park. In the first matchup of the evening, Conway hung around with E-Town for the first half of the ballgame only trailing 23-21. However, once the second half started, E-Town took off outscoring the Wampus Cats 27-8 in the 3^rd quarter alone. E-Town ended up with an easy 58-43 victory. They were led by Notre Dame commit Erin Boley’s 19 point, 11 rebound performance. Trevor said it best, that on some nights Boley looks like the best player in ANY gym, tonight was one of those nights. Danberry really struggled from the floor for Conway. You can see that she has big time talent, but the shots just weren’t falling for her on Friday. Conway’s best player on the floor tonight was definitely Davidson signee Kianna Speight.

The final game of the evening was between Blackman and Myers Park. The intriguing matchup of Myer’s Park Aliyah Mazyck and Blackman’s Crystal Dangerfield was a sight to see. Every time down the floor, two heavyweight Point Guards fought it out possession after possession. The game stayed relatively close in the first half with Blackman leading Myers Park 24-15. Once again the 3^rd quarter found one team take off while the other stagnated and couldn’t get anything going. Blackman played stifling defense and outscored Myers Park 16-3 in the 3^rd quarter. Blackman blazed Myers Park for a 56-39 final. You can tell that Blackman has found their swagger again after suffering a defeat during Turkey Jamm. UCONN commitCrystal Dangerfield led Blackman with 18 points. She plays like a female Pistol Pete. The precisions passes and unbelievable shots she can make just make her so amazing. She also may be one of the fastest people in the nation, and I don’t mean just basketball players either. Her speed is nothing short of amazing. The only concerning thing I saw for Blackman was the play of Tennessee signee MeMe Jackson. While she possesses super athleticism, she really didn’t do much this game offensively. A few times she tried to take on Mazyck and lost everytime. She only ended up with 3 points and just took a backseat to her teammates. If you are the caliber of player that will play at UT next fall, you should not be deferring to teammates as much as she did. I believe she will be a good player at Tennessee in time, but I do not expect her to make an impact right away.

Edmonton State Bank Classic

After an easy hour and half drive up I-65 Saturday morning, we watched 8 different teams compete in the Edmonton State Bank Classic. This year’s event was held at South Warren High in Bowling Green, at one the nicest high facilities in the state of Kentucky. Match-ups involved Bell County vs Allen County Scottsville (ACS), Mercer County vs Bullit East, South Warren vs Owensboro Catholic, and finally Glasgow vs Breckinridge County.

The days first match-up between Bell County and ACS featured a face-off between University of Kentucky signees Maci Morris & Morgan Rich. This game did not disappoint. Bell County came out of the gate hot and played stifling defense. Bell County shot the ball well, shooting over 65% in the first half, while limiting ACS to only 35%. Maci Morris and Morgan Rich went back and forth at each other, with Morris ultimately winning the head to head battle. Bell County won the game 72-60 over ACS. Morris finished with 33 points for Bell Co. while Rich scored 24 on the day for ACS. Maci will need to add a lot of weight to play in the SEC. She is a natural scorer who can finish anywhere on the floor, but will be pushed around until she gain some much needed muscle and weight. Morgan seems to be in a better position to play immediately at Kentucky because of her athletic build. She looks more ready to play in the SEC in my opinion. ACS main issue was that only 5 players scored in the game, Rich scoring 24 and Holly Robinson also scoring 24. Two players combined to score 48 of their 60 points, which could be bad news if one or both have a bad night offensively.

The second game of the day featured Mercer County vs Bullit East. Mercer has an up and coming 2018 Seygan Robbins who has already been offered by Central Florida and receiving interest from a multitude of programs. A 5’7 PG who has deep range and does a good job of getting to the basket. Bullit East features Lindsey Duvall, arguably one of the top 5 recruits in the state of Kentucky in her 2017 class. She plays well beyond her age, can handle it through traffic, and can score the ball with ease. The game went back and forth for the entirety of the game. Seygan had a few mental lapses in the later stages of the ballgame. Instead of making the simple pass, she would try to one-hand no look passes, it’s something she will learn from and hopefully not do in critical moments in the future. She didn’t have the greatest offensive game today, but you can see that most of her shots normally would be going in. Duvall is the player that makes Bullit go, and she had just an incredible game. She finished with 29 points, she played with great intensity on the defensive end creating turnovers. Mercer County slipped past Bullit East 63-60. A player that really caught my eye was Mercer County’s 2018 Guard Faith Lake. She is only 5’8 but she is a super long player. She possesses a massive wingspan and has really good speed, especially when she has the ball in transition. She can score from outside, but does a good job at getting to the basket. Because of her incredible reach, she can get rebounds and get steals. She finished the game with 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. I definitely think this kid could be a Low to Mid D1 player. If she continues to grow and gain muscle, she will be a wonderful contributor at a Division 1 school.

The third game of the day featured South Warren’s Super Frosh Amaya Lasley take on Mikayla Berry and Owensboro Catholics. South Warren started the game out on fire and Owensboro really had no answer, until they began to press late in the second quarter. South Warren just could not handle the pressure and let Owensboro get as close as 52-49 after 3 quarters. Ultimately South Warren regained their composure and put away Catholic 75-61. Amaya finished the game with 24 points and 5 rebounds. She does a really good job of getting the ball to the basket and finishing. She already has a college ready body that will only get better as she ages. She also has a good basketball IQ, especially when deciding to finish or dish when she penetrates. Other players who had fantastic games for South Warren included 2016 Timitryi Patterson who finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, and 2015 guard Colby Downing who finished with 30 points and 7 rebounds. Mikayla Berry led Catholic with 15 points. She has beautiful form on her shot and also possesses a nasty step back jumper that can create enough space to get a good shot off.

The last game of the evening was between Glasgow and Breckinridge County. There are only two words about this game. BREANNA GLOVER. It’s really between her and Erin Boley for the state’s most coveted recruit in the 2016 class. Breanna was all over the floor, and she already possesses not only a college player’s body, but an elite division 1 athletic body. She finished the game with 35 points and 8 rebounds. Her 3PT shot was on point this evening as she finished 5-8 from beyond the arc. She also plays physical and knows how to draw contact to get to the FT line. She went to the line an amazing 16 times during the game, connecting on 10 of those attempts. Again, as I said before, this game only needed two words; you know what they are, so say them now.

Louisville vs Kentucky

If you ever get a chance to watch a game or play a game at Louisville’s luxurious KFC YUM Center, I implore you to do it. Not only is the facility NBA level, but the fan base really puts it over the top. It’s not every day you have a sell-out on a Sunday afternoon, but even the rafters were at near capacity. The opponent may have something to do with it too. Their Interstate Rival Kentucky Wildcats made the 90 mile trek to Louisville. If this were the men’s game, I know Kentucky would have had more fans there; the Louisville fan base really supports their women’s program. You also know this game is a big deal when you spot the legendary Bob Corwin on press row during the game. While Kentucky brought a nice following, it was mostly Louisville and their amazing fan base. Louisville came out on fire and led by as many as 15 in the first half. The problem for Louisville right now is that they really don’t have a consistent threat at PG. Kentucky chipped away at their lead for first 10 minutes in the second half. The Wildcats ultimately won because of Louisville’s problems at PG.

It was great capping off a basketball fueled road trip, from starting in Murfreesboro, traveling to Bowling Green, and finally being able to watch two High Level programs play each other for state bragging rights in Louisville.