Who Can Derail Hurricanes?
Since entering high school, Alaina Heard has had to fill some giant shoes as she has gone from being a role player as a freshman, to the first guard off the bench as a sophomore, to running the point as a starter during her junior year. The transition hasn’t been all that easy as she has been bothered by something I often speak of, nagging injuries however when healthy, she does an adequate job, well actually much more than adequate. To her credit, she is a very aggressive player and is able to get to hole against most defenders. She is also fortunate enough to have a couple of D1 signees, Tyler Gilbert and Jasmine Prophet, both over 6’1, as easy targets. I wanted to watch the teams that might have a chance to beat them in District 23-5A, Bush and Austin however if the Hurricanes stay healthy, that task won’t be easy unless….
Bush is still tied with Hightower for first place after an easy win against Kempner and with Elkins’ win over Dulles; both teams also have a three game lead for a playoff spot. Bush is pushing the ball every chance they get this year and we all know where the game starts, or at least we should and Victoria Kemokai is among the top ones in the area for her class. With Danesha Richardson (19) and Crystal Chidomere (13) putting up numbers like they did today, not to mention Trachel Phillips adding offense off the bench, this team could actually catch Hightower slipping. Victoria has suffered from those nagging injuries as well but if she stays healthy along with younger sister Samaria’s return to back her up, they actually have an outside chance to do some damage
Austin has already lost to Bush and they have been sort of Jekyl/Hyde team since the first time I saw them in the Conroe Tournament. They’ve beaten Katy Taylor this season so anything is possible as far as the district goes however they’ve already lost to Bush so it’s also about whoever shows up. Today they opened up a big lead on Travis and kept extending it as Pearl Ubaru led four players in double figures with 18 points. If they can continue to have four players putting up double digits, that could be a major plus because we all know or should know what Nicole Blaskowsky is going to bring to the table, so it’s up to the role players to make this a race