Washington, DC- The 6th Annual Title IX, was for sure a great way for a basketball lover to end the year .The 3 day basketball tournament style event was all housed under one roof from December 27-30
th at the DC Armory. NYGHoops was in attendance to observe the festivities, from start to finish. With plenty to take away from the event one of the brackets that caught my eyes was the Bob Headen bracket, the following are my thoughts on the teams.
As usual, Potters House Christian Academy (FL) is loaded and finished undefeated at this event (3-0). However this season, the Lions may have one of those once in a lifetime type of players that a high school coach will cherish in 6’2
Rellah Boothe (2017). She already sports a college ready body and is a match up nightmare on the wing. Boothe can hit the perimeter shoot, she moves well without the ball, she finds open teammates when she has the ball in her hands and she can handle the ball on the break. Other key contributors to the Lions are
Shanice Norton (2015) a very athletic LSU Signee .She sees the floor well and loves to play in attacking fashion whether she is attacking the rim or applying pressure on the ball. In the class of 2018, 5’5
Te'Yonna Williams is a future star, combine her speed, scoring ability and her sharp shooting touch…the sky is the limit. 6’6
Noami Ekwedije & 5’7
De'Sha Royal round out the 2016 class and both are future Division I players.
New Hope Christian Academy brought there up tempo, pressing style to the nation’s capital at Title IX. The Phoenix were led by 5 ‘7 Clemson signee
Kenniece Purvis, a strong, physical, athletic guard with a scorer's mentality that finished with contact. The Phoenix have a talented and experiences team that finished 2-1,6’1 W/F
Ksebia Popovich and 5’10
Nakiah Black seniors did most of the interior dirty work but showed enough skill to be considered inside/outside players. While the trio of
Timber Tate,
Lucky Rudd (NC State commit) &
Jordan Chavis all juniors helped senior
Ciana Byron man the guard responsibilities.
Life Center Academy finished bracket play with a 1-2 record. The Warriors main returners where seniors 6’6
Theresa Ekhelar (Ohio State) & 6’0
Aliyah Jeune (Rutgers). With the addition of two nice pieces from abroad, in (2016) 6’0
MichelleNicholas & (2017) 6’1
AkeineReed. In Nicholas the warriors
have a Euro style forward tha
t can flat out shoot from the perimeter, while Reed is more of an athletic wing prospect she also has a decent touch from the perimeter. To round out the roster with 6-foot-1
Azeezat Fatunmbi (2016) helps out being physical, active and doing most of the dirty work while 5-foot-9 Junior
Grace Simmons provides perimeter relief off the bench .
TPLS Christian Academy was very new to me but they also had a roster of future prospects. While struggling in bracket play and finishing out the event at 0-3, the young Lions squad had some talented pieces. The Stovall sister are two you can't miss both stand at 6’3, the 2016 sister
Kaitlyn is committed to Richmond while the 2018
Rachael showed some flashed of perimeter skills combine with her ability to play in the paint area. Other contributors to the Lions were point guard
Jennifer Davis (2018) & wing
Tyah Hunter (2017).