Andra Espinoza-Hunter is New York's Gatorade state player of the year
making 8th time in last 12 years a UConn recruit wins New York honor

UConn incoming freshmen Mikayla Coombs, Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Megan Walker were selected as the Gatorade state players of the year in Georgia, New York and Virginia respectively making them eligible for the Gatorade National Player of Year honor.

Coombs averaged  16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 4.2 steals per game in leading the Wesleyan School to the Georgia 4A Private School state title.

Espinoza-Hunter is averaging 37.8 points, 7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3 steals per game for Ossining High School including a 40-point effort to clinch a spot in the New York AA semifinals.
Walker averaged 25.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 rebounds per game to lead Monacan High School to its third straight Virginia 4A title.

UConn recruiting targets Aliyah Boston and Christyn Williams were the state players of the year in Massachusetts and Arkansas respectively while the Connecticut winner McKenna Dale of E.O. Smith who has committed to Brown.

It is the second Gatorade state player of the year honor for Walker and Williams, who announced via her Twitter account yesterday that UConn joins Baylor, Notre Dame, Tennessee and UCLA are her five finalists.

While their future team is currently on the longest winning streak in NCAA basketball history, UConn signees Megan Walker and Andra Espinoza-Hunter are piling up the wins as well.

Megan Walker had 24 points to lead Monacan High School to its second consecutive Virginia 4A East title with a hard-earned 74-65 victory over King's Fork.

It was Walker's 17th straight game with at least 20 points and leaves her 16 points shy of 2,000 in her career. It was also the 50th consecutive win for Monacan which now prepares for a run at a third consecutive state title.
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Andra Espinoza-Hunter had 37 points (her 16th 30-point game of the season), six rebounds and five assists to lead Ossining to a 93-63 victory over New Rochelle in the New York Section 1 Class AA quarterfials to set up a matchup with Lourdes in the semifinals on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. at the Westchester County Center.

Not only is UConn rolling along with five wins over ranked teams but the highly-touted quartet of incoming freshmen are also in the midst of impressive seasons.

Mikayla Coombs had two 25-point games for undefeated Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. Coombs wasn't listed as one of the top scorers in a 75-8 win over WD Mohammed but in the other seven games Coombs is averaging 18.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.7 steals per game.

Coombs has been flirting with triple-doubles all season with 11 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals against Effingham County, 25 points, six rebounds and six steals versus Tattnall County. In her most recent game, she had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals and 2 blocked shots in a 56-18 win over St. Pius X.

Andra Espinoza-Hunter has scored at least 40 points in three of the first four games at Ossining (N.Y.) High School. Thanks to her coach Dan Ricci updating his team's stats on MaxPreps, I can pass on more information that I have for the other three incoming freshmen.

She had 40 points in a season-opening loss to Roland Park Country and games of 49, 38 and 40 in
wins over Hathaway Brown, Scarsdale and Albany.
Also, 17 appears to be a preferred number for Espinoza-Hunter as she has 17 3-pointers, 17 assists and 17 steals in the four games.

Lexi Gordon began the season by scoring 20 points in each of the first five games for LD Bell in Hurst, Texas and has nine 20-point performances. I don't have the individual scoring totals from a 47-43 loss to Cedar Hill, but in the other 14 games she is averaging 20.5 points per game.

Megan Walker has three 30-point games in the first four games of the season and since she is showing up as not having scored in a win over Clover Hill, I am going to assume that she didn't play in that game.

In the other three games she has scored 30, 36 and 31 points and is averaging 32.3 points and 10 rebounds per game.

There's a chance Coombs' and Walker's teams could meet in the upcoming Crescom Bank Holiday Invitational but since Wesleyan and Monacan are in opposite parts of the bracket, it wouldn't happen until the championship game or late in the consolation bracket.

Wesleyan faces a 4-1 Franklin County team out of Frankfort, Kentucky in the first round on Saturday at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Franklin County is led by Xavier signee Princess Stewart.

Monacan's first game is against Prairie View out of Henderson, Colorado with a potential game of ranked teams awaiting in the second round if No. 19 Monacan and No. 6 Norcross (Ga.) win on Saturday.

I've spoken to UConn senior guard Saniya Chong countless times over the last four years and always resisted the temptation to ask her about Andra Espinoza-Hunter, her former teammate at UConn since it would be a violation of NCAA rules for Chong to talk about her until Espinoza-Hunter signed her national letter of intent.

Well, Espinoza-Hunter put her signature on the dotted line on Wednesday and is officially part of UConn's four-player incoming recruiting class so I got Chong's take on Espinoza-Hunter after today's practice.

"It was awesome playing with her," said Chong, a teammate with Espinoza-Hunter during her junior and senior seasons when Andra was a seventh and eighth grader. "She can do all different things on the court, she can get to the basket, play defense so with her it made the team even better.

"She will fit in right away because she works hard, she is always focused and really excited. You see her here all the times coming to games, coming  to practice so I am sure she is ready to jump in and show what we can do."

Espinoza-Hunter helped Ossining to the 2012 and 2013 New York Class AA titles. After spending three seasons at Blair Academy, she has decided to play her final her senior season at Ossining.

"That is amazing to start off and now to finish especially with her being home," Chong said. "I think she loves that. She misses her friends, she misses her family and being in that home environment is really great,"

Batouly Camara, a transfer from Kentucky who is sitting out this season, played with Espinoza-Hunter for two seasons at Blair Academy.

Espinoza-Hunter said it was "the best day ever" when she heard the news that she would be teammates with Camara again

Camara will get to play with Espinoza-Hunter for three more years which is something she is really excited about.

"It will be awesome to play with Andra again, we have known each other since we was in fifth grade and I was in seventh so we had a great relationship and I am so glad she is coming here," Camara said. "The opportunity to play with her at Blair, to watch her grow into the young woman that she is today it just makes me so happy."

So what will Espinoza-Hunter bring to the table when she comes to UConn?

"Just energy, she is a competitor in everything she does so that is what she is going to bring on and off the court," Camara said.

Espinoza-Hunter joins Mikalya Coombs, Lexi Gordon and Megan Walker as part of a highly-touted incoming freshman class. All-Star Girls Report, which includes the transfers of Camara and Azura' Stevens in the ratings, has UConn with the No. 1 recruiting class.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma had to wait until Thursday as Walker, the top-rated recruit in the class, completed the class with her commitment. He said it was a relatively stress free process.

"As we were going through the recruiting process I thought we were recruiting some really good kids who had a pretty good idea of what we are looking for," Auriemma said. "For the most part every one those kids was kind of easy to recruit. They were really knowledgeable about what have and what we have to offer, what they could accomplish there.

"It is a group that has the potential to do a lot of great things. Individually they are all probably at different levels right now, some have played at a higher level have more experience than others but I think as a group they bring a lot of things that right now if you look at our team they are going to get an opportunity to show what they've got right away. I think they are pretty versatile as a group, I don't think we have anybody who is locked in being a one-dimensional type of kids so I think all in all we helped ourselves a lot "

What is interesting about how UConn recruits is only a select few are invited for visits to campus. This year that was definitely the case as the only four players to take official visits to UConn were the four players who committed and then signed with the Huskies.

"We don't waste our time with kids we don't think we can get or kids that we think it is going to be a major struggle," Auriemma said. "We know before we ask a kid to come on an official visit, we know because a lot of them have been here before. We have a pretty good idea that it is going to be us and somebody else or it is no more than three schools generally so our chances of getting them are pretty good. That doesn't mean we are going to get all of them but we are also willing to not have a great recruiting class if we don't get the kids we want. I have really started to believe with all of my heart 'that kid you don't get isn't going to hurt you. Bringing in the wrong kid is going to hurt you so we've rather not get anybody than bring in the wrong kid. I think everyone of these kids coming in has the right temperament, the right kind of player for us."

They all know each other, they have all spent time together. There are not looking over each other's shoulder. We told them up front that your success at Connecticut has nothing to do with who else is coming and we understand that 

SNY GAMES AVAILABLE ON ESPN3
I happened to noticed that the UConn men's season opener, which aired on SNY, was not available on ESPN3 and the last time I checked with the folks at UConn they were still waiting to hear back from ESPN to see if the SNY games will be streamed live on ESPN3 (outside of the SNY coverage area).

I was told they have heard back and those 17 games airing on SNY will be available on ESPN3 as will the games on ESPN and ESPN2.

Lexi Gordon is part of talented four-player class signed by UConn

There was a time when news actually broke during national signing week but in recent years players tended to commit earlier and earlier . That all changed earlier tonight.

Megan Walker, considered by most recruiting insiders as the best player in the Class of 2017, announced that she was signing with UConn.

Walker, a pretty humble kid, actually made the announcement with a bit of flair as she got up walked around a table at Monacan High School and began popping balloons with the colors of her two other finalists - Notre Dame and Texas. That left only blue and white balloons remaining and with friends and onlookers shrieking with delight, she took off a jacket to reveal that she was wearing a UConn shirt.

I have to be honest, if you asked me after UConn returned from the Final Four, I would have been certain that Walker would be the latest No. 1 ranked recruit to sign with the Huskies. But in recent months Texas, aided by newly-hired assistant coach Tina Thompson, made a spirited run at getting a commitment from the highly-skilled Walker. Walker did form a close bond with fellow UConn signees Mikayla Coombs, Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon but she strikes me as the type of kid who is probably pretty good friends with players who signed with Notre Dame and Texas.

As a junior at Monacan Walker had games with 50 points another one with 14 rebounds, one with 10 steals and the games with her two highest assist totals came in the postseason, She also had seven games with more than one 3-pointer. Walker wears the same number (32) that Maya Moore did in high school and has attributes similar to what Moore had coming out of high school. She handled the Maya Moore question with tremendous class on a live interview with ESPN.

It is also worthy of mention that Walker led all U.S. players in minutes played at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championships  Here is a blog I did with her after an interview during the USA Basketball U18 trials in May.

Walker is far from the only talented prospect in the class.

ESPN has UConn signees Coombs, Gordon and Espinoza-Hunter ranked 14th, 29th and
37th respectively, the Blue Star Report has Coombs and Espinoza-Hunter as top 10 recruits while the
All-Star Girls Report ranks Coombs as the fourth-best prospect in the class. They will also be
joined on the court by transfers Azura Stevens and Batouly Camara who began their collegiate careers at Duke and Kentucky respectively.

Coombs averaged 13.3 points, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals as a junior at Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners, Georgia after missing all but one game during her sophomore season due to a torn ACL. Three of Wesleyan's five losses during the 2015-16 came to Holy Innocents Episcopal and the other two were during the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions.

Gordon had 65 3-pointers as a junior at L.D. Bell High in Hurst, Texas despite constant double and
triple teaming. She finished her junior season averaging 24.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Espinoza-Hunter is the most familiar face of the trio. She began showing up at UConn games when she would accompany Saniya Chong during the 2012-season. Espinoza-Hunter, then only in the eighth grade, was the second-leading scorer on an Ossining (N.Y.) High School team which won the 2013 New York Class AA state title.

Espinoza-Hunter spent the freshman, sophomore and junior seasons at Blair Academy helping Blair to Mid-Atlantic Prep League and New Jersey state titles each season. She is back at Ossining for her
senior season. In the 2016 MAPL tournament Espinoza-Hunter averaged 31.5 points per game with eight 3-pointers in the two games as she would average 25 points per game.

Add in Stevens, who I would have ranked among the top five college players in the country had she remained at Duke, and Camara and it's pretty clear that opponents might want to get to UConn this season because next year's squad is going to be deep, talented and versatile.

Oh, it should also be noted that UConn is also very much in the mix with Christyn Williams and Charli Collier, two of the top prospects in the Class of 2018.

Look for reaction from Geno Auriemma on Saturday as we will have media access that day in preparation for the season opener.

Things have been rather matter of fact on the recruiting trail for UConn this year.

Andra Espinoza-Hunter committed so long ago I could swear I was still in college at the time. Lexi Gordon's name was appearing as a UConn recruiting target not long before she also committed to play at UConn. Mikayla Coombs took a little bit longer but also announced her decision a little earlier than normal. Now there is one more potential piece to be added to UConn's class as Megan Walker, the No. 1 rated player in the Class of 2017, is currently on her official visit at UConn along with Espinoza-Hunter, Gordon and Coombs.

It's a little bit of a different way of doing things as usually the First Night festivities is the prime spot for UConn coach Geno Auriemma, his coaches and players to host top recruits but the decision was made to do it this weekend. The sarcastic side of me would suggest that the decision to do the official visit this weekend instead of during First Night weekend is that the coaches know I won't be at First Night for one of the few times since the UConn football team is playing at South Florida that weekend. The reality is that the timing works well for Walker, who visited Texas last weekend and is set to make her final official visit to Notre Dame next weekend, and Auriemma, who had kind of a busy summer with the whole coaching the U.S. to another Olympic gold medal thing. First Night will be a good time for UConn to bring in some of the top players on UConn's recruiting radar in the Class of 2018.

People have been quick to "break" the news of Walker's commitment but I'd be very surprised if she made any sort of announcement until after her trip to Notre Dame is done. She is rather active on social media so I fully expect the first news of her commitment to come courtesy of her Twitter account.

Here is a link to a story I did on Walker and the recruiting process when she was trying out for the U.S. U-18 team back in May.

When Walker announces her decision, that should wrap up the Class of 2017 for UConn. The Huskies are in the mix with many of the top player in the next recruiting class so it will be interesting to follow the process of players like Christyn Williams, Charli Collier, Sedona Prince and Aquira DeCosta among others.

UConn Class of 2018 recruiting target Charli Collier is one of 18
finalists for U-17 national team (photo courtesy of USA Basketball)

One of the most pressing questions surrounding the U-17 trials was how many members from the bronze-medal winning U-16 squad would make the cut.

Well, many of the answers came this morning as the fourth cut was made to get down to 18 candidates and Alexis Morris (the leading scorer on the U-16 squad) and UConn Class of 2018 recruiting targets Aquira DeCosta and Sedona Prince were among the final 18.

"Ever since we lost, it has always been a motivation for us to win gold coming back this year," DeCosta said. "All of us are hungry to win gold."

This is the fourth U-17 team. In 2010 eight of the 12 players on the 2009 U16 made the squad, two years later six of the 12 players on the U17 team played in the FIBA Americas U16 event in '11. More recently, seven members of the U16 team in 2013 were members of the U17 squad in 2014.

UConn Class of 2017 commit Andra Espinoza-Hunter, one of three double-digit scorers on the U-16 team which lost to Brazil in the semifinals in the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women, was among those cut as the roster was trimmed from 41 to 18. There are still six more cuts that need to be made.

Since 1997 United States teams competed in 22 age-group 5 on 5 FIBA or FIBA Americas event and won the gold medals 20 times.

Back in 2001 the U.S. team coached by UConn's Geno Auriemma and featuring current WNBA stars Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, Alana Beard and Monique Currie suffered a loss to host Czech Republic in the 2001 FIBA U19 event en route to earning a bronze medal. That script was revisited last June when the U.S., after winning its first three games by an average of 39.3 points, lost to Brazil in the semifinals. The U.S. needed to beat host Mexico to avoid becoming the first United States squad to failing to medal in an age-group event since the U-19 team finished seventh in 1993.
DeCosta, Prince and fellow UConn Class of 2018 recruiting targets Charli Collier and Christyn Williams are among the final 18 as is Samantha Brunelle, a Class of 2019 prospect drawing interest from UConn.

"I think this was the most competitive trials we have ever had," USA Basketball National Team Director Carol Callan said in a statement. "As they emerged through the weekend, these 18 played really, really well. They provide a lot of the pieces to the puzzle of putting a roster together. It's not only at each position, but within each position, versatility, different style of play and stature. There are rebounders, there are shooters, there are defenders and there are really good players at each position."

The 18 finalists who will remain in Colorado Springs through Thursday when the 12-member squad will be announced. Here are the rest of those in contention to make the team.

Janelle Bailey, Rellah Boothe, Aliyah Boston, Jenna Brown, Maya Dodson, Destanni Henderson, Nazahrah Hillman, Taylor Mikesell, Morris, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Abigail Prohaska, Madison Williams, Zoe Young.

Eleven of the 18 finalists are from the Class of 2018 while Brunelle is one of three Class of 2019 prospects to make the cut joining Zoe Young and Aliyah Boston, a Worcester Academy star who is the only New England prospect to make the list of 18 finalists.

Boston and Janai Crooms, a 2018 prospect from Rhode Island, were the only New England players among 139 to try out for the U17 team.

Texas has four of the 18 finalists followed by Georgia and Ohio with three each while Florida is the only other state with more than one finalist.

Among the Texas players not to make the cut is Jade Williams, who drew some recruiting interest from UConn. When the Huskies were down in Texas to face SMU in January (the same trip when I saw Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey at one of Lexi Gordon's games) and didn't make it to see Williams play I kind of figured she wasn't in the Huskies' plans moving forward. Williams confirmed that.

"They were looking at me heavily but I think they recruited some people so their interest fell off," Williams said. "It is not really UConn anymore."

The U-18 team will be announced tonight around 8:30 p.m. There are currently 31 players fighting it out for 12 spots (counting Kasiyahna Kushkituah, who tried out for the U-17s and was added to the players trying to make the U-18 team) including UConn incoming freshman Crystal Dangerfield and Class of 2017 recruiting target Megan Walker.

There has always been a certain exuberance whenever Andra Espinoza-Hunter spoke about one day coming to UConn.

Espinoza-Hunter, who has been coming to UConn games since former high school teammate Saniya Chong was being recruited by the Huskies, could barely contain her enthusiasm when she found out that former teammate Batouly Camara would be transferring to UConn.

"I am super excited," Espinoza-Hunter said on Friday shortly after the morning session on the second day of the USA Basketball U-17 team trials wrapped up. "When I first received the news that Batouly was going to visit Connecticut, I was extremely excited. Just the fact that I will be able to have three more years to be able to play with her really means a lot. Batouly, I don't consider her my sister, I consider her a mentor. She has really helped me a lot especially during my freshman and sophomore year. Even now despite us not being together, she is still able to help me a lot. Having another three years with her, she will help me grow as a player on the court but also as a person, she has taught me so much on and off the court. I really look forward to being able to play with her again."

Espinoza-Hunter gave Camara some space when she was deciding where she would land after deciding to transfer out of Kentucky.

"I had a sense (it could be UConn)," Espinoza-Hunter said. "I was getting vibes that 'hey, your little sister Andi is going to UConn and you are looking at UConn so you might as well come, we can be together again.' When I heard she was taking officials to Penn State and UConn it was kind of a nailbiter, I didn't know which way she was going to go. When I received the news, it was the best day ever."

While they played together for a couple of years at Blair Academy, their relationship goes back even further.

"I have known Batouly since I was in fifth or sixth grade," Espinoza-Hunter said. "She is obviously older than me so she will be able to help. I have always looked up to her and to this day I still do. The relationship we have is so strong, we know each other so well, we know our strengths and our weaknesses and our communication we have I enjoy a lot. The communication I have with her, I feel like I don't have with other people that I have relationships with."

So what does Espinoza-Hunter think Camara will bring to the Huskies when she is eligible to play during the 2017-18 season?

"Batouly is a very tough young woman," Espinoza-Hunter said. "Her touch around the rim, her enthusiasm and the energy she brings to the game will really help at Connecticut either on defense grabbing the boards, guarding the best post player on offene, finishing around the rim. Just the little things that Batouly has, not only offensive aspects of her game but everything about her game I enjoy and I know she will do great things at Connecticut."

Add Andra Espinoza-Hunter to the list of UConn commits who will be playing on U.S. national teams this summer.

Espinoza-Hunter, a 5-foot-11 rising junior from Ossining, N.Y., was one of 12 players named to the U.S. team playing for the U.S. in the FIBA Americas U16 Championships which is being held in Mexico from June 24-28.

Espinoza-Hunter led Blair Academy to the Mid-Atlantic Prep League and New Jersey Prep School Class A title as a sophomore as she had 43 points in the two championship games despite being on a senior-laden team featuring three Division I recruits.

Espinoza-Hunter, who also won a state title alongside UConn's Saniya Chong at Ossining High, is one of the few sophomores to commit to UConn.

Espinoza-Hunter survived four cuts as USA Basketball went from 149 players to the final 12-member roster. The team was announced by Carol Callan, USA Basketball's Women's National Team Director.

"It was amazing, my heart was pounding the whole time she was reading the list but as she said my name, all of that went away and I was so happy," Espinoza-Hunter said.

"I think the bond between the girls and myself is pretty strong, we have all broken out of our shells over the last couple of days and I am really going to enjoy playing with them."

She was joined on the team by her Blair Academy teammate Honesty Scott-Grayson. Other members of the team are Jayda Adams, Desiree Caldwell, Aquira DeCosta, Destiny Littleton, Lauryn Miller, Alexis Morris, Valencia Myers, Sedonia Prince, Bexley Wallace and Jade Williams. Adams and Miller are the only players who made the team after going through the application process as 10 of the 12 team members received direct invitations from USA Basketball.

UConn has six players currently committed over a span of three recruiting classes and four of them will be members of U.S. junior national teams this season as incoming freshmen Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson as well as Class of 2016 UConn pledge Crystal Dangerfield will play for the U.S. in the FIBA Women's U19 World Championship.

There might not be a high school coach who has had more of a first-hand look at the next wave of UConn players than Mt. Lebanon (Pa.) High School coach Dori Oldaker.

UConn Class of 2016 commit Kyla Irwin was a key member of the State College (Pa.) HS team that eliminated Oldaker's Mt. Lebanon team out of the 2014 PIAA Class AAAA tournament. The teams met again in December in the Altoona Tip-Off Tournament. With Oldaker named the head coach of the U.S. team playing in the FIBA Americas U16 Championships and the trials for the teams currently taking place, the folks at USA Basketball set up a phone interview with Oldaker for me this afternoon.

"A great kid, very talented," Oldaker said. "She can get up and down the floor and I think she will be a swing (forward at UConn). The thing I love about her is that she loves the game. What is nice about her is she can go inside/outside. She is going to be a hard matchup; at the high school level she is a very hard matchup."

Oldaker also coached the U.S. 3x3 team which won the gold medal at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. That team featured UConn incoming freshmen Napheesa Collier, De'Janae Boykin and Katie Lou Samuelson as well as Notre Dame signee Arike Ogunbowale. That quartet went 13-0 with nine of the wins by at least 10 points.

"It was fun watching them in what they are doing at the high school level and it will be fun watching them on TV next year," Oldaker said. "They really compete, they are great kids, they have a great deal of respect and are true leaders, true teammates."

UConn Class of 2017 commit Andra Espinoza-Hunter is one of 158 players currently in Colorado Springs for the U-16 trials but Oldaker politely refrained from discussing any of the players currently competing for the 12 spots on the U-16 squad.

There was one more UConn connection I asked her about. One of Mt. Lebanon's conference rivals is Chartiers Valley. It just so happens that the Chartiers Valley coach is former UConn guard Ashley Battle who played on three national championship teams during her days as a Husky.

"I actually coached Ashley Battle in the Dapper Dan (classic) way back," Oldaker said. "For her to be a high school player, college player and now a high school coach is pretty phenomenal. She is another great person, another great role model to have in our business.

"She understands where players are coming from, she is a player's coach. I think she has done a really nice job at Chartiers Valley."

Andra Espinoza-Hunter, a rare sophomore commit, played a starring role as Blair Academy won its fifth straight Mid-Atlantic Prep League title over the weekend.

I didn't see any box scores from Sunday's title game so I watched the replay of the game available on youtube and I had Espinoza-Hunter with 24 points (aided by four 3-pointers and two three-point plays), four rebounds, two assists and four steals in Blair's 65-42 win over the Peddie School.

According to a tweet by Blair Academy coach Quint Clarke, Espinoza-Hunter had 57 points and eight 3-pointers in the tournament as Blair defeated the Hun School 90-68 in Saturday's semifinals and then topped Peddie in the title game. The numbers are all the more impressive when you consider that there are four seniors headed to play college basketball on the team as Batouly Camara (Kentucky) and Bre Cavanaugh (California) are Division I signees, Cy Lippold is also a Division I recruit who is headed to Dartmouth while Lauren Vostal is bound for Williams.

Next up is a state semifinal game against Lawrenceville. If Blair wins, the state championship game is on Saturday.

ANOTHER TOP SENIOR LOST FOR THE SEASON
It has been a rough season for some of the nation's top seniors as Tennessee senior center Isabelle Harrison tore her ACL in a game against rival Kentucky. She joins Minnesota's Rachel Banham and Nneka Enemkpali as the third prominent senior to be lost for the season.

I happened to be watching the early portion of the second half of yesterday's Tennessee/Kentucky when Harrison's right knee bended back in a manner than knees aren't supposed to bend. Harrison, who already had a brace on the knee, was screaming in pain before she hit the floor and had to be carried off the court. Tennessee confirmed what anybody who was watching the game pretty much assumed and that was that Harrison's career at Tennessee was over.