2015 GPR UTR Brooke Jolivette elevates in more ways than one

I don't know how old Brooke Jolivette was when I first saw her play but I'm thinking sixth grade and from the moment I saw players being shook by Brooke, with time many more would be getting took, how was that?  Jolivette moved up my 2015 Texas GPR list quite a bit and no matter what was thrown at her, she came back. I love players that can hang in the air and finish and she gave me several highlights throughout the summer with her Cy Fair team. Now she will team up with a couple of other juniors at Kingwood and I'm thinking some people are going to be Gomer Pyle's at this team. SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!!!!!

2016 GPR UTR Rachel Tapps on Autobahn

 If you don't know what's the haps on the Tapps kid at Cy Ranch, trust me you will and if I had to describe Rachel with one word it would be explosive and I'm using that for more than one reason and trust me on this one, she's about to blow up. Tapps finished strong last season with the Mustangs and her club season with Cy Fair showed me a whole lot as I watched this young lady improve each time I saw her play. She can defend and simply jump of the gym, explodes works. She can blow by a defender off the dribble, explosive works. Athletic and acrobatic, her mid-range is something colleges covet and when you bundle these things up, her stock is exploding. Two words, trust me!

2015 GPR UTR Tana Driver has the wheel

Proving over and over that size doesn't matter, Tana Driver has exceeded many of the expectations I saw in her as an 8th grader. She was smart, she had swag, she could run a team and when needed she could score but when you know and understand the game, in this day and age that's a joy in itself to watch, well for me at last/ Driver has taken her game to another level and impressed  colleges over the years playing with DFW Elite in the summer that she has interest from many majors and offers on the table from numerous mid major colleges.

TD teams up once again with TJ, Tori Jacobs, a Minnesota commit and with an outstanding supporting class, including Jazz Taylor who is highly ranked by many national services, Irving MacArthur has popped up on several national lists as one of the top high school teams in the country. Let me say this, the game starts, has always and will always start at the one and Driver is more than capable of helping her team make a run

U of H cranks it up today

Yeah add Bianca Winslow to one of those middle school players that I just knew........The Houston Cougars take on Lubbock Christian today at Hofheinz. Let me emphasize this again as I do so every year, parents it's important to take your daughters to these college games so they can see what it takes to get to the next level. With so much action going on right here in the city it's right there for you to see.

2012 GPR UTR Rachel Arthur keeps proving THEM wrong

I didn't like texting at first, probably because I wasn't overly fast however I quickly became a fan especially since I figured some of the acronyms. I knew Rachel Arthur could play years ago and I was constantly irritated by people talking about she couldn't do this or that however when you're on a star studded  HS team like Atascocita, sometimes those who truly don't know what they're looking at might miss something and one of those acronyms that I thought stood for a university truly came in handy, well it still does

Another acronym also came in handy and I'm talking both ways, HBU, and Arthur stepped into the starting line-up right off the top as a freshman at Houston Baptist University and hasn't looked back. There's always a period of adjustment and it didn't take young lady long to not only get comfortable but to create problems for opposing teams

This season, I'm expecting a whole lot from Arthur and HBU providing they stay healthy, under new head coach Donna Finnie. More on HBU tomorrow evening after I check em out. Also I've placed the local college schedules under my events tab, so be ready to get it from be both ways


EVENTS

2015 GPR UTR Hodges poses threat at Kingwood

Charlotte Hodges has "The Pose" down pat and after her breakout summer this season with Cy Fair, this young lady is a hot commodity. She's six feet and did a more that admirable job in the paint when I first saw her playing for Kingwood HS last season. From that point on until most recently at The Last Run event hosted by John Lucas back in October, she has JEFFERSONIZED as more than just a next level player to a more than legitimate D1 prospect. Her rebounding and interior defense along with her offense in the inside was enough to get her to the next level however her ball-handling and both mid and long range shooting plus guarding from the perimeter is one of the reasons why her stock jumped and Kingwood will create some problems, stay tuned

Kennedy Leonard & Southlake Carroll will be in Peggy Whitley Classic

Kennedy Leonard knows how to put the ball in the basket, multiple ways and the 2015 star has been doing just that since I first saw her as a freshman in the Sandra Meadows Classic. As an added treat, I'll catch her even sooner this season as Southlake Carroll will be participating in the Peggy Whitley Classic

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Brackets

2016 GPR UTR Madison Schenck blowing up

 One thing about me is that it doesn't take a long time to recognize talent along with potential and combining that to determine if a player has the ability to play at the next level is something I do quite well, again not bragging but just keeping it real. Madison Schenck is keeping it real also and as the season is about to begin for her homeschool team SATCH, she created a lot of buzz over the summer with her Legends club team. She's around the magic number, six feet, and she expanded her game quite a bit over the past season. Good hands and footwork is what initially caught my eye but handling the ball the length of the floor, nailing the mid and long range consistently is what's doing it now

I'll catch her numerous times this season, including the Space City Jam event featuring homeschool teams from across the country

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Friday area scrimmages

Clear Creek High School         4:00pm to 7:00pm (girls)

Cy Falls High School            4:30pm to 7:30pm (girls)

Deer Park High School           4:30pm to 7:30pm (girls)

Dobie High School               4:00pm to 8:00pm (girls)

Fort Bend Hightower HS          4:30pm to 8:30pm (girls)

Katy Taylor High School         4:00pm to 8:00pm (girls)

Pearland High School            4:00pm to 8:00pm (girls)

Stratford High School           4:00pm to 7:00pm (girls)

Westfield High School           4:30pm to 7:30pm (girls)

Willis High School              5:00pm to 8:00pm (girls)

2015 GPR UTR Katie Burke gaining more interest

Katie Burke had a breakout season last year as she not only was thrown into the hornets nest off the top at the point for The Woodlands, she showed she could run a team and on top of that, drew the opposing teams top offensive player throughout the season. How did she do? Well she was named Defensive Player Of The Year on her Highlanders squad and after a big summer with Houston Premier which had Burke playing multiple positions, she's going to be one of the key players on one of the areas most successful teams this millennium. The Highlanders already have a couple of players that have committed to D-1 programs , Nicole Iademarco and Kristin Mahoney, Burke will soon follow that same path to the next level. Expect a follow up later this month from the Texas Invitational