East Lansing, MI: Although there was an intense buzz surrounding the epic senior day matchup of the men's Michigan State vs. Ohio State basketball game this weekend, young girls teams from all over the midwest came to find their own rivalry in the Spartan Classic tournament on the campus of Michigan State University. Familiar foes met and fought. While some new faces emerged and shined. But through it all, these are a few of the players that earned a standing ovation.
2024 Jazmine Boscoe 5’6” PG Hamilton Transway
This point guard has the “it” factor. She commanded attention from the beginning with her scrappy hounding on-ball defense to her precision, passing to her bigs flashing in the lane. The traps and help that came to try and contain her was utterly useless because of her polished trap dibble. She used it several times to find herself at the rim, all alone or dishing the ball off to one of her teammates. She set her teammates up time and time again with great court vision and solid passing throughout the game for a completely dominating performance over an outmatched opponent.
2024 Ava Lamb 5’7” SG West Side Elite 8th
Against a very tough and talented team, Ava showed no fear. She stayed locked in and focused until the last whistle. Her ability to shoot the long three kept her team within striking distance. Her quick release allowed her to get off several threes seemingly uncontested. Not only was she responsible for the scoring duties, but she also was tasked with guarding the other team's best player as well. She fought extremely hard all the way through.
2024 Morgan Marof 5’4” SG Hamilton Transway
Morgan set the tone when she launched her first deep bomb! It didn’t matter what defense or look the opponent threw at her; she was going to knock down the big shot. The confidence that her entire team had in her was exciting to watch. As soon as the ball left her hands, her team was out of their seats with three fingers in the air signaling the defense was just too late. Believe me; she is not a one-trick-pony, she was able to create off her pump fake and get to the rim as well.
2024 Lauren Wilder 5’7” PG Michigan Mystics North 8th
Against a team that pressured and trapped the entire game, the job of a point guard is never easy. #37 did a phenomenal job of staying calm and collected while getting the ball up the floor. She alone undoubtedly limited her team's turnovers greatly with her presence. She was the spark plug her teammates needed to stay competitive in a rough and highly physical game. She came through and hit three after three for her team when a bucket was needed.
2024 Ana Veljovic 5’9” SF Hamilton Transway
There’s one word that was at the forefront of my mind when I sat and watched Ana play, bully. Of course, I mean that in the most endearing way. That’s pretty much what she did to anyone that made the bad choice of either getting in front of or rebounding around her. She repeatedly drove to the basket with absolute wreckless abandonment. Her aggression was simply unmatched by anyone on the floor from either team. Ana found herself in a crowd countless times, and always seemed to end up with the ball. She crashed the offensive boards on every single shot, snatching down the ball more times than not to finish many put backs.
2024 Emily Zelinko 5’5” PG Michigan Mystics Red
With a close game from start to finish, the Mystics were in a battle with a familiar foe in the girls from MBA. Emily maintained her composure, however, to get her team ahead and keep the ever so slight lead for the remainder of the game. She handled the pressure very well, taking g care of the ball as to not turn it over when they turned the intensity up. She had a good sense of when to push in transition but was also very posed and took control to slow things up at times. The point guard had great shot selection as well, taking uncontested shots from behind the arc and connecting on a few.
2024 Amaya Smith 5’6” PG Michigan Mystics Black
Amaya came out with her clip locked and loaded. She dialed up consecutive threes for a huge energy booster at the start of the game. The defense gave her little to no breathing room after that, allowing her to show off some drive and kick skills. Smith is definitely a solid two-way player for the Mystics. Her quick hands allowed her to disrupt and flat out take the ball from weary ball handlers.
