Capitol Hill Classic 20th: My Favorite 16s

I think this will be my stopping point for my favorites list. I wanted to do some 2030's, I have a couple on my list already, but I don't think I can get to a full post yet. I'll save that for a little later when I can see some more 14s play and add a couple more players. For now, 16s is probably the hot spot in recruiting, the games I went to were packed with coaches all weekend. Here are a couple of my favorites from our area:    There are a lot of players I could pick from this team. Katie Mitchell, [player_tooltip player_id='787533' first='Chika' last='Onukwugha'], [player_tooltip player_id='612399' first='Riley' last='Ko']...all favorites of mine, but I'm going to give some love this time to Ana. I write about her teammate Emme Wolfe all the time, and I think it's Ana's time to get some highlight. Obviously one of the top prospects in the area, it's not like she NEEDS it, but still nice to hear that other people think you are a great player. Ana won best blocker last weekend, which is fantastic for any pin, I'm a big defense guy, so it carries a lot of weight for me, but she's also a monster offensive contributor as well. She and Emme make a terrifying 1-2 punch at Holy Cross, and are the reason they are usually in the mix in the final couple games.     This is another tough one for me, [program_tooltip program_id='484770' first='VA' last='Juniors'] 16s is one of my favorite teams in the age group, they are so deep and talented, picking a favorite here is rough. I'm going to go with Reese this time though. Mandela, their fantastic, and very sweet middle has been out, but is on the way back, and Reese has been showing her versatility filling in at MB. She plays there and RS, and for me is probably more of a RS, just so athletic and a tiny bit short for matching up with a lot of middles around here, plus you can get both her and Mandela in the lineup at the same time which gives you some great blocking out there. Reese is very flexible and has a skill set that plays all over the court, she's the ultimate glue player as she can fill in at so many different spots and do whatever the team needs done. Every coach wishes they had a player like Reese, you never have to worry about who is out sick or injured because Reese will handle it.     I've seen this one up close and personal a lot, and she is an absolute monster. She plays on Metro's new National level team, but that top team must be extremely deep because Abisola is a star. She has so much strength and can block with anyone, then when she wants to can just turn it on and do so much offensively. When playing for her HS team it's so loaded that she doesn't often end up the focal point of the offense, but when she does it's hard to find a team that can match up and stop her. She was my MVP for an in season tournament last season, dominating several games both offensive and defensively. It's only a matter of time before she breaks onto that Travel team, but it speaks to the crazy depth Metro has that a player this good is on the 2nd team.     Well, since I picked her long time position mate above, and they are on different teams now, I'll go with Charlotte for this one. She missed most of last season with a torn ACL, I wasn't at that practice, but I heard about it immediately, she's such a good young player and you hate to hear bad news like that. The good news is that she's fought back and is back out on the court now. She's a very talented middle and a really good kid, you want to root for her if you meet her. She's been one of my stories to watch this year and see how she comes back from that injury. I've got such high hopes for her, and she's got loads of talent to show off. She's a great blocker and a diverse offensive player. She plays with a great setter in [player_tooltip player_id='749757' first='Dakota' last='Pentorn'], who has the ability to get her the ball in the middle, so it will be fun to watch her be a focal point of the offense this year.     Anna is one of the real underrated stars in our area. She's been overshadowed a little bit at a dominant Howard High team, coming off winning a state title, but that isn't a negative reflection on her in any way, it's just a very deep team that happened to have some older players ahead of her in the rotation that got a lot of the press. During the year this year she really started drawing some attention however, for those people who didn't know who she was, it was a surprise, but for those that have been following them for a while, they know shes a very talented pin. She will be more of a featured player next year with some of the seniors moving out and EVERYONE will know who she is then. Until now I'll enjoy being in on things early and watching people be surprised by how talented she is because she is a game changer.    The 16s division is very deep. I didn't even get to write about some of my favorites from a talented Richmond team, or some of the other great players on the teams above, let alone any of the [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] girls. But at least this way it will give me some content for later. That should wrap it up for some of my favorites, and leave time for some positional breakdowns next.

I think this will be my stopping point for my favorites list. I wanted to do some 2030's, I have a couple on my list already, but I don't think I can get to a full post yet. I'll save that for a little later when I can see some more 14s play and add a couple more players. For now, 16s is probably the hot spot in recruiting, the games I went to were packed with coaches all weekend. Here are a couple of my favorites from our area: