One things we have learned about area girls basketball in the first two weeks of the season is that we have a dominant team on each side of the river.
Incarnate Word is looking strong again in Missouri while Edwardsville looks to be a powerhouse again in the metro east. Both teams have looked quite impressive in winning early season tournaments while featuring an All-American caliber player.
Edwardsville is out of the gate quickly with a 5-0 start. The Tigers’ defense has been stifling; giving up only 17 points a game. In one game last week, Edwardsville defeated rival Collinsville 59-10.
The Tigers are led by 6’2” All-State forward Emmonnie Henderson, who is averaging 14 points a game. The University of Louisville-signee is ranked among the Top 40 players in the nation. Henderson is getting plenty of support from 6’1” junior Kortney Dunbar and 5’10” junior Aalyah Covington, who average 13 and 11 points a game, respectively. Senior Lauren White runs the show at point guard.
Incarnate Word won the Troy Tournament last week in convincing fashion. The Red Knights have one of the nation’s top sophomore players in 6’1” guard Napheesa Collier. The transfer from Jefferson City averaged 26.5 points, 12.3 rebounds and four steals in their three victories in Troy. She had 24 points and 13 rebounds in a victory over nationally-ranked Birmingham Hoover (AL) to open the season.
The Red Knights also have returning veterans in stellar junior point guard Nakiah Bell, senior guard Nia Roth and post players Gwen Adams and McKenna Treece.
*Miller Career Academy started the season the right way by winning the Farmington Tournament. The Phoenix are coming off a season where they finished third in the Class 4 state tournament. They are led by junior guard Braennan Farrar, who averaged 17 points a game at Farmington. Junior forward Zhanesha Dickerson averaged 14 points and shot 58 percent from the field while senior Abrelyn Rackley averaged 11 points a game.
*Parkway North and Nerinx Hall also won big tournaments last week. North defeated rival Parkway South in the championship game of the Gerald Linneman Memorial Tip-Off Classic. Nerinx Hall defeated Marquette in the championship of the Randi Perkins Marquette Invitational.
*Big Games This Week
*Chaminade at CBC, Friday, 7 p.m. – This will be a rematch of last week’s championship game of the Pattonville Tournament, won by CBC 60-56.
*Webster Groves Tournament: The action begins today with four games, Miller Career Academy vs. Lee’s Summit, 4 p.m.; Maplewood vs. Lafayette, 5:30 p.m.; Webster Groves vs. Hazelwood West, 7 p.m.; SLUH vs. Marquette, 8:30 p.m. The semifinals will be held on Friday at 7 and 8:30 p.m. The championship game will be held on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
*I am proud to announce that my basketball website, www.earlaustinjr.com, reached 1 million page views last Saturday. I would like to thank everyone for their support and interest in our daily coverage of St. Louis basketball on the website.
(You can follow Earl Austin Jr. at twitter.com/earlaustinjr. You can also follow him on his basketball website, www.earlaustinjr.com).
