It was an impressive weekend for the St. Louis basketball community.
On Saturday night, Napheesa Collier’s record-setting performance earned her Most Valuable Player honors at the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis. The former Incarnate Word Academy All-American scored an All-Star Game record 36 points in leading Team Collier to a 151-131 victory over Team [Caitlin] Clark.
Collier, a front runner for the WNBA MVP award, is the league’s top scorer and her Minnesota Lynx sport the WNBA’s best record.
Elite performance in Georgia
Brad Beal Elite won the Nike EYBL Peach Jam 17U championship for the first time in the team’s history, defeating the New York Rens 75-55.
Forward Jamison White of East St. Louis had 16 points and eight rebounds. Guard Quentin Coleman of Principia had 14 points and seven rebounds while 6’11” forward Sheek Pearson, a Marquette commit from John Burroughs, added eight points and eight rebounds.
Tony Irons, a former coach at Vashon High who now guides Mineral Area College, is Beal Elite coach.
Beal, the former Chaminade College Prep All-American, has signed with the Los Angeles Clippers after playing for the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Sux.
The lean Hornet
To cap off the weekend on Sunday night, 7-foot-1 St. Louisan Ryan Kalkbrenner helped lead the Charlotte Hornets to the championship of the NBA Summer League. The former Trinity Catholic standout had 15 points and nine rebounds in the Hornets’ 83-78 victory over the Sacramento Kings in the championship game.
Earl’s World
Coach Dennis Gates is on a basketball recruiting roll at Mizzou. Last weekend, the Tigers got a commitment from 6’3” guard Jason Crowe Jr. of Inglewood, CA. Crowe is a 5-star prospect who is rated as the top point guard in the country. Gates and Mizzou have also received a commitment from Webster Groves standout Scottie Adkinson. The 6’3” Adkinson was the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Missouri as a sophomore after leading the Statesmen to a Class 5 state championship…A pair of rising seniors in the St. Louis area chose their respective collegiate basketball programs last week. Chaminade College Prep point guard Jonny Jordan committed to Omaha, while guard Kain McCaskill of Vashon committed to SIU-Edwardsville. Jordan is a 6’2” point guard who averaged 11 points a game in helping the Red Devils to a runner-up finish in the Class 6 state championship game. He also averaged three assists and shot 42% from 3-point range. McCaskill is a 6’1” guard who started on Vashon’s Class 4 state championship team. He averaged eight points, four rebounds and three steals. He will be joining his brother Dehrio McClaskill at SIU-E…Standout Lindenwood running back Steve Hall has been selected the Preseason Ohio Valley Conference/Big South Player of the Year. A graduate of MICDS, Hall rushed for 804 yards and five touchdowns for the Lions last season while averaging a league-high 7.3 yards per carry. He was named the OVC/Big South Offensive Freshman of the Year…The 5’9” Hall earned Conference Freshman of the Week honors four times last season, and was also selected the FCS National Freshman of the Week after he rushed for 259 yards and scored four touchdowns in a victory over Western Illinois…Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of area girls track and field coach Mona Onyemelukwe, who recently passed away. Known to everyone as “Coach O,” she was most recently on the staff at Kirkwood High, where she coached the hurdlers. She was a standout track athlete at East St. Louis in the mid-1970’s for legendary coach Nino Fennoy. After a standout college career at Mississippi Valley State, she returned to Lincoln, where she spent several years on Fennoy’s staff. She was a part of the Tigerettes’ dynasty which netted multiple state championships. Coach O came over to the Missouri side in 1990 where she became the head coach at Normandy High, where she spent the next 20 years. She had a remarkably successful run at Normandy, where she led the Vikings to three top four finishes in the state meet, along with numerous All-State performers.