WAUKEGAN, Ill. – It’s a good thing that rosters are available for the Indy Magic 16 Andrus Blue Star team – otherwise, looks might be very deceiving.
Consider Kate Clarke, a 2022 guard/forward who looks like anything but a player who has yet to play a game at Carmel High School near Indianapolis.
“As an offensive player, she’s probably two or three years ahead of her (age),” coach Ben Andrus said. “Her footwork is incredible. She’s at a completely different level. Her shot is quick. I’ve never seen a kid let it go that fast. She’s a great shooter and can take it on the deck and finish.”
Clarke, at 6 feet, has developed a varied offensive game. She can handle the ball, attack the rim with either hand and sink three-pointers in bunches. She averaged 25 to 26 points a game this summer, Andrus said.
Earlier this year Andrus asked Clarke about her immediate goals. She mentioned that opponents had taken to face-guarding her, and with Andrus’ aid, that’s no longer an issue.
“We worked on her post work first,” he said. “She breaks kids down off the dribble (now). So you can’t face-guard her anymore.”
College coaches have noticed.
“She’s had power conference schools calling (about) her already,” he said, including scholarship offers.
A few other players on the Magic – which won Pool L at USJN’s 15th annual Summer Final Midwest in Chicagoland last weekend – had breakout summers. Allison Stevens (2020, 5-11, Greencastle, Ind.) showed off a refined shooting touch. “In practice you’d see it but in games she doesn’t want to shoot,” Andrus said. “But she just broke loose, she’s letting it rip.” Point guard Alainna Frankel (2020, 5-8, Center Grove High School), in her third year with the Magic, “really progressed a lot, got stronger, quicker and smarter. She’s great with the ball, real efficient,” Andrus said.
MIDWEST ELITE’S BREA BEAL BEGINS DECISION PROCESS
Midwest Elite’s premier guard, Brea Beal, joined her EYBL teammates to win the top pool bracket in Waukegan, cruising to a 20-point victory over Illinois Lincolnway Xplosion in the finale. Now comes the hard part: Picking out a few schools to make official visits to this fall as she enters her senior season at Rock Island High School in Illinois.
“I’ll be taking a few officials visits, and I need to schedule them,” she said, saying the process will begin in “the next week or so.”
Beal is a top-10 prospect nationally, featuring a smooth, rounded game and 6-2 frame that allows her to play multiple positions with aplomb. She played this summer on Midwest Elite’s top squad that included Notre Dame commit Anaya Peoples, Northwestern recruit Kaylah Rainey, DePaul commit Kayla Caudle, Marquette verbal Jordan King, Harvard recruit Annie Stritzel and Northern Illinois commit Lily Hatton.
Rainey, Caudle, Stritzel and Peoples weren’t in Waukegan but it hardly mattered for the Elite, who weren’t troubled by the competition.
“We’ve been playing such good competition throughout July (in EYBL) and this is kind of a simmer-down to us, and sometimes it’s hard to motivate ourselves,” Beal said after her team overcame a sluggish start in the title game. “But this was our last game playing together and we just had to pick it up and do it for our coach.”
Beal’s final summer of club basketball showed just how far she’s developed as a player.
“I compare my first summer to this summer, and I’m definitely more vocal,” she said. “I’m ready to stand out. I want to put the ball on the floor. I want to shoot outside shots. I’ve definitely changed a lot.”
WISCONSIN ACADEMY’S BAILEY BUTLER STANDS OUT
The Wisconsin Academy 16 Porter squad captured the 16U pool bracket in Waukegan, and guard Bailey Butler continued to show why sharp college coaches have been on her trail for a while now.
Butler, a 5-foot-7 2021 graduate, figures to make some college program better than she found it. She is agile, gritty, smart and skilled, with excellent ballhandling capabilities and a teammate-friendly demeanor.
“It’s funny because I had a couple coaches call me this summer and asked, do you see her as a point or as a two?,” Academy coach Kevin Porter said. “If you’d have asked me earlier this summer I thought she was a pure point guard but she’s got unbelievable range. She shoots it from anywhere on the floor, and her heart is as big as anybody I’ve ever seen. I don’t think she came out of that (title) game except for about one minute. I had to drag her off the floor.
“Obviously we have one kid on the team who is pretty special but the rest of them are really good players and she trusts them.”
ILLINOIS LADY MEANSTREETS SLICE UP 17U GROUPS
The Pools E-J bracket was captured by Illinois Lady Meanstreets 17 Armstrong squad with a 21-point win in the final against Wisconsin Academy 17 Kotas. It showed off the Meanstreets’ typical mode of operation: Withering defense and hyper-aggressive offense.
“For the most part, we allow them to play basketball,” coach Eric Armstrong said. “We want to play hard on defense, and offensively we want to spread the floor and run motion and let them play basketball.”
All of which is not to suggest that Lady Meanstreets doesn’t have talent. Far from it. Just check out 2022 guard Nayo Lear (5-9, Thornwood High School), whose determined drives to the hoop were unstoppable on Sunday.
“She hasn’t played a high school game yet (but) her skill sets are just phenomenal,” Armstrong said. “The key is getting her to play with a level of intensity on the defensive end consistently. She can do anything with the ball.”
Trinity Thompson (2021, 5-11, Gary, Ind.) has a college-ready body as a stretch-four with a growing appreciation of her own abilities. Just 15, she played ‘up’ all summer.
“As time went by she got better and better,” Armstrong said. “She’s a force around the rim, and she plays strong and physical. The goal for her is to work on her 15-foot shot. If she can consistently hit that shot, it will open up drives to the rim and she can post up against smaller players.”
Another with upside is Fantasia Baines (2020, 6-1, Thornton Fractional North High School), a quick, lanky forward.
“She has to be one of the most athletic players in the state,” Armstrong said. “She has worked on her fundamental skill sets. She’s shooting outside shots. She’s pushing the ball up the floor on rebounds. She can block a shot on one end of the floor and sprint down the floor and get the layup on the other end. And she just turned 16 a week ago. Her upside is so high.”
BUZZER-BEATER LIFTS SKY DIGG ELITE
The closest title game was contested in the 15U bracket, where Sky Digg Elite 14 Cummings nipped Midwest Elite 15 Samuelson 51-48 when Karsyn Norman buried a 25-foot three-pointer at the horn.
Norman, one of the smallest players on the court at 5-3, watched a teammate struggle to break down a defender before receiving a pass just before the buzzer.
“I was screaming for the ball,” Norman said. “There was somebody on her and I said this isn’t going to end well, so I was like, ‘Ball! Ball! Ball!’ Something’s got to happen.”
In other bracket championships, Wisconsin Impact 14 defeated Heart of Illinois 14 Elite 60-38, and Wisconsin Havoc 13 Gold topped Illinois Irish 13 Elite Mayers 35-28.
To see all the teams and coaches on hand, pool all-stars, complete results and more, follow the link below to the USJN web site and the Summer Finale Midwest post event page.
https://www.usjn.com/xtm_post_event_new.php?which=505
