If you know me or have paid any sort of attention to the Empire State Takeover Twitter (@NYSTakeover), the blog, or website over the last couple years, you realize that I try to keep up with the stats, accolades, and accomplishments of all that participate in EST events. I like to think I'm able to stay on top of things.
Well, today had my head spinning.
It was big news & milestones galore, with 4 different headlines - all worthy of their own day of coverage - breaking out between 4:00-8:00 PM. In this stretch, three players that participated in the 2016 summer league scored their 1,000th point, and another player from the summer league left a campus visit with a scholarship offer. Let's handle this in chronological order.
4:00 PM - This is around the time I received word that Hanna Strawn, a standout junior guard at Binghamton's Seton Catholic that made a difference for her Next Level team in EST upon joining later in the summer, received a scholarship offer from Vermont.
Hanna was an early St. Bonaventure commit that officially reopened her recruitment in the beginning of August. Since then, she was offered by Brown after September's fall live period. The offer from Vermont is the culmination of a long period of heavy interest shown by the America East program. As a program looking for strong guard play, it comes as no surprise that they extended an offer to Strawn, a true floor general with a nearly unmatched motor, the ability to score, distribute, run an offense, pressure the ball on defense, and a leader that consistently makes winning plays for any team she's on.
As coincidence would have it, Hanna is the 2nd player to receive an offer from Vermont out of 2016 ESTers. The other is her friend & summer league backcourt mate, Columbia sophomore Grace Heeps, who picked up a Vermont offer in the fall.
5:00 PM - An hour after receiving news of Hanna's offer, the milestones started flowing. As I arrived at Fonda-Fultonville HS for their game against Johnstown, the reason I was attending happened. Julianna Taylor, a longtime Braves standout guard headed to SUNY Brockport in the fall, scored the 5 points she needed early to join the 1,000 point club.
Taylor, to date, is one of only a handful of Section II girls basketball players hovering around the 20 PPG mark. She's been a complete player through her career, often in a complimentary role with fellow high-octane guard Emily Parslow in the early stages of it, but she's been asked to shoulder a much heavier load offensively this winter. Judging by her scoring prowess shown on this night, this is a task that certainly isn't too tall for Julianna. The 2 year ESTer, liked by her peers at a level not often seen, finished with 25 points on the night, pushing her total to 1,020 going forward.
Taylor marked the 7th girl in the 2016 EST summer invitational league to score her 1,000th point this winter and the 11th to do it overall. Who knew I would also have to clarify that she was the first to do it in the day? I certainly didn't, until...
6:15 PM - As Taylor dropped home her 1,000th point, another game was preparing to tip off 161 miles northwest of Fonda-Fultonville. 75 minutes later, she had company in the club. In the 3rd quarter of what turned out to be a blowout win, Hammond standout junior Ally Crosby added to her already-illustrious high school career by converting a layup that gave her her 1,000th point.
Crosby has been a dominant force in the blocks for years already, with her scoring and rebounding totals often jumping off the page. She's had numerous 20-20 games already this season, and remarkably, this wasn't the first time she hit a quadruple digit milestone. Just over midway through her junior campaign, Ally has etched her name into the very rare 1,000/1,000 club, as she secured her 1,000th rebound just over 3 weeks earlier on December 23. With her consistently gaudy numbers in both categories and the perennial success of the Hammond program, could we potentially see a 1,500/1,500 career from one of the North Country's shining stars?
Crosby quickly became the 8th girl in the 2016 EST summer invitational league to earn her membership card for the 1,000 point club in the '16-'17 campaign, the 12th overall, and the 2nd in an evening to do so. It wasn't long before a boy had to join the party...
8:00 PM - Head back down Route 12 all the way to Utica and swing about 15 miles east - or take the shortcut from 12 to Route 28 - and you'll find yourself in my hometown of Herkimer. There was another milestone brewing, this one located at my alma mater, when another longtime standout in Herkimer senior Derek Newman converted on a fast break layup to become the 3rd ESTer to join the 1,000 point club on the night and the 2nd boy at Herkimer to hit the 4 digit mark after a drought of a decade.
Newman, a 2 year ESTer, needed 6 to hit the target and finished with 17 on the evening in a loss to defending sectional champion Cooperstown. He was an instant scoring threat upon moving up to varsity midway through his freshman year, and his scoring average has steadily increased from 16.2 as a sophomore to nearly 22 PPG this season. He's hit or surpassed the 25 point mark 4 times so far this winter, including a stretch of 3 consecutive games from late December through mid-January. Derek is the 5th boys' basketball player at Herkimer to join the club, but 3 of the other members had under 1,100 points to their name, so he appears poised to wrap his Herkimer career as the school's 2nd leading scorer in the history of the boys program.
A Division I offer on the table and three names etched into the record books, all in a four hour stretch. There seems to be a stretch of many accomplishments in a short time every year, but I've yet to experience a busy season quite like what January 16, 2017 had to offer. Congratulations to Hanna, Julianna, Ally, and Derek, and thank you for making this day one of the most enjoyable that I've experienced while running Empire State Takeover!
No comments:
Post a Comment