Run 4 The Roses 2017 Standouts

Louisville, KY was this year’s new location for the long running Run 4 The Roses tournament which ran from July 5-8, 2017.

More than a dozen Canadian teams descended upon the Kentucky Exposition Centre, and here are just a few of the names that stood out during the event:

2018

Samantha Robinson
Robinson’s game has started to show signs of significant improvement and she undoubtedly turned quite a few heads in this event. She is making better decisions with the ball, which primarily includes more consideration for looking to score the ball as her chances arise, rather than defer to others. The result is her being able to help her team stretch the floor with a very nice looking shot from beyond the 3-point line and a willingness to pull the trigger more from the high Post. While she runs the floor well, lateral mobility in order to get some stops from opponents the have a similar style of game that she does, will need to be focus in order to round out her game on the defensive end.

Brianna Breedy
Being the main focus of her high school team appears to have done wonders for Breedy, giving her the chance to add additional tools to her skill-set on which she is relying on. Now that she is playing with A-Game T-Dot and has a supporting cast around her, Breedy fits right in and contributed a great deal offensively among the teams cast of Guards. She is stronger now year over year, and that is translating into better results when fighting for loose balls of fighting through screens. The work ethic of this uncommitted player will make her a good asset for the right university looking for a PG with ability and good I.Q.

2021

Lashae Dwyer
Dwyer, with the ball in her hands at some point during the majority of her team’s possessions for which she was on the floor, good things happened more often than not. With her good court vision, I found that she was able to move the ball around nicely, creating opportunities for her team to finish at 3-0 by the end of Pool play. I find her to be an even keeled player and that she showed that she has the ability to maintain her dribble in tight spaces and find creative ways to get to the hole. While she was able to find separation in many open court situations, I expect her game to continue to evolve to better deal with and/or simply avoid some of the trap situations she found herself in when teams decided to throw extra defenders her way. I’ll also be looking for her to improve her completion chances around the rim, by being better able to finish with either hand around the basket.

Shayeann Day-Wilson
The coming out party continues for this high school Freshman and with good reason. She performed much of the heavy lifting for her Sister’s Keeper 14U team, all the way to the Gold final in her age group. Her understanding of the game are well beyond her years and no doubt a product of all of the hardwood she puts in behind the scenes. Time after time she made very good decisions with the ball despite the double and triple teams she saw each game. Along with a swagger that indicates that she can handle just about everything that is thrown her way, there is a fierce competitor that is all business in the composed manner in which she goes to work. This can only be the beginning of something very special.

Gabrielle Forde
There is a lot to like about Forde from a foundational point of view. Her decent frame equipped with her long limbs are immediate cause to take notice. She makes good use of her size by not being passive on the boards. And, once she has secured a defensive rebound and ses some daylight, I have noticed that she is gaining more confidence in putting the ball on the floor and starting the break. To continue her development, she will need to build core strength for her balance and in order to better establish her game in the paint on both ends of the floor.