2014 Michigan Women's Basketball Recruiting

ASGR has a brief preview of this weekend's Classic in the Country event in Berlin, Ohio, featuring some Michigan targets. The preview also provides some additional ASGR rankings info. Sydney Brackemyre, who had also been scheduled to participate, is ranked #30.

No. 14, Alyssa Rice, 6-3, C, Reynoldsburg, Ohio: “She is a very smooth post player with great footwork. She is one of the top post players in the class, and she could play the four or the five on the next level.”
 
No. 109, Stasha Carey, 6-3, PF, Midpark, Ohio

 
A few others listed are possible Michigan targets as well: Kelsey Mitchell (#3), Kathryn Westbeld (#38), and Makayla Waterman (#62). This article indicates a Michigan coach has visited Fairmont to see the latter two, and it also says that OSU has offered both of them.

A Full Court Q&A with Kelli Hayes provides some insight into where her recruiting stands: 

FC: Let's talk recruiting: Who's showing interest in you?
 
KH: A lot of Pac-12 schools and the Big East, Big 12 -- I haven't narrowed down my selection yet but I'm hearing from USC, Louisville, Kansas and Oklahoma the most.

Surprised to see this, but ESPN actually updated their 2014 rankings. Their top 60 includes:
4. Kelsey Mitchell
11. Alyssa Rice
30. Makayla Waterman
31. Kathryn Westbeld
37. Kenisha Bell
39. Sadie Edwards
42. Gabrielle Ortiz
43. Kristen Simon
44. Asia Doss
49. Katelynn Flaherty
53. Stasha Carey
57. Christa Reed
 
Article: By the numbers: Breaking down Super 60 for 2014
 
Not sure how much they've updated the rest of the prospects in their database, but the following are all listed as 3-stars and noted as being on their top 100 watch list:
Sydney Brackemyre (who at one time was ranked #10 by ESPN)
Jasmine Cincore
Erin Garner
Marte Grays
Morgan Green
Kelli Hayes
Lauren Moses
Chastity Taylor
 
Other prospects included in the 2014 recruiting chart either aren't in the ESPN database or haven't been evaluated.

From ASGR, an early preview of the Deep South Classic (April 19-21), with Christa Reed mentioned as a key prospect (and ranked #37):

SE Mississippi Elite
   Key Prospects: 2014, No. 16, 6-1, F, Victoria Vivians; 2014, No. 37, 5-11, G, Christa Reed.
   McCormick On Why To Watch The Elite: ”They have two of the best players in the country for 2014. Vivians is an unbelievable athlete. She can do it all. She scores inside and she can shoot the three. She has the ability to put up big numbers in high school, and I’m interested in seeing her playing this competition. Reed is a very quick, strong player who handles well. She has a good mid-range game and she will hit the three.”

Penn St. 2015 commit Jaylen Williams is among the other prospects mentioned.

Lauren Moses has verbally committed to Virginia.
 
Courier-Post: RV's Moses picks Virginia

The Atlantic Coast Conference school won the Moses sweepstakes. Louisville, Virginia Tech, Michigan and St. Joseph’s, among other NCAA Division I schools, recruited Moses.

 

Some encouraging recruiting news: In an interview conducted at the Classic in the Country, Stasha Carey, when asked whether she has a list of schools she's considering, said she has "a few schools I'd like to look at"—then named Michigan, Penn State, and Syracuse, while also saying there's "some smaller schools" as well. She then named Xavier and Michigan as the schools that are chasing her the hardest.

MWRR day three coverage of the McDonald's Shootout in suburban Chicago includes Taylor Brame as one of the top performers:

Taylor Brame, 5'11 F, 2014, Whitney Young - Brame is also one of the elite young prospects in the 2014 class. Her game is so versatile, on any given night she can break you down in a variety of different ways. She uses her well-built frame to back you down, get good position, and then will throw a couple fakes at you and finish with a variety of post moves or a deadly midrange jumper. Always involving herself in the rebounding game on both ends of the floor. A solid man-to-man defender. 

ASGR has posted an updated top 25 for 2014, including:
3. Kelsey Mitchell
14. Alyssa Rice
22. Sadie Edwards
25. Kathryn Westbeld
 
They previously had Katelynn Flaherty at #24 and Chastity Taylor at #25—not sure of their rankings now.

Another article on Lauren Moses's commitment to Virginia. This one makes it clearer that Michigan was one of four finalists, with the other two being Louisville and Virginia Tech.

Blue Star has a wrap-up on the Classic in the Country event, with short bits on Stasha Carey, Alyssa Rice, Makayla Waterman, Kathryn Westbeld, and Kristen Confroy, as well as a few players committed to Big Ten teams, plus many others. The injured Sydney Brackemyre and Kelsey Mitchell also get brief mentions. Here's the writeup on Carey:

Stasha Carey – Middleburg Heights Midpark – Among the elite of the loaded 2014 class in Ohio, Carey continues to improve virtually each time out.  In the Meteors only game she produced 18 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, 3 steals and a block.  Carey also shot 8 of 9 from the floor.  At the line she struggled going just 2 for 7 and also committed 6 turnovers.

Full Court includes Stasha Carey among its picks for the top performers at the Classic in the Country, according to this report.

Stasha Carey, 6-3 center, Midpark (Middleburg Heights OH)
Carey, with a medium-solid build and fairly wide shoulders that should be able to carry more muscle, is a prototype major Division I low-post prospect. She catches and finishes well (eight of nine for 18 points and 12 rebounds in her team’s 54-46 win over Withrow of Cincinnati) in the lower key and is a good rebounder. She also is an above average passer but still could add more shooting range. For college she is still very open but claims to currently being most intensely pursued by Michigan and Xavier.

Others listed include Kristen Confroy, Kelsey Mitchell, and Kathryn Westbeld (plus Purdue signee Ashley Morrissette). Confroy is reported to be down to Duquesne and Maryland, while Mitchell and Westbeld have yet to narrow their lists.
 
Speaking of Westbeld, UConn's head coach reportedly attended a Fairmont game earlier this week.

Another knee injury, this one to Tyesha Taylor. Not sure of the exact injury—this article says she injured it in a game a couple weeks ago and is now on crutches. Nice gesture from the opposing team:
 

Deja Pointer had nine points, seven rebounds and three steals for Ellison, which showed some sportsmanship before the game by presenting the injured Taylor with gifts that included a basketball with get-well-soon messages, candy and stuffed animals.
 
“We decided to do this as a team,” McKinnon said. “The girls on these teams communicate a lot through social media and they love each other. We feel awful that Tyesha is out indefinitely and we want her to get better soon.”

 
 

MWRR unveiled their 2014 rankings for Illinois, and they have Taylor Brame at #4 in the state.

Next prospect on the list is Taylor Brame, coming in at number four. Brame was dominant at times on the summer circuit with the Mac Irvin Godfather team. She showed off how versatile her game can be, playing both in the post and out on the wing on both sides of the ball. The Whitney Young forward has received a lot of high major interest, including offers from schools like Michigan, Kansas, and Wisconsin.

They have Jasmine Lumpkin #2 and Indiana commit Tyra Buss #7.

Latest schools checking out Erin Garner are Miami (FL), Indiana, and Georgia Tech.

There was a great game last weekend in California in which Windward (Kristen Simon) beat Long Beach Poly (Arica Carter) 59-57 in overtime. Video highlights of the game below. Simon is #55 in white; Carter is #23 in green. Simon and Carter will be playing on the same AAU team this summer, along with Emoni Jackson.

A UConn blogger mentions Kathryn Westbeld in this post—UConn eyeing sizeable 2014 class—from January 26.

Westbeld, who is a new name on UConn's recruiting radar, had 24 points in Fairmont's 54-48 loss to Centerville on Wednesday. Westbeld is said to be the kind of well-rounded, blue-collar type of player that UConn loves to recruit and every indication is that she is very much in the mix with the Huskies.

Interestingly, there's no mention of Sadie Edwards, who had recently said that UConn was her favorite.
 
Also, Peach State has a week in review covering the recent commitments of Lauren Moses and Lauren Aldridge.

A Michigan coach recently attended a Bradley Central H.S. game to watch Brooke Copeland, a 6-2 center. Bradley is located in Cleveland, Tennessee, a town near Chattanooga. Copeland and her brother were featured in this local news item, and there's also this December 2011 story about her. ESPN has her as a 3-star and on their 2014 top 100 watch list, and they posted this evaluation in April 2012 (she sounds a bit like a Rachel Sheffer–type post):

Skilled post players will always be on high demand, and the 6-2 Cleveland, Tenn., native is the kind of prototype skilled post that most teams covet. Copeland has the size to play around the basket on both sides of the ball, but on the offensive end she has the ability to stretch the floor with her perimeter shooting ability. Copeland was accurate from deep, and she forced opposing post players to guard her on the perimeter, freeing up court space for her guards to work with. 

Kenny Kallina has Khaléann and Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau ranked #3 and #4, respectively, in his updated 2014 rankings for the state of Florida.

Add Florida to the schools interested in Taylor Rooks. One of their coaches was at Gill St. Bernard's game tonight against Hillsborough H.S. Rooks is averaging 26.2 points per game on the season, putting her in fourth place among New Jersey's scoring leaders, just behind Katelynn Flaherty, who's averaging 30.1 ppg.
 
Also, Georgia Southern was at a Bradley Central game to see Brooke Copeland.
 
And Memphis and Delaware were at a Trenton Catholic game to see Erin Garner.

New Christa Reed highlight video/update below (she's #33). Mentions that Dan Olson of Collegiate Girls Basketball Report has her ranked as the #2 shooting guard and #17 player overall in the 2014 class.