Thursday, January 12, 2017

SIGNEES MAKE MIDSEASON TEAM

Dodson, Williams remain in running for Naismith POY

gostanford.com, January 12, 2017

Stanford signees Maya Dodson and Kiana Williams were named to the 25-person midseason team for the 2017 Naismith Trophy High School Girls' Player of the Year the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Thursday. The 10 national semifinalists will be released early next month.

Dodson and Williams make up half of the Cardinal's celebrated 2017 recruiting class which, along with Estella Moschkau and Alyssa Jerome, is ranked fifth by espnW HoopGurlz.

Dodson, a 6-foot-3 wing, is a five-star talent and the No. 11 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100. A back-to-back state title winner at St. Francis High School in Alpharetta, Ga., Dodson averaged 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks per game as a junior and was named Georgia's Class A player of the year. In 15 games this season she's averaging 17 points and nine rebounds for the 11-4 Knights.

This past summer, she won a bronze medal with Team USA at the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women in Zaragoza, Spain, making the 12-person roster out of a pool of 139 trial invitees. Dodson started all seven games and averaged 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds, including scoring 12 and adding seven boards in the team's 65-50 win over China to secure third place.

Kiana Williams, a 5-foot-7, five-star point guard from San Antonio, Texas, is the No. 8 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 and Stanford's first top-10 recruit since Chiney Ogwumike signed as the top player in the country in Nov. 2009.

A dynamic leader with a powerful scoring punch, Williams averaged 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and 2.5 steals per game as a junior for Karen Wagner High School last season. She was a first-team all-state selection for the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches as well as the Texas Girls Coaches Association. Williams is averaging 22 points and four assists for her team this season in leading the Thunderbirds to a 17-3 record.

Ogwumike is Stanford's only previous winner of the Naismith Trophy High School Girls' Player of the Year award, taking home the honor in 2010.

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