The silky smooth scorer was really applying herself and imposing her will on the game early. She was hitting threes, posting up, scoring off the dribble and on the break. Sykes also picked up the intensity on defense, which has been her biggest knock to date. In high school she plays the bottom of a zone and just blocks shots for her undersized team, but in this setting she has to adjust to playing other top perimeter players.

When Sykes turns it up on both ends of the floor you see the impact she has on her teammates as they feed off her. When she relaxes, the team relaxes. That’s a lot of pressure for the class of 2008 prospect from East Oktibbeha County High School. She doesn’t strike you as being an ultra-quick guard, but she is always on balance, she’s strong and very deceptive. Her touch is second to none and if you give her clean separation and a good look she’s more than likely putting two points on the board.

Sykes’ balance comes from keeping her body low, bending at the knees and at the waste. She’s strong, so any reaching defenders are exploited as she gets into their hips and has them beat. She’s making a convincing argument to be in the mix for the 2008 class’s top ranked player.

Sykes also updated us on her top schools list – now consisting of Connecticut, Duke, Georgia, LSU, Maryland, North Carolina, Rutgers and Tennessee.

Another 2008 prospect fighting for the top spot in the class is Brooklyn Pope. Her legal first name is Brookilyn but she prefers to lose the ‘I’ and as she said, “like the city”.

In DFW Elite’s big showdown with Boo Williams, Pope came out on fire. She scored eight straight points in the first few minutes on back to back three pointers and a spinning floater to give DFW Elite a 10-1 lead. BWSL would respond with a 10-1 run of their own and we had a game. She also hit a big three with 30 seconds remaining against BWSL to cut DFW’s deficit to one point, but it was unable to get the victory.

Pope started emotionally charged and it would last the entire game. She put on quite a show, finishing with 18 points, 13 in the first half and entertained the coaches along the baseline as well as anyone within earshot with her verbal barrage at anyone who would listen. She’s a talker – she motivates herself that way to pump herself up and also she tries to get in the heads of the opposition. Pope hardly said anything to anyone at the Nike Skills Academy more than a week ago so I guess she was saving up for this tournament.

Morgan Boyd, the 6-foot guard from the KC Select team showed off her quickness and shooting range against the Georgia Metros. The kid can shoot from long range as well as get by people off the dribble. She has good length and when she works hard defensively she can get her hands on a lot of passes.

Christian Rateree, a 5-6 point guard who plays the wing as well for the Georgia Metros, was all over the court today, playing defense, getting steals, starting and finishing the break and making good decisions in the backcourt. She didn’t back down from anyone on the perimeter and showed she’s a tenacious on-ball defender.

Maryland commit Kim Rogers exploded against DFW to score a game-high 23 points. Rogers is known as a lights out, catch-and-shoot player, so it is a mystery why DFW continued to leave open on the three point line. She scored 17 points during the first half to help BWSL rally back from an early deficit. When they overplayed her finally in the second half, she put the ball on the floor and pulled up from 10 feet, something she will have to continue to improve on at the next level, shooting on the move.

Kathleen Nash the 6-1 forward for DFW Elite was knocking down mid-range jumpers all day long, the strongest part of her game. She is also good around the basket and runs the floor well for a Four (power forward).

Sydney Colson, a shifty quick and dynamic combo guard from Houston, Texas, was on her game against the West Coast Elite scoring 20 points. Colson’s left to right crossover is just ridiculously quick, low and she explodes forward out of it. She was denied almost anywhere she went on the floor but she battled through it, kept working and still managed to score 20 points.

Alicia Manning from Woodstock, Ga., showed how dynamic a player she is, making a difference both on offense showing off her pull up jumper and strength around the basket and on defense drawing the top defensive assignment of defending KC Select’s Tyra White. She’s got a D-1 body and athleticism and was on her game on Tuesday.

Lynette Kizer, the 6-3 post from Woodbridge, Va., battled in the paint to buy the star perimeter players of Boo Williams time to get on a roll. She scored 16 points against DFW and 12 of them came from the free throw line. Her footwork is improving seemingly each game.

Brooklyn Pope of DFW Elite

April Sykes of Essence Basketball