ESPNHS HoopGurlz Star Watch

ESPN HoopGurlz Star of the Year Watch

As January nears its end, we found some new faces tearing up the courts across the country, and that shakes up this edition of Star Watch.

		NAME	HEIGHT	POS	SCHOOL	RECENT
		Morgan Tuck, Senior	6-2	F	Bolingbrook	With 35 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three assists, Tuck kept Bolingbrook cruising in January with a blowout win over Lincoln-Way Central (New Lenox, Ill.) last Thursday and had a cool 32 points and 20 rebounds against Lincoln-Way East (Frankfort, Ill.) two days later.
		Breanna Stewart, Senior	6-3	F	Cicero-North Syracuse	Yes, the Northstars are still in the top 10 nationally and yes, Stewart is a big part of it. She scored 39 points in an 89-31 win over West Genesee (Camillus, N.Y.) on Friday.
		Linnae Harper, Junior	5-6	G	Whitney Young	Harper continues to find new ways to fill the box score. On Monday she posted a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals while keeping the Dolphins undefeated at 20-0.
		Bianca Cuevas, Sophomore	5-5	PG	Nazareth	Maybe the closest of the Lady Kingsmen to late coach Apache Paschall, she has vowed to use his death to lift her game. Since he passed, she has been her team's leading scorer in every game, hitting for 25, 17 and then 33 points in Washington, D.C., during a 67-57 win over H.D. Woodson on Sunday. This, despite playing with two of the more highly regarded seniors in the country.
		Allisha Gray, Junior	6-1	G	Washington County	As if reaching the 2,000-point milestone wasn't enough, Gray did so on Tuesday night on a 48-point performance. She is averaging 32 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists and her team has won 48 straight games dating back to last season.
		Alexis Jones, Senior	5-8	PG	MacArthur	Jones has dipped a little in her points-per-game average over the last three games, but she's still averaging 22.8 points for the top-ranked team in Texas. And, as with most good teams, there are other players who can chip in scoring.
		Nirra Fields, Senior	5-9	G	Mater Dei	Fields has been a scoring machine for the Monarchs and helped them stay on a roll while senior point guard Jordan Adams was out with injury. She scored a game-high 23 points against Santa Margarita (Calif.) and is averaging 22.3 points per game on the season.
		Kelsey Mitchell Sophomore	5-7	G	Princeton	Mitchell finished with 19 points on 4-of-13 shooting but made all but one of her 11 free-throw attempts in a 45-40 win over Mason (Ohio). The Vikings slipped out of the FAB 50 and the sophomore's stock slides a little too.
		Niya Johnson, Senior	5-7	PG	P.K. Yonge	With her team trailing by 17 entering the fourth quarter, Johnson fueled a rally and beat Buchholz (Gainesville, Fla.) 85-77 with her 51-point, 15-rebound, seven-assist and four-steal performance. The Baylor signee is averaging 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on the season.
		Jordan Adams, Senior	6-1	G	Mater Dei	With Adams back in the fold in January, Mater Dei is rolling. She scored 20 points in back-to-back wins for the Monarchs.
		Sophia Bhasin, Senior	5-7	G	Cajon	The Long Island signee has had a run of 33, 45 and 39 points, helping Cajon to a 17-3 record. She also has seven triple-doubles this season, the last being 39 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists during a 91-42 victory over San Bernardino (Calif.).
		Diamond DeShields, Junior	6-2	W	Norcross	DeShields is averaging 21.8 points per game on the season but will miss up to three weeks while recovering from a cracked bone in her left wrist, which will definitely hurt her case for the season's top star honors.