Nickerson Tourney Recap

Day two of evaluations took place in Boston at the annual Nickerson Tournament.

The injury bug seems to be running rampant in New England during this early segment of the season. Heavy hitters such as Ava Black, Lauren Fitzgerald and Kaitlyn Jones of Tabor Academy were all sidelined. Freshman sensation Alannah Morantus of Cushing Academy was also hobbled up along with two other Cushing starters.

Nonetheless the usual suspects hit the ground running and wasted no time demonstrating why they are considered to be some of New England’s top prospects. 

Jasmyn Cooper ’25, Nasi Simmons ’24, and Cristina Pham ’25 were their usual steady selves as Noble was able to shake off a slow start and ultimately overcome a feisty Kent school surge, led by Phoena Dadson’24 and Brennan Doran’24.

Cooper has narrowed her recruitment down to her final five schools and continues to show vast improvement in her overall skill set. The winner of those sweepstakes will inherit an extremely versatile ball player. Cooper possesses a motor that will allow her to make an immediate impact at a high level. She displayed an uncanny ability to change direction using a between the legs dribble move on several occasions. This suggests she has worked diligently on her perimeter ball skill.

Simmons came out early exhibiting her improved ability to stretch the defense by knocking down the three-point jumpshot. 

Pham eclipsed the 1000pt plateau earlier this week and continued to perform at an elite level this past weekend. 

Miami commit Ahnay Adams’24 and her running mate Colleen Phiri’25 were spectacular. 

Phiri is coming off an impressive summer which saw her garner a fair deal of mid major interest. Look for that trend to continue, especially with the improvement of her perimeter ball skill, coupled with good size and mobility. She has also recently eclipsed the 1000 point mark.

Coaches Corner

Three prospects were the topic of frequent conversations between several coaching friends of mine and I throughout the course of the day.

Mackenzie Mori ’25 (Hamden Hall) raised a few eyebrows with her shot making ability. She has a great feel for the game and is highly efficient. Mori poured in 37 points setting the school record at Hamden Hall in a victory over Marianapolis prep.

2025 guard Eva Wilkerson (Sacred Heart Greenwich) will certainly see her stock rise after Sunday’s performance. The scoring ability she displayed from beyond the arc, in addition to breaking defenders down, and finishing at the basket, will make her a highly sought after prospect continuing into the spring, when she will join the Lady Rival program on the travel circuit.

Olivia Rodrigues’ 25 (Tabor Academy) Continues to enthrall coaches at 6 foot 1 while toggling back and forth between the guard and forward positions throughout the course of games. She’ll be one to keep an eye on over the next 6 months. 

Other standouts included Penn State commit Cam Rust’24 (Worcester Academy) as well as Villanova commit Dani Ceseretti’24 (NMH) Alaina Phillipo’24 (Marianapolis Prep)

Young Guns 

2027 – Mary Ganim – Hamden Hall (CT)

2027- Maeve Early– Marianapolis Prep

2026– Olivia Fleming – NMH

NEPSAC play will be electrifying this season. Looking forward to She Got Game-Boston in January.