Connecticut Basketball Club Prepared For Challenge At DSC



The Connecticut Basketball Club will be making a return trip to the Deep South Classic in April, but most of the club’s players will be getting their first experience with the elite event.

“We are only bringing a couple of players who were with the team last year, so we will have a little different team,” explained Coach Scott Nails. “It’s going to be a new experience, and they will be facing a new level of competition, but I think they will be fine. They just need to realize that they are in New England. It will be a good challenge for them, and I think it will be a good experience because of the competition and because of the way the tournament is run so well.”

The 2014 Deep South Classic will be played in Raleigh, NC, on April 25-27. Now in its 17th year, the Deep South Classic annually hosts many of the nation’s elite travel teams in a field that will eclipse 200 squads, and hundreds of collegiate coaches will be on hand searching for talent. The 2014 event will mark the second year that the Deep South Classic has been held at the Raleigh Convention Center. The venue was a tremendous success in its debut last year, with all games played at one site on 18 courts, and it is in a convenient central location.

The Connecticut Basketball Club squad will be relying heavily on a quartet of talented players, including Tara Berger (2015, 6-2, F), Abbie Wolf (2016, 6-4, F), Rebecca Lawrence (2016, 6-3, F) and Elise Graham (2016, 5-7, G).
“I think Abbie is a player who is ready for her coming out party,” Nails said. “There are a lot of college coaches that don’t know about her, but that will change. She is 6-4, but she’s not a back-to-the-basket player. She is an athlete who can put the ball on the floor, she is a good perimeter shooter, and she is a very intelligent player.
“Tara is a strong kid with long arms, and she is a very good rebounder. She is also a high academic kid, and I think she will end up at an Ivy League school. Rebecca is long and athletic. She is a good shot blocker, and she is also a very good student. Elise is very athletic and very quick, and she is a great defender. I can’t wait for the college coaches to see her in the open floor.”
Bret McCormick, the analyst for the All Star Girls Report, is also high on the kids from Connecticut.
“Wolf is a long, athletic player who can really run the floor,” McCormick said. “She can score down low, but she can also play on the edge. She really has an inside-outside game. Berger is a blue collar type of player who rebounds and does a lot of little things for the team, and Lawrence is a similar kind of player. Graham is a very quick, wiry guard who is a good defender, and she plays well in uptempo situations.”
Photo of Hartford’s Jen Rizzotti from Steve McLaughlin/Hartford Athletics.