STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
MASON, Ohio - She wasn't supposed to take the shot. No way. DFW Elite was nursing a three-point lead against Indiana Elite with just 13 seconds to play and Destini Hughes had just stolen the inbound pass. Pull the ball out, game over, right?
Instead, Hughes attacked the cup and finished. Then it was game over. Afterward, Hughes would say that she saw the opening and, as a coach, since the play turned out fine, it's one of those you chalk up to the instincts and growth of an emerging elite point guard.
Destini Hughes
Yes, we used Destini Hughes, the word "elite" and the position "point" all in one sentence. Had you seen her last year, you might have sworn she was going to end up being an undersized scoring guard. Now, on a far more talented team, Hughes seems to be fulfilling ... well ... her destiny.
"I don't have to do everything here," said Hughes, ranked No. 38 in the 2008 class by HoopGurlz.com. "I can play my true position."
It's a position much in demand, as the 5-foot-10 speedster has discovered. Hughes says Texas A&M leads Baylor in her recruitment, with LSU, Texas and Kansas State also still in the picture. She wants to attend camps, then take official visits in the fall and is looking to study veterinary medicine.
The change of club-ball scenary has done Hughes well. On a team with the likes of Brooklyn Pope, Hughes still often is the most dynamic player on the floor. And her instincts are being sharpened.
Hughes admits she probably should not have taken that game-sealing shot. She also accounts for the steal as payback for a three-pointer the intended receiver, Skyler Gick, made against her about a minute earlier.
"She just hit a shot on me," Hughes said, "I didn't want her to get the ball again."
RIM SHOTS
Glory Johnson of Knoxville, Tenn., ranked No. 7 in the 2008 class by HoopGurlz.com, says if she had to make her decision on a college today, it would be between North Carolina and Tennessee. That said, she doesn't have to make that decision today, of course, and still plans to take unofficial and official visits. Duke, Georgia and Vanderbilt are the other contenders and Johnson says she could add more schools. As to the firm belief that Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt won't let her escape the Tennessee border, Johnson said, "I'm open." ... April Sykes, No. 4 in 2008, showed with a banged-up Essence squad that is defending its title here. Sykes herself is sporting a brace on her shooting hand because of a sprained wrist. It obviously is not impacting her white-hot shooting, but she says she feels it on her ballhandling. Sykes would prefer to play without the brace, but adds that Kim Davis, the Essence coach, won't let her. Essence is missing guard Tiffany Hayes, who is committed to Connecticut, because of a family engagement. ... Shanel Harrison, the fine guard for the Fairfax Stars, is playing with a hip pointer.
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Glenn Nelson is the publisher of HoopGurlz.com. He also founded and coached the Dragons and Northwest HoopGurlz select girl's basketball teams. Glenn previously was the editor-in-chief at Scout.com and a
longtime, national-award-winning basketball columnist and writer for The Seattle Times. His work also has appeared in several books and national magazines. He is co-author of "Rising Stars: The Ten Best Players in the NBA" (Rosen Publishing, 2002). For more on Glenn's World, click here [1]. He can be reached at glenn@hoopgurlz.com [2].