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- Apr 24, 2022
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I am probably biased, because Azzi is my local girl, and I've been watching her since she was in 9th grade, but ...
Azzi was the only sophomore to win any major high school NPOY awards (she won 2 of 4). Her junior year, she was recovering from injury and some skinny kid from Minnesota took all the awards. Azzi's senior season was essentially eliminated by Covid.
Last season we beat some good teams, including two teams that beat us this year: Texas, NC State, Duke, and Iowa. In those 4 games, Azzi averaged 25.5 ppg and shot 53/47/100.
Here's a sample of what Azzi did in 10th grade, winning the D.C. City Championship (folks who saw Princeton this year may recognize Ellie Mitchell on the Georgetown Visitation team). Azzi had 38. The entire Visitation team also had 38. That's still the arena scoring record.
When Azzi is healthy (regrettably, she appears to have her mother's knees), she is outstanding. As Geno noted about both her and KML, she can break games open in 1-2 minutes.
Thanks for these video links. I’d seen some compilations from the first one elsewhere but haven’t been able to find it in awhile. Yes, that’s Ellie Mitchell. And did I spy Jakia Brown-Turner too?
Also, it’s easy to forget just how dominant a force Azzi can be on the court. She can carry a team just as well as Paige can. Last season, the NC St game, the Texas game, the Iowa game were delightful to watch just to see Azzi feeling her power on the court.
I know it was not intended, but I can’t quite bring myself to forgive KK Bransford for shoving Aaliyah into Azzi’s knee. All of which means I hope the Paige and Azzi show gets rolling next fall and gives ND a beat down like no other next season.