Hometown Heroines: Part Four
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By Amari Dryden
Some players can’t wait to leave home to go to college. Others can’t wait to represent their city and be the hometown heroine they aspired to be when they first picked up a basketball. This season, there are over 100 Division I players competing for their hometown teams. In this series, we’re narrowing the list down to players who are ranked within the top 10% nationally or in their conference in at least three different statistics and who whose hometowns are within a five-mile radius of their college. We’ll tell you about a handful of players each week through the end of the regular season.
Brooke Flowers, Forward, Sophomore
School: Saint Louis (SLU)
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
Brooke Flowers had a prolific high school career at Metro Academic & Classical, less than a mile from SLU’s campus. She finished her career as Missouri’s all-time leader in rebounds (1,563), blocks (803), and double-doubles (87). She led the state in blocks in each of her four years and tallied a Metro high school-record 20 career triple-doubles with points, rebounds and blocks.
Flowers may not be scoring as many points as she did in high school, as she only averages 4.4 per game, but the Billikens are still utilizing her defense, specifically her blocking ability. Out of SLU’s 127 total blocks (26th nationally), Flowers has recorded 55 of them (28th nationally). As a freshman, she swatted 68 shot attempts—the third highest single-season mark at SLU and the most for a first year player. She came into her sophomore season ranked 10th on SLU’s career blocked shots list. So far this season, she’s catapulted up the list to second with 123 blocks. If she continues her pace of at least 60 blocks per season, she’ll pass SLU’s all-time leader Arlene Lampe who ended her career with 217 career blocks. Flowers has an astounding 10.0% block rate (26th nationally) and averages 2.0 blocks per game (41st nationally). She had a season-high five blocks against Indiana State.
On the glass, Flowers grabbed 264 total rebounds last year, the fifth-most rebounds in a single season and second-highest for a freshman at SLU. She’s only grabbed 167 so far this season as her teammates Myriama Smith Traore and Kendra Wilken have taken on a greater rebounding role. Flowers is still nationally ranked in the 94th and 96th percentiles in total rebound rate (16.0%) and defensive rebound rate (22.9%), respectively. So far, she’s recorded two double-doubles this season: a 13-point and 14-rebound performance in a win against Southeast Missouri State and a 17-point and 11-rebound performance in a win against Indiana State.
Elaina Chapman, Forward, Freshman
School: Richmond
Hometown: Richmond, VA
Similar to Flowers’ role at SLU, Richmond uses Elaina Chapman’s rebounding and blocking ability to their advantage. Chapman leads her team with 1.0 block per game and ranks second with 4.8 total rebounds per game. Her 21.2% defensive rebound rate ranks her in the 94th percentile nationally. Her scoring and rebounding roles will most likely increase next season when leading scorer and rebounder Jaide Hinds-Clarke graduates.
In Atlantic 10 play, she has a 37% free throw rate (2nd in the conference), averages 1.3 blocks per game (5th) and has a 6.9% block rate (6th). She only needs six more blocks this season to be tied for 10th on Richmond’s single-season blocks list. She’s recorded two double-doubles in her collegiate career so far: a 10-point and 10-rebound performance in a win against St. Bonaventure and a 14-point and 11-rebound performance in a win against Duquesne.
Chapman went to Trinity Episcopal School, just four and a half miles from the University of Richmond. She scored over 2,000 points and grabbed over 1,100 rebounds in her high school career while having 18 double-double performances. Her high school teammate Angel Burgos also plays for the Spiders.
Taryn McCutcheon, Guard, Senior
School: Michigan State
Hometown: East Lansing, MI
Taryn McCutcheon moved to East Lansing from Parkersburg, West Virginia during her senior year of high school and has never looked back. She committed to Michigan State as a sophomore and made the jump to be immersed in Spartan Nation as early as she could. As much as Michigan State has impacted her, she has made a resounding impact at MSU.
McCutcheon leads the team in three-pointers made per game (2.0), free throw rate (25.4%), assist/turnover ratio (1.75), foul rate (1.7%) and assists per game (3.4). She’s in at least the 90th percentile nationally in all of those statistics as well. Accounting for the 55 three-pointers she’s made and the 41 three-pointers on which she’s assisted, McCutcheon is responsible for over 50% of all of Michigan State’s three-pointers. There have only been three games this season in which she didn’t make a shot from beyond the arc.
McCutcheon has also solidified herself in the Spartan record books in several statistics. She came into her senior season ranked fourth on Michigan State’s career three-point field goals list and has moved up to third with a total of 253 three-pointers in her career. She is currently 12 assists away from dethroning current MSU assistant coach Kristin Haynie in the school’s career assist rankings. McCutcheon also joined the 1,000-point club on December 28th in a loss to Indiana. She currently ranks 20th on that list with 1,169 career points.
You can read Her Hoop Stats writer Derek Helling’s more in-depth profile of McCutcheon here.
A’Jah Davis, Forward, Freshman
School: Northern Illinois
Hometown: DeKalb, IL
A’Jah Davis may only be a freshman, but she’s making a big impact offensively for Northern Illinois. She leads the team in field goal percentage (50.5%, 91st percentile nationally), offensive rebounds per game (2.2, 90th percentile), offensive rebound rate (17.0%, 99th percentile) and total rebound rate (18.1%, 97th percentile).
The first double-double of Davis’s collegiate career happened on January 22nd in a win against Ohio, when she scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Ten of those boards came on the offensive end, which was a record for the Convocation Center, NIU’s arena. In conference play, Davis ranks third in offensive rebounds per game (2.9) and is the only Mid-American Conference freshman in the top five. She also ranks third in total offensive rebounds (41) and total rebound rate (18.3%).
Davis played her last three seasons of high school basketball at Montverde Academy in Florida, but she was coached by NIU alum E.C. Hill -- so her connection to her hometown was never far away. Her mother Herilanda “Noogie” Thigpen also played basketball at NIU from 1995 to 1997.
All stats are from Her Hoop Stats for games through February 25.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.