Hometown Heroines: Part One
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By Amari Dryden
Some players can’t wait to leave home to go to college. Others can’t wait to rep their city across their chest and be the hometown heroine they aspired to be when they first picked up a basketball. There are over a hundred players in Division I who play for their hometown team. In this series, we’ve narrowed 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 at least five players each week through the end of the regular season.
Annie Ramil, Guard, Freshman
School: Binghamton University
Hometown: Binghamton, NY
Olivia Ramil, Forward, Junior
School: Binghamton University
Hometown: Binghamton, NY
After playing together at Binghamton High, Annie and Olivia Ramil eventually chose to continue their talents a quick drive over the Susquehanna River at Binghamton University. Olivia played her freshman season at Georgetown in Washington, DC, before transferring back home to play with her younger sister. Their older sister Jodi-Marie is a redshirt senior at Iona.
Annie and Olivia are two of the three top rebounders for Binghamton and are leading the Bearcats to their best start in over a decade. Annie averages 6.5 total rebounds per game, 1.9 offensive and 4.5 defensive. Olivia averages 6.0 total rebounds per game, 2.9 offensive and 3.1 defensive. Accounting for their total points and the points resulting from their rebounds, the sisters are responsible for 34.86% of Binghamton’s scoring this season. That’s rather impressive as neither one averages more than 21 minutes a game.
Olivia’s most impressive rebounding performance this season was when she grabbed 20 rebounds (12 offensive) on January 11th in a 66-56 loss to UMass-Lowell. She’s ranked second in the America East conference in offensive rebound rate (14.6%) and third in total rebound rate (17.9%). She’s also ranked fifth in the America East in total blocks (11) and blocks per game (1.4).
However, Olivia doesn’t just excel defensively. She’s sixth in the America East conference in field goal percentage (52.2%) averaging 8.5 points per game and in the 96th percentile nationally in points per scoring attempt (1.22) and 95th in two-point percentage (58.1%). On January 18th in a win against Maine, she became just the seventh player in Binghamton history to shoot 100% from the charity stripe with at least eight attempts as she went eight for eight from the line.
Annie’s defensive rebound rate (21.1%) ranks her fifth in the America East conference. She’s in the 97th percentile nationally in two stats: defensive rebound rate (24.6%) and total rebound rate (17.6%). Her season high in total rebounds is 11, which has occurred twice this season. She scored over 10 points on both occasions, giving her two double-doubles.
Anastasia Hayes, Guard, Redshirt Sophomore
School: Middle Tennessee State
Hometown: Murfreesboro, TN
Aislynn Hayes, Guard, Freshman
School: Middle Tennessee State
Hometown: Murfreesboro, TN
Anastasia and Aislynn Hayes are both guards for Middle Tennessee State out of Riverdale High School, which is just five miles from the Blue Raiders’ campus. Anastasia had a stand-out freshman year at Tennessee but was dismissed from the team in August 2018 for a violation of team rules. She chose to follow her sister’s commitment to the Blue Raiders a couple months after leaving Tennessee. The pair have two younger sisters who also play for Riverdale and are already getting college scholarship offers. Alasia Hayes is a senior and is committed to Notre Dame while Acasia is a sophomore.
Anastasia has recorded a triple-double and a double-double so far this season and was one assist and two rebounds away from another triple-double her first game of the season. She was the second player and the first guard in Middle Tennessee State history to record a triple-double. She is ranked in the top ten in Conference USA for many statistics such as points per game (17.1, 5th), defensive rebounds per game (5.0, 9th), assists per game (4.2, 5th), usage rate (29.0%, 5th), assist rate (25.9%, 8th), field goals made (52, 8th), free throws made (46, 2nd), two-pointers made (48, 6th), total points (154, 5th) and total assists (38, 5th). Combining their point totals and the points resulting from their assists, the Hayes sisters have contributed 70.38% of MTSU’s 1,516 points.
Three-point shooting is the one place Anastasia lacks, but Aislynn picks up her sister’s slack. Almost 44% of Aislynn’s points come from beyond the arc as she averages 2.0 three-pointers made per game. Aislynn is also 35th in the nation in free throw attempts. On January 30th, she had a career-high 12 free throw makes, half of which came in the fourth quarter, out of 16 attempts against UTEP. She’s played more minutes than any other freshman in the nation ranking her 15th nationally and number one overall in Conference-USA. On February 3rd, she was named the United States Basketball Writers Association Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week, becoming the first player ever to win the award three times.
Mikaela Jones, Center/Forward, Redshirt Senior
School: Norfolk State
Hometown: Portsmouth, VA
Chanette Hicks, Guard, Redshirt Senior
School: Norfolk State
Hometown: Norfolk, VA
Mikaela Jones and Chanette Hicks have excelled on both sides of the floor. Hicks is first in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in PPG (21.3), SPG (4.7) and second in APG (4.6). Jones is 10th in offensive rebounds per game (2.9), fifth in blocks per game (1.6) and 12th in two-pointers made (23).
Like Hicks, Mikaela Jones also transferred back home. She played her first two seasons of college ball at two different junior colleges: South Georgia Tech and St. Petersburg College. She’s playing well after making her move to Division I, especially in conference play. She’s 10th in the MEAC in offensive rebounds per game (2.8), seventh in blocks per game (1.5) and 12th in two-pointers made (26). She earned her first double-double of the season in a win against South Carolina State with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Hicks is probably the least talked-about best player in the nation. She ranks 10th nationally in points per game, first in two-pointers made per game, and third in steals per game, which is a big reason why Norfolk State’s 13.9% steal rate ranks them fourth in the nation. Combining the points she’s scored, points that her teammates scored off of her assists, and points on fast breaks from when she stole the ball, she is responsible for 48.51% of the Spartans’ points so far this season. She recorded a triple-double against Virginia-Lynchburg, tallying 20 points, 14 assists, and 11 steals and becoming the fifth Spartan to ever do so.
She started her collegiate career at Virginia Tech, playing two and a half seasons before transferring to Norfolk State. Hicks went to Maury High School just two miles from Norfolk State’s campus. She committed to Virginia Tech at just 15 years old, calling it her dream school, but after a coaching change, she decided to step away from the program in February of her junior year for personal reasons.
According to an interview with the Virginia-Pilot, Norfolk State has forward/center Mikaela Jones to thank for putting the buzz in Hicks’s ear about transferring back home. While back home in Norfolk attempting to decide where to play her last year of eligibility, Hicks saw a post on social media by Jones about an all-girls pickup game on campus and urging college players to attend. Hicks obliged and, after seeing numerous familiar faces, decided Norfolk State was the place to be.
Check back next week for more hometown heroines!
All stats are from Her Hoop Stats for games through February 3rd.
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.