Marquette Women’s Basketball Has Made Some New Scholarship Offers

It’s the July recruiting period for men’s and women’s basketball, so while we spent some time on Wednesday talking about some new offers made by Steve Wojciechowski and his staff, we’re going to take a minute or two to look at the high school prospects that Carolyn Kieger and her assistants have moved to the top of the priority list recently.

All three recruits are in the Class of 2020, so let’s drop this scholarship chart in right here so everyone can get a mental picture of what the Golden Eagles are expecting to do in that timeframe.

One final note as we continue: It seems more likely than ever before that Tori McCoy may never suit up for Marquette due to her kidney illness. However, until MU announces that she is no longer enrolled or that Kieger goes over the scholarship limit (seems unlikely any time soon), I’m going to keep her on the chart.

Onwards we go, then....

Halle Douglass

Ready for some exciting news? Douglass is ranked #50 in the country in the Class of 2020 by Prospects Nation, and the four-star prospect is also the #13 ranked wing player. This is very important given that she’s already 6’2” at the end of her sophomore year of high school. Her PN page also has two scouting reports on her, but they are listed as from 2016 and 2017.

The newspaper umbrella that is the Chicago Tribune published (at least) three stories on Douglass over the past year: One from November, talking about Douglass taking over point guard duties for Lake Forest HS; one from February, focusing on her attitude during late game situations; and one from earlier this month as a mid-summer catchup type article. All three are worth your while to gain a picture of what she potentially brings to the table for Marquette.

One thing to keep in mind, for what it’s worth: Her father was a point guard of some note for Wisconsin in the late 80s and early 90s. There’s nothing to indicate that he’s letting that impact her recruitment, and he even says in one of the articles I linked to that Halle is better than he was at the same age.

There doesn’t seem to be any YouTube highlight packages for her, but she has a Hudl page stacked with a bunch of clips.

Piath Gabriel

Here’s what I was able to track down on Gabriel. 1) She’s 6’4”, but according to Northeast Girls Recruiting, she “has ball handling skills that allow her to help break pressure and take the ball all the way to the hoop.” 2) From a May 2018 scouting report on the same NEGR page, Gabriel “is an aggressive rebounder” and “has three-point range.”

Right there, I’m sold on Gabriel as being an excellent prospect for Carolyn Kieger’s system. BUT WE’RE NOT THROUGH YET.

3) Her sister, Karima, played Division 1 hoops, starting at DePaul, transferring to Boston College, and then finishing up at Cal State Fullerton, presumably as a graduate transfer. This is important, because it’s her DePaul bio that led me to ..... 4) Piath’s older brother is now-former Kentucky Wildcat Wenyen Gabriel.

It seems that basketball talent maaaaay just run in the family, and that bodes well for both the young Ms. Gabriel and potentially the Golden Eagles as well.

Jacorriah Bracey

Bracey is a change of pace for this article, as she’s listed as just 5’9” instead of over six feet tall like Douglass and Gabriel. However, she may be the most gifted scorer of the trio, as her Max Preps page says she averaged 31.3 points per game last season. That number is confirmed with her second-team all-Mississippi honors from the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger, where she’s one of three sophomores mixed in with the juniors and seniors on the First and Second teams. Also confirmed is Bracey’s 7.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists, both of which were huge jumps from her freshman campaign where she still averaged 24.9 points per game.

If you were thinking or wondering if her numbers are a little accelerated by Ruleville Central High School’s pace of play, well, let’s put it this way: RCHS averaged just 50.2 points per games as a team last season. Bracey was the only one to average more than 9.5 per contest. She was the star of that team and no one could do anything to stop her. It also probably helps that Max Preps lists the head coach of the team as Chiquita Bracey (hi, mom), and on top of that, RCHS only went 15-12.

Here’s a local news package on Bracey from their Facebook page, where the reporter says that she’s the #1 ranked sophomore in Mississippi:

And how about a nearly six minute long highlight package dated from March 2018?