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The Girls Class of 2023 Where are they Now?
Written by EV the Geeker
The Girls Class of 2023 Where are they now? Part 1 (Out of State Edition)
The 2023-24 NCAA basketball season has gotten started, and we have several young ladies from our great state of Mississippi playing outside of our state and we want to take the time to see how they are doing. Today I will write about 4 young ladies from the class of 2023 who are currently playing at the Division 1 level out of state.
Last year was my first time doing the individual Geeker Girls Rankings for the state of Mississippi. Eddie Young of MS Play Sports had done the rankings for several years before I took on the challenge of ranking 60-70 young ladies in each class. I understand how Eddie felt all those years because you almost become public enemy No.1. It is a job I wouldn’t wish on anyone but on the other hand I was up for the challenge. Alright enough of that geek lets get into the geek that I’m supposed to be writing about in this article.
The 1st young lady we will talk about is arguably the most decorated young lady to ever come out of the state of Mississippi. She was a McDonald’s All American, 3-time USA Gold Medalist, Jordan Brand Game Participant, Gatorade Player of the year, HS State Champion, just to name a few. I will go ahead and put this in writing as I have said on our Talkin Hoops in DA SIP Talk Show, and I have said it to anyone else who will listen that former Germantown HS star Madison Booker is the one of the most Skilled players to ever come out of the state of Mississippi. As a matter of fact, I don’t know if we have ever had 5 more skilled players to ever play in our state especially at 6’2 than Madison Booker. For the record I didn’t say she was the best to ever come out of Mississippi or she was the best scorer but its not many young ladies in the country can do what this young lady can do.
https://thedailytexan.com/staff_name/courtesy-of-texas-athletics/
Booker already has received some preseason honors even before she has played a game at Texas as she was named the Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Here is what her now college coach Vic Schaefer had to say about Booker in an article that was written early this year in the Daily Texan
“She just keeps getting better and better,” Schaefer said. “She’s gonna be special sooner than later, she’s gonna be really good. She’s gonna help us win a lot of games here at Texas.”
Booker has gotten off to a great start at Texas and she has helped 10th ranked Longhorns get off to a 9-0 start. In arguably the biggest game of her short career against perennial power and 11th ranked UCONN, Booker gave them a 20 ball, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block as she played all 40 minutes.
On the season Booker has started all 9 games and is averaging 22 mpg (Minutes per game),
11.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.5 apg. She is shooting 43/93 46% FG, 6/19 31% 3FG, 14/20 70% FT.
I would say that is a pretty good start for the 2023 Geeker Girls No.1 ranked player in DA SIP.
The 2nd young lady we will talk about was arguably the best scorer in the state in 2023 and that was former Horn Lake star 5’8 combo guard Indiya Bowen. Bowen was a bucket getter in HS as she was a 1000-point scorer for her career, and she averaged over 22ppg her senior year. She also was a 2-time Region 3-6A player of the year along with being a part of the North-South All Star Teams.
Let me go ahead and pat myself on the back as I was the first to offer Bowen a Division 1 scholarship when I was the recruiting coordinator at Mississippi Valley State University. Bowen blew up in the summer of 2022 playing for Cordarius Jones one of the program directors for Mississippi ALL-N AAU program, where in one month she became one of the hottest prospects in the south. She came in with 0 offers and before the month of July was over, she had over five D-1 offers.
I spoke with SEMO Head Coach Rekha Patterson about Bowen before she ever stepped foot on campus and her exact words to me was “she has a chance to be legendary”. Let me share this with all the future recruits who will read this article. If you have a coach especially a Head Coach, say that about you then you must take them seriously.
Bowen who has an incredible motor continues to show that ability at her new home Southeast Missouri State University a division 1 program who plays in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
Bowen who has posted a season high 19 points against NAIA Stephens College and she had her best D1 scoring output of 12pts against Northwestern who plays in the Big Ten Conference.
Bowen presently is the 3rd leading scorer on the team averaging 8.6 ppg. She is also averaging 1.6rpg. She is 3rd on the team in minutes averaging 22.7 minutes per game. Bowen is shooting 34% from the field 19/55, 46% from the 3pt line 12/26, and 83% from the free throw 10/12.
I would say that is a pretty good start for the 2023 Geeker Girls No.2 ranked player in DA SIP.
The final 2 players we will talk about today are the dynamic duos, the twin sisters Madison and Micah Odell.
The former Gulfport stars are still doing what they do best and that is playing the game of basketball at Robert Morris Univ a D1 school that plays in the Horizon League Conference.
Let’s go back in memory lane first, with Madison Odell the 5’6 combo guard. She helped lead the Admirals to a 23-10 overall record and led Gulfport to the quarterfinals of the Mississippi (MHSAA) 6A Girls Basketball Championship. She averaged 19.0 ppg., 2 rpg., and 2apg. She also was selected to in the Mississippi/Alabama All Star game.
Her taller twin sister Micah the 6’0 wing also was a key part of the Admirals success. She averaged 13.0 ppg., 8.0 rpg., and 7.0 apg while being awarded the team MVP award.
She also was as invited to play in the North/South Mississippi All-Star game for two consecutive seasons.
It’s time to pat myself on the back again as I also saw the vision on the twins before any other D1 school as I offered them both while I was at Mississippi Valley. I absolutely LOVE the ODELL sisters.
I definitely need to give a shoutout to Gabe Barber another one of the program directors for the Mississippi All-N AAU program who has coached the twins for several years who along with Cordarius Jones helped connect the dots for Robert Morris.
Now let’s look at what Head Coach Charlie Buscaglia had to say about the twins. (Quotes taken from RMU website).
“Madison really caught our eye with how she is able to create shots for herself and her teammates,” Buscaglia continued. “She is very shifty with the ball, and slippery in the gaps. We look for her to be tough on the opposition for both ends of the court with her quickness. She is a fierce competitor and has a lot of fire to bring to our program.”
“Sitting down with their family and discussing values on their visit, truly showed that connection of being great fits for our family here at RMU. Them being sisters and spending their college career at RMU is a blessing. We truly enjoyed watching Madison and Micah help their team at Gulfport High School make a great run for the championship in their senior year,” Buscaglia said.
“Micah is a long guard that impressed us right away with her ability to be a natural leader on the court” Buscaglia Said. “She has a great ability to be physical and grab tough rebounds. Micah has a nice mid-range game on the offensive end, and a tremendous work ethic on defense to go along with her athleticism. Her potential is very high.”
I would have to say I agree with those assessments of the twins. Here are the early season stats for the twins.
Madison Odell 14.8mpg, 4,8ppg, 15/43 35%FG, 6/24 25% 3FG, 2/5 40% FT.
Micah Odell 15.3mpg, 4.6ppg, 1.1rpg, 15/40 37%FG, 3/15 20%3FG, 4/7 57% FT.
I would say that is a pretty good start for the 2023 Geeker Girls No.5 & 7th ranked player in DA SIP.
As fans we have a lot to be proud of as we see our young ladies go all over the country and be great ambassadors for our great state. Let me also add if you are a freshman and you averaging over 10 minutes of playing time per game usually that means you are in the rotation. All 4 of these young ladies are achieving this feat. Let’s continue to keep all of our athletes in our prayers as they continue to reach their God given destiny. As I say on Twitter CONGRATS & WAY TO REPRESENT DA SIP!
