It’s going to be a busy few months for Aaliyah Lewis. And by the end of it, the Bishop Ford junior hopes to sort out a firm list of colleges to choose from.
After going to the Boo Williams Nike Invitational next weekend in Virginia with her Ring City travel team, Lewis will head to the prestigious Nike Skills Academy in Indianapolis the following weekend. The 5-foot-5 guard has also been invited to the Elite Basketball Academy All-American Camp in Georgia in June.
It’s clear with those two invitations that Lewis has risen to an elite national prospect. She said she has offers from every team in the Big East and some from the ACC. Lewis hasn’t narrowed anything down – she doesn’t even want to name particular schools – but she hopes to do that in August after the July evaluation period.
“I don’t want to judge any schools yet,” said Lewis, who had seven points for Brooklyn/Staten Island in a 73-57 win over The Bronx in the Wheelchair Charities HS Basketball Classic semifinals Wednesday at York College. “I haven’t seen any campuses. But I do want to go somewhere that I’m comfortable with. I want to be in a city, because I’m from New York. I have to be around things.”
Lewis raised her stock this season by leading Bishop Ford to big wins against Nazareth, Christ the King, St. John Vianney (N.J.), DePaul Catholic (N.J.) and Archbishop Wood (Pa.). The Falcons advanced to their first-ever CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens championship game on an incredible over-the-head buzzer-beater by Lewis.
After the July evaluation period, Lewis says she’ll start thinking about visits and paring down her lengthy list of suitors. She came away from last July with offers from St. John’s, Rutgers and Boston College and a large amount of interested schools.
“By the end of the summer, I should have it settled down,” Lewis said.
Molloy star with plethora of interest: Amani Tatum’s huge year for Archbishop Molloy didn’t just help the Stanners reach the CHSAA Class AA state semifinals. It has also raised her stock in the eyes of college coaches.
The 5-foot-6 junior point guard has looks from Harvard, Brown, LaSalle, Hartford and Delaware. She has also been in contact with Louisville and St. John’s. The Ivy League schools, she said, are intriguing. But she has no favorites.
“I wouldn’t mind them,” Tatum said. “That’s what my mom likes most. Whatever comes. I’m just happy I have a lot of schools. I have choices to pick. Not everyone has that.”
Tatum had 10 points Wednesday for Queens in a win over Manhattan in the Wheelchair Charities HS Basketball Classic. She’ll split time this spring and summer with the NYC Bulldogs and Exodus NYC like she did last year. After July, she’ll figure out visits, she said.
“She’s ready,” said Queens coach Steve Furtado, who coached Tatum first when she was 6 years old. “I think she’s worked on her shot, worked on her defense and her ball handling is a lot better.”
Ratliff still without a school: Bishop Loughlin’s Ayana Ratliff was again impressive, scoring 13 points for the Brooklyn team in a 73-57 win over The Bronx. The lanky, 5-foot-8 senior guard is coming off a monster season for the Lions, who she helped lead to the New York State Federation Class A title.
Ratliff, though, remains unsigned. Brooklyn coach Anwar Gladden of South Shore isn’t sure how. He feels like she is a bit of a late bloomer and probably began traveling on the AAU circuit too late – last summer – but is “absolutely” a Division I player.
“She has good size, can get to the basket, can handle, can shoot,” Gladden said. “She needs to learn how to play the 1 a little. … The skills are there to play at the next level. Hopefully something works out.”
Brooklyn 73, Bronx 57: UTEP-bound Shanice Vaughan of Bishop Ford had 14 points, Ratliff had 13 points, South Shore’s Shelby Powell and Loughlin’s Jasmine Alston had seven points for Brooklyn, which meets Queens in the championship game 6:30 p.m. Thursday back at York.
Northeastern-bound Onia Webb of Cardinal Spellman had 14 points, Rye Country Day’s Caroline Binder had 13 points, John F. Kennedy’s Deaisia Acklin had 10 points and Mount Vernon’s Sade King added seven for The Bronx, which meets Manhattan in the consolation game 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Queens 70, Manhattan 57: George Mason-bound Reana Mohamed of Mary Louis had 18 points, Murry Bergtraum’s Jasmine Nwajei had 11 points, Archbishop Molloy’s Amani Tatum had 10 points and Jazmine Hamlet of Francis Lewis had seven points for Queens.
Bergtraum’s Dionne Coe had 16 points, UNC Wilmington-bound Shequana Harris of Bergtraum had 12 points and NEST’s Ghameerah McCullers added seven for Manhattan.
Notes: Loughlin’s Jasmine Alston has gotten calls from Seton Hall and UMass since the end of the high school season. She’ll head down to Boo Williams next weekend with the Philly Belles. … Bergtraum’s Dionne Coe needs a higher SAT score to qualify and will take the test again in June. If she reaches the necessary score, she’ll have some options: Fairleigh Dickinson, Delaware State and Division II schools like St. Anselm, Adelphi and C.W. Post. … Lab Museum United’s Ashanti Plummer, a 6-foot-2 senior, has a bevy of interest from Division II schools, including LeMoyne, Queens College and C.W. Post, among others.