S P O RT S
BY: STEVE MARSHALL
USA Prospect
PRESENTED BY
Aaliyah Moore Emerging Among Nation’s Top Players
T
he college offers continue to roll in for one of the top basketball players in the country. Aaliyah Moore is a junior forward for the Moore Lady Lions. Moore is currently ranked the No. 7 player in the country, according to ESPN’s HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings for the 2021 graduating class. She has received offers from Oklahoma, Texas, UCLA, Michigan, Oklahoma State and Kansas, to name just a few. “She’s a real competitor,” says Moore head coach Brent Hodges. “She works so hard in practice and works relentlessly on her own. Whether it’s after practice or on the weekend just to get some extra shots up, I think that’s what makes her so good, her work ethic, her drive. She’s just relentless.” The 6’3” standout is in her third year for Moore, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds each season, and she was selected to play for the 2019 USA Women’s U16 National team, where she started all six games, averaging 7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game to help the U.S. national team to a 6-0 record and gold medal in Puerto Aysen, Chile. This year, Moore has taken her game to the next level, averaging 23.5 points per game to go along with 11.5 rebounds each contest. When asked about where she could contin24 | February 2020
ue to improve, coach Hodges said, “Maybe using her left hand a little more. There’s not really one big gap in her game.” Moore also participated in the 2019 USA Basketball 3x3 U18 National Championship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. But even with all the accolades, national teams and scholarship offers, Moore and the Lady Lions have one primary goal for this season. “We don’t feel like we finished the way we could have last year,” Moore said. “Last year, you could say we got tired at a certain point, so this year, we’re trying to get into tip-top shape. The biggest goal of all is to win state and get the Gold Ball.” Basketball runs in Moore’s family. She is trying to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Lashowan, who played at Alabama A&M and guided Moore as she began playing in the fourth grade. “My mom basically played her whole life,” Moore said. “She was a beast, and she knew I could be pretty good if I kept at it, and I was also taller than everybody else at the time.” Some of Moore’s favorite players include Maya Moore, Candace Parker, Lebron James and Tamika Catchings.
