After Saturday's men's basketball showdown at the Cintas Center, the Cincinnati Bearcats and Xavier Musketeers will renew pleasantries in women's basketball at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, at UC's Fifth Third Arena.
The game will give three former Greater Cincinnati high school standouts their first chance to shine in the Crosstown Shootout after last year's meeting was canceled by the pandemic. Here is a look at their performances:
Jillian Hayes, Loveland
The 6-foot-1-inch sophomore guard has started every game for the Bearcats and leads the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game. She also leads the team in rebounding at 6.6 per game and blocks with 10. She is second on the team in steals (nine) and assists (2.1 per game).
So far this year, she has set career highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in separate games.
Last year, she started 20 games, averaging 7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks in 32.2 minutes. She led the team in steals with 34 and was named to the All-Freshman Team for the American Athletic Conference..
She leads a young roster in career scoring with 276 total points.
At Loveland, she averaged 18.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.1 steals, 2.0 assists in her senior year and was named Eastern Cincinnati Conference Co-Player of the Year. She graduated with the most career points (1,412) and career rebounds (778) in school history.
Hayes’ brother Jaxson, a Moeller graduate, played at Texas and is in the NBA right now with New Orleans. Her father, Jonathan, played in the NFL for 12 seasons from 1985-96 and her mother, Kristi, was former conference player of the year at Drake who scored 3,400 points in high school.
Nevaeh Dean, Lakota West
The 6-foot-2-inch sophomore forward is in her first season at UC after transferring from Virginia Tech before last season began.
She has played every game, averaging six minutes per game off the bench. She has six rebounds and three assists.
Dean was a three-time All-Greater Miami Conference first-team player for coach Andy Fishman's Firebirds and a four-year starter. Generally, she could be counted upon for between 7 to 9 points per game and 6 to 9 rebounds. In her senior season, the Firebirds were 21-5 with Dean averaging 9.3 points and 9.5 rebounds with 2.7 assists per game and 1.5 steals. She had seven double-doubles (points, rebounds) in her final two seasons.
ESPN ranked her as the 23rd-best forward in the Class of 2020.
Clarissa Craig, Roger Bacon
The 6-foot-3-inch freshman comes off the bench and has averaged 3.4 points per game in 14 minutes of play per contest. She has two blocks and is averaging 1.4 rebounds.
She ranked as Ohio's best center in the 2021 class by Ohio Girls Basketball Report while Collegiate Girls Basketball Report lists Craig as the 23rd-ranked center nationally.
At Roger Bacon last year, she averaged 13.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks while helping the Spartans to a league title and their first regional championship game appearance since 2005.
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