Hall picks South Carolina for hoops
Wayne senior’s goal is to help the Gamecocks win a national title.
Wayne High
HUBER HEIGHTS — School’s Aubryanna “Bree” Hall picked a unique way to announce her commitment to the South Carolina Gamecocks basketball program on Monday.
A 14-second TikTok video starts with her in a yellow shirt and blue shorts. Then, after Hall starts a five-second countdown, the video transitions to her in a South Carolina hat, shirt and shorts.
“I actually came up with that with my mom (LaShauna),” Hall said. “We both decided against those long commitment videos. We were like, ‘Why don’t we make something short and sweet.’”
The video ended a long recruiting process for Hall, who received her first scholarship offer from the Dayton Flyers after her eighthgrade season at Weisenborn Junior High School in Huber Heights.
“They just kept rolling in after that,” said her dad Bryan Hall. “It’s amazing. Going from the fourth grade and her first year of travel basketball to be at this point now, it’s just like wow.”
Hall, a 5-foot-11 guard, ranks 26th in the class of 2021 and 10th among guards, according to HoopGurlz rankings. She’s one of 53 five-star recruits. She’s also the top-ranked Ohio recruit on the list and one of five Ohio players in the top 100. She picked South Carolina from a group that included
Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio State, Mississippi State, N.C. State and Texas.
Last season as a junior, Hall averaged 21.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. She averaged 13.9 points and 5.7 rebounds as a sophomore and 10.3 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Wayne is 55-18 the last three years with Hall starting each season.
In the 2021-22 season, Hall will join one of college basketball’s top programs. The Gamecocks finished 32-1 last season and finished the season, which was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. South Carolina won the national championship in 2017.
“My goal is to get a natty, to get a championship ring,” Hall said.
Hall saw South Carolina play Dayton at UD Arena in November. She also visited Columbia, S.C., for games twice last season and was in attendance when the Gamecocks beat perennial power Connecticut 70-52 on Feb. 10.
“Lots of people said you’ll know when you know,” Hall said. “You just get there, and you know. For me, it was that. I went to a bunch of different college campuses, and I knew when I got there, this was home.”
Another big factor in Hall’s decision was the personal connection South Carolina coach Dawn Staley made with Hall’s family.
“She was above all the other coaches that Bree had talked to,” Bryan Hall said. “That was very important to us. None of the other coaches really made an effort to get to know our family. They just talked to Bree. That sealed the deal right there.”