Daniels, 14, shows her stuff in GTL
NORTH LIBERTY - Caitlynn Daniels is only 14 years old, but she's already playing basketball against college girls in the Game Time League and loving every minute of it.
Daniels will be a freshman at Xavier this year and it's probably a good idea to remember her name. She's already received a recruiting letter from Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder and many more are sure to follow.
Daniels made her debut in the Game Time League Wednesday night in a game that featured three Iowa Hawkeyes at the North Liberty Recreation Center. If you didn't know Daniels just graduated from Regis Middle School last month, you would have guessed she was much older and perhaps a college kid herself.
"I thought she held her own," said Maggie O'Connell, an assistant coach at Xavier who is also her head coach in the Game Time League. "Obviously her conditioning helped her in that respect. She hardly turned the ball over and played pretty solid defense. Good for her."
Daniels, who is a natural point guard with excellent ballhandling skills, played most of the game at a wing position, but O'Connell moved her to the point in the fourth quarter and Daniels showed what she could do with her passing and leadership.
"I was a little nervous at first, but once the game got going it wasn't that scary," she said.
Daniels took only two shots and missed them both, but she collected two assists and two rebounds and made an important contribution as her McCurry's/Vinton Merchants nipped L.L. Pelling, 86-85, on a 3-pointer by Iowa's Alexis Sevillian at the buzzer.
