Richmond, Laney, Josey, and Westminster's girls tip off the summer with wins

I previewed Monday's tip-off to the June high school summer league schedule here. And last night I shared 12 videos live from 4 games at Harlem and Butler at @AugBball's social media accounts. Be sure to follow there on game days:

https://www.facebook.com/AugBball/
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https://www.instagram.com/augbball/

I'll be back at Butler Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for tons of games. I'll preview those boys and girls games for you hopefully Wednesday morning.

Here are Monday's high school summer league highlights and thoughts from AugBball:

Richmond never trailed Butler and the Musketeers looked ready to continue the success they achieved during last season's class 5A region runner up finish and trip to the second round of the state tournament. DT Stephens, Moses Williams, and Jason Weaver make a great nucleus for coach Steve Nobles to work with.

Butler may have never led Monday's game, but the Bulldogs look as good as ever behind seniors Deandre Barton and Will Lambert. Both are forces of nature. This matchup was everything we could expect from the closer on the first night of summer league play.

Laney may still have the deepest team in town, even after losing division one bound guards Christian Keeling and Zep Jasper. As I said in Monday's preview, Donald Henley and Tahj Tanksley have been two of Augusta's best players for over a year. They linked up with the core of last season's juggernaut of a JV team and sprinted out to a 29-11 first half lead over Glenn Hills before withstanding a second half Spartans run and notched a 43-34 win.

Josey is once again possibly the area's most talented team. Javen Whitehead, John Williams, and Dominique Hurst, all about 6'3" with great leaping ability, can defend and rebound and run. The trio did a lot of that in the Eagles double-digit win over Evans.

The Knights have a promising team that includes two sharp shooters, Will Caudill and Cameron Cabarrus, who played well for the JV team last season.

I expected to watch Westminster's Lady Wildcats play Harlem Monday afternoon. The schedule changed and Westminster faced Evans instead. But the real news was of the newest member of the team.

Desha Benjamin, who during her freshman and sophomore seasons at Laney has won a state championship and earned Augusta Chronicle Player of the Year honors, will transfer to Westminster. She and her new teammates, Bobbi Wardwell, Ashley Davis, Genevieve Waller and others, bolted to a 31-10 lead over the Knights and looked like a potential new area power.

Bonus coverage:

Things weren't all bad Monday for the Lady Knights of Evans, who ended their matchup against Harlem with an 11-3 run to earn a 29-25 win. Lexi Jeffcoat is crafty with the dribble and she knows how to score.