Wayne standout Hall, a McDonald’s All-American, ‘feeling on top of the world’

Hall’s teammates surrounded her in the Warriors’ locker room prior to practice, helping Hall celebrate her selection to the prestigious McDonald’s All-American team. She was one of 24 players from around the nation selected.

“My teammates mean the world to me,” Hall said. “I was telling my mom, ‘No. I do not want to leave my teammates. I do not want to leave my friends.’ I love those girls. Those girls are like my sisters. They’re always supporting me. They were in the locker room just screaming and chanting. I just love them. They are a sisterhood to me.”

Hall, the daughter of Bryan and Lashauna Hall, is the eighth player from the Cox First Media coverage area – and the first from Wayne – to make the girls’ McDonald’s All-America team. Fairmont’s Madeline Westbeld was named to the team last year. Beavercreek’s Alison Bales (2003), Chaminade Julienne’s Brandie Hoskins (2003), Lakota West’s Amber Gray (2008), CJ’s Samarie Walker (2010), Madison’s Ally Mallot (2011) and Fairmont’s Kathryn Westbeld (2014) were also honored.

Hall watched the team’s unveiling at home with her sister and her dad, while her mom joined in from work on Facetime. Her name popped up on the screen around 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

“I was just so excited. I was screaming around the house,” Hall said. “I was over the moon so excited, screaming and hugging my sister.”

Hall leads the Greater Western Ohio Conference with 25.7 points and 2.6 blocks. She’s second in steals with 3.4 and fifth in rebounds with 7.2. She scored a season-high 32 points four times this season.

As good as Hall is offensively, Wayne coach Travis Trice Sr. praised her defense as being even better.

“I think she’s one of the best two-way players in the country. Period,” Trice said. “She can guard any position on the floor whether it’s guarding the point guard or guarding the center, guarding the other team’s best wing. She’s what I would consider a lock-down defender.

“She just wants to be great at everything she does. I think the fact her friends and her teammates love her speaks volumes about who she is as a person.”

Hall is as outgoing with her personality as she is outstanding on the court. She said she enjoys meeting new people and, if she sees a new student at Wayne standing alone, it’s a given she’s going to introduce herself.

“She’s got one of the most beautiful smiles that you’re ever going to see. She’s always the life of the party,” Trice said. “She’s very loud with joy in a great way. But she’s very well spoken.”

On Feb. 18, Hall scored 25 points in three quarters in Wayne’s 76-26 win against Fairborn. That gave Hall 1,564 points in her career, surpassing Travis Trice Jr.’s boys’ record of 1,555 and making Hall the school’s all-time leading scorer.

“Those are the top two players, in my opinion, in Wayne history,” coach Trice said. “She’s definitely earned every single thing she’s gotten.”

In a classy move, Trice Jr. – who is playing professional basketball for the Galatasaray S.K. in Istanbul, Turkey – sent Hall a video congratulating her. He also proclaimed Hall as Wayne High School’s greatest of all time.

“I was in awe. I was so happy and smiling from ear to ear,” Hall said. “I was showing my mom and dad and I was like, ‘Look what Travis just sent!’ I was so happy he sent me such a nice message.

“I’m feeling kind of GOAT-ish right now. I’m feeling on top of the world, definitely. There’s definitely still more work to do, though.”

Wayne (17-3) plays Princeton (15-7) in the Division I district final on Saturday. Both the game time and site are to be announced. Wayne has reached the district final the past five seasons. Hall – along with senior teammates Jacquel Bronaugh, Cydne Campbell, Alyssa Hargrove-Hall, AntyNazia Hill, Ariyah Long, Lovie Malone and Saharra Murphy – go for the Warriors first regional appearance since 2016.

“This is a place where we stubbed our toe the last several years in the district spot,” coach Trice said. “We’re really looking forward to giving ourselves a chance to go make some noise and get an opportunity to win this thing.”

Winning a title is also one of the reasons Hall chose coach Dawn Staley’s South Carolina program. The Gamecocks (18-3) – who had four recruits on the McDonald’s All-America roster – lead the Southeastern Conference standings and are ranked No. 5 in the nation.

“What sold me was realizing we were really building something,” said Hall, who carries a 3.8-grade point average at Wayne. “I had a group chat with the other recruits. Just seeing our potential and seeing we were coming together with this idea of making a powerhouse at South Carolina, I think that really sold me. … I can feel the connection. I felt like I can get along with these girls.”

Hall received her first college offer as an eighth-grader. That offer from the University of Dayton was the first of many. She estimates enough letters followed in the following years to fill two trash bags.

“I was like, ‘Okay, I got something going here,’” Hall said of that first offer.

“It can also be stressful. You have a lot of college coaches calling you and telling you all these things the can do for you. You narrow down your list more and more, but it’s hard because you’re making these connections with these coaches and building these relationships.

“It kind of hurt me a little bit (calling coaches to decline offers) because I felt like I was letting people down. But I knew I had a plan and I had a goal and what the best fit was for me.”

Even if it includes below-freezing temperatures and foot of snow sometimes.