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On Monday morning, new Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball coach Marisa Moseley received a verbal commitment from 2022 center Tessa Towers (Batavia, Ill.) out of Batavia High School. Towers is the second known commit for the ‘22 class, joining 4-star Prairie du Chein combo guard Lily Krahn.
I’m so excited to announce that I have committed to University of Wisconsin to continue my academic and athletic career!! I want to thank my family, coaches and friends who have helped and supported me along the way! ❤️#GoBadgers @BadgerWBB pic.twitter.com/QhWyLMdlwy
— tessatowers (@tessatowers1) June 21, 2021
Towers is a, forgive me Lord, towering presence in the middle, standing at 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5 depending on the site. She has also, more importantly, improved every year in high school so far.
After only playing in six games a freshman and scoring zero points, her production shot up in her sophomore year when she averaged 11.9 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 1.4 bpg. In a COVID shortened junior season last year, Towers continued her ascent by averaging 17.1 ppg, 12.3 rpg and 1.8 bpg. Due to her slow start to her high school career she has been flying a bit under the radar on the recruiting front and Moseley may have found a hidden gem.
There isn’t a ton of film on Towers, but these are the two best ones I could find. In what might be considered a strange outcome, I think that Towers scores best when she isn’t right by the basket. She has a couple of nice post moves that get her easy buckets when she is guarded one-on-one and has established good post position, but struggles to finish around the rim sometimes when she grabs an offensive rebound and is swarmed by defenders.
I didn’t see her attempt a shot from further away than the free throw line, but that shot looked smooth. Will she develop an ability to stretch the floor? It would be a bonus but I don’t know if that’s in her future. Her hands appear to be soft as she was able to handle multiple styles of entry pass as well as grab boards even when she had smaller defenders knocking her arms.
She isn’t the most athletic big and, while she is a natural rim protector due to her height, I don’t know how well that will translate to the Big Ten unless she works on her athleticism and gets more mobile. She also could get taken advantage of in pick and roll situations if she doesn’t improve her foot speed.
Again, she has improved each year she has played in high school which shows a willingness to learn and a high work ethic. Once she gets to Madison those two traits should help her reach her potential.