Few high school stars can instantly set themselves apart from their peers with pure athletic gifts and raw power. Corinne Lomax is one such special player.
The Watertown, Conn., native just wrapped up a massive breakout junior year at Tabor, where she averaged 15.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game. Lomax helped the Seawolves return to the NEPSAC Class AAA semifinals and she now jumps back on the Adidas 3SSB circuit for Mass Rivals this grassroots season.
Division 1 colleges have long taken note of the 6-foot wing's blend of effortless driving scores, swooping rebounds and defensive impact. More recently, she's started drawing interest from the Power Four level with offers from Miami, Rutgers and NC State. Lomax, though soft-spoken, uses her high-flying game to take a place as one of New England's top current prospects.
Tabor coach Lydia Caputi broke down Lomax's game, what catalyzed her leap this season and more.
Athletic dominance
"If my grandmother walked into the gym and my grandma doesn't know basketball, she would be like, 'Who's that?' You don't need to know basketball to know that a kid like that is something special, which I think sort of speaks volumes. She's the type of kid that just jumps out in that way. It makes it really fun in practice, but it can also be frustrating in practice, where someone plays great defense and Corinne just goes into her bag and does something ridiculous, and you're like, 'No, no, that was really good defense. You need to be grateful that she's your teammate.'"
Soft-spoken leadership
"Because she's quiet, (leadership) shows up in more subtle ways, but it also started to show up more as the season went on. There's a balance between being who you are —you don't have to be this extroverted, huge-personality type of person — but when your game is extroverted and big-personality, and you're feeling something in the flow of it, you're doing a disservice to yourself and the team if you don't speak up and say something. And so that was a that was a big conversation throughout the fall. ...
"The next thing for Corinne, I think, is continuing to be confident in her voice, but also bringing other people with her. Like, 'If we're going to dominate like this, I need you to get on me about (this),' because it's hard to hold the best player on the floor accountable. ... As a leader, letting someone else hold you accountable is, I think, one of the most beautiful forms of leadership within the flow of the game, and that's the way that we develop as a team overall."
What sparked her breakout season?
"Her decision-making did show a ton of improvement. It's a highlight and a point of focus for her. You can score on the block when you have a mismatch at any given time, (or) recognize the mismatch, look at Lily (Davis) and recall (that). Take ownership in the flow of the game over, 'I need the ball right now.' And she started to do that a little bit down the stretch. And so it's that decision-making (and) reading the game. When you have the ability to play 1-through-5 on the floor, it's a skill set that you are still like unlocking in a lot of ways. ...
"What surprised me about her game and growth throughout the (season was) the way she handled, frankly, praise and criticism without it changing or disrupting her person, is the simplest thing. On-court, her decision-making and understanding of her ability to impact the game beyond putting the ball in the hoop is is really cool to see. I think she's starting to appreciate that about herself as a basketball player now."
Fit at the college level
"Ultimately, she's still figuring it out, and so how can I know? ... I don't really have an opinion right now. I think she can play at the highest level. I think that if she is matched up against ACC players and SEC players and Big Ten players, I think she rises to that level. She has the physical dominance. She has pro-level movement. She loves hooping so much. She wants to develop her deficiencies and cares about it. She's not afraid of failure, and I just think that that's a really good sign the sky's the limit for her."
