Each season, the culmination of the Outside the Huddle Top 50 player countdown is the naming of our annual First Five, the highest preseason honor for OTH basketball coverage.
The First Five traces its lineage back to The News-Sentinel’s years of presenting “Fabulous Five” teams of the area’s best five players in both boys and girls basketball. This player is part of our sixth season of naming First Five players.
No. 4 – Johnea Donahue, Snider
Stop us if you’ve heard it before: Johnea Donahue is one of the most masterful and tenacious defenders that Northeast Indiana has seen in a long time. Perhaps known better in the area hoops circuit as Nae Nae, she has set such a high bar as a defender during her high school career it is unreal and she has turned into a future Division 1 player because of it. Donahue averaged a mind boggling 5.6 soteals per game as a junior, going double digits int hat category three different times: 12 opposite East Noble and 11 against South Side and Bishop Dwenger. Anywhere the game does, Donahue has become a defensive juggernaut. But her game is also super well rounded behind that, averaging 4.5 rebounds and four assists per game last season too while 11.9 points per contest. She scored in the 20s on on four occasions last season.
COACH’S QUOTE ON DONAHUE:
“Nae is one of the most fierce competitors you’ll ever meet. She does everything we ask and is a great leader and demands her teammates respect. Defensively there is no one better. Her impact on the defensive side of the ball is unmatched.” – Snider coach Reggie Tharp
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