DJ Barksdale is The Herald’s latest winter sports player of the week (Dec. 21)

DJ Barksdale of the York Prep boys’ basketball team is The Herald’s latest winter sports player of the week.

Barksdale helped extend York Prep’s undefeated start to region play (3-0) last week. He went 6-of-10 from three and scored 30 points in the Patriots’ win over Cheraw on Dec. 18. He also added seven points against Legion Collegiate later in the week, too.

The 5-8 sophomore guard, who plays football in the fall for South Pointe High in Rock Hill, is the second York Prep player to win a Player of the Week award: Kory Davis earned the honor last season.

There were 23,772 votes cast in this week’s poll. Barksdale earned 36.99% of the vote; Gracie Wilson of Rock Hill earned 34.03% of the vote; and Ca’Darrius Sowell of Andrew Jackson earned 17.67% of the vote.

View the poll’s full results, and meet the rest of the nominees for the award below.

Meet this week’s finalists

MJ Collins, Westminster Catawba boys’ basketball: The 6-3 junior guard had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in a 59-52 loss to Northside Christian on Dec. 18. The next day, Collins had 15 points, four rebounds and two assists in a 65-52 win over South Pointe in the Phenom Hoops’ Classic in Rock Hill.

Irving Cabrera, Northwestern wrestling: The Trojans’ sophomore went a perfect 5-0 in the 126-pound weight class on the mat last week, beating two state-qualifiers from last year in the process. He ultimately helped propel Northwestern to a 2020 Demon Dual championship this past weekend.

Taylor Southall, York Prep girls’ basketball: The 5-9 senior helped lead her team to a 1-1 record last week: She notched 20 points and seven rebounds in a 50-44 loss at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center on Dec. 15, and three days later, she was even more productive — pouring in 30 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in a 57-50 win over Cheraw. Southall has averaged 19.2 points and 7.2 rebounds for York Prep (1-4) this season.

Ca’Darrius Sowell, Andrew Jackson boys’ basketball: The 6-2 junior guard had 27 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block to lead Andrew Jackson to an 82-67 win at Cheraw on Dec. 16. Sowell is averaging 15.6 points, four rebounds, 3.2 assists per game for the Volunteers (4-1) this season.

Jacob Stevens, Catawba Ridge boys’ basketball: The 5-10 junior guard doubled his season scoring average — recording 15 points, including four 3-pointers — and helped lead the Copperheads to an 84-32 win over Blacksburg on Dec. 14. Stevens is averaging 6.8 points per game for Catawba Ridge (3-3) this season.

Indy Tobias, Lewisville girls’ basketball: The 5-8 senior had 18 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks to lead the Lewisville girls’ basketball team to a 42-26 win over North Central on Dec. 14. Tobias is averaging 10.7 points and nine rebounds per game for Lewisville (1-2) this season.

AJ Thompson, Northwestern boys’ basketball: Northwestern’s senior guard averaged 15.5 points to lead the Trojans to road wins at Clover and Great Falls this week. Thompson had 11 points in a 49-36 win at Clover on Dec. 15. He followed that up had 20 points in an 85-45 win at Great Falls on Dec. 18. Thompson averages 12 points per game for Northwestern (2-4) this season.

Gracie Wilson, Rock Hill girls’ basketball: The 5-6 junior guard had 17 points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals and four deflections on defense to lead the Bearcats to a 92-33 win over Lugoff-Elgin on Dec. 17. Wilson is averaging 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game for Rock Hill (9-1) this season.

DJ Barksdale, York Prep boys’ basketball.

Want to nominate?

Player of the week awards highlight high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes — both the most accomplished and the underrated or underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the ballot in future weeks, send an email to Jay Edwards at edwardswork23@gmail.com. Please include the athlete’s name, school, class and applicable game performance statistics. Coaches must be willing to verify information.

Full results

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This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 3:36 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.