Norwich Free Academy seniors Emily Orcutt and Brooke Stringer have never played a high school basketball game in the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Wildcats duo were seventh graders when NFA won the 2020 Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament championship with a victory over Bacon Academy at the Sun during Courtney Gomez’s first year at the helm.

With the first full week of the new year behind us, here are the Players of the Week, picked by the NJ Advance Media staff, for Friday, Jan. 10, which encompasses games from Jan. 1 to Jan. 8.

Central Florida high school girls’ basketball teams are pointing their way to success this season. We took a look at schools in seven area counties (Orange, Osceola, Lake, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard and Indian River) and came up with the High School on SI Top 25 Central Florida girls’ basketball rankings.

Unbeaten against South Jersey teams, the Rams are poised for a run. This week: Monday at Pitman; Wednesday vs. Salem. The Chiefs have had an up-and-down start but should be in their familiar place near the top of the rankings by year's end.

High-level scorers who dominated the court with efficient performances headline this week's 5 girls basketball stars.