Now at the Dalton School, Mary Ashley Groot is one of New York City’s highest upside interior players in the rising junior class. The Class of 2023 forward has grown to 6-foot-3 and exemplified an instinctive, hard-working style in the post. She’s also a reliable mid-range shooter who can utilize a mismatch by taking a bigger rim protector outside of the paint.

After playing in the prestigious SLAM Classic, Groot has now been invited to play in the Coach Wootten Top 150 Camp in Mansfield, Texas on Oct. 2-3. While the event does not solidify a roster spot in the McDonald’s All-American game, it does include attendance by committee members. A significant performance at the event could certainly heighten her chances of being selected for the game, which is one of the bigger honors for any high school player in the country.

Groot, who is from Manhattan, displayed a fluid jumper and set shot on the 17U AAU circuit this summer. Her work rate and ability to catch, drive, and finish with either hand is another noteworthy quality of her game.

Grit and hustle have been bedrock assets for Groot, who is also a high academic prospect and entertaining Ivy, and Patriot looks during this early phase of her career. With the unprecedented emergence of Covid and the sheer limitations which Covid put on city kids such as Groot the past 15+ months, work ethic is one of the more important immeasurable intangibles for an unsigned recruit.

The Wootten Top 150 Camp honors the lasting legacy of the late Morgan Wootten, the famed D.C. high school coach who won five national championships and helped build DeMatha High School into a national power smack in the heart of one of the country’s hoops hotbeds in Washington, D.C.

Wootten, who passed at age 88 in January of 2020, was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame. Following his retirement in 2002, Wootten became more actively involved in the girl’s game and the McDonald’s All-American game.

Groot, like other New Yorkers who circumvented the uncertainty and pitfalls of Covid, played her sophomore season out of state. She won a 3A South Carolina state championship with Cardinal Newman.

At Newman, turned in an immense performance with 25 points and 13 boards during a 76-33 win over Trinity Collegiate last in February . The most noteworthy aspect of this performance was her efficiency, as she shot it at an 11-for-16 clip, including 2-for-4 from 3-point range.