Prospect Spotlight: Kalaya Buggs 2021

When the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits tip-off this season, they’ll be without last year’s star guard Deja Williams who is now at Cal State Northridge. But they have a guard on the roster who is poised to take a bigger role this season in junior Kalaya Buggs. As a sophomore, Buggs emerged as a key player on a team that was one game away from reaching the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship. Her strong play has already drawn interest from a few schools, and she currently holds an offer from Long Beach State. Although it’s still early, with two years of high school basketball left, Buggs knows what she’ll be looking for when the time comes to choose a college. “I want to go to a big school. Location isn’t really a factor for me,” Buggs told Prep Hoops. “I’d like a big school and something that just fits me.” Buggs is a versatile player capable of playing multiple positions. Offensively, she is a solid scorer. She has a good outside shot and her strength enables her to get to the rim and finish strong. She’s a good perimeter defender who can match up against shooting guards and small forwards. While she is more of a scoring guard, she can act as a facilitator if need be. She’s comfortable with the ball in her hands and being able to make plays for herself or her teammates. With Williams gone, she’ll likely take over a lot of the playmaking duties. It’s something she’s looking forward to doing. “I think I facilitate well and putting everyone in the right positions at the right time,” Buggs said. “It’s knowing when to score when needed and pass when needed. I feel like I’m good at that.” Every player has parts of their game they can improve upon. Young players should always be looking at ways they can improve and what they need to be working on to become a better all-around player. Buggs knows that more will be expected of her as she gets older, especially this season. She’s identified a key aspect that she’d like to improve upon. She has a strong slashing game, but she knows that as her basketball career continues, good defenses will look to take that away. “Using my left more and pulling up more on my jump-shot,” Buggs said. “I like to drive a lot and especially in college there’s going to be bigger girls so I have to stop and work on pulling up more.” The Jackrabbits will have a solid guard rotation this season including seniors Iyanna Lamb and Kaci Scott, and junior Simone Morris. Buggs is hoping to step into more of a leadership role and really emerge as part of the heart and soul of this team. “It’s just to be a leader all over the court vocally,” Buggs said. “It’s to score when needed and just take charge the whole game.” And as the start of the season inches closer, Buggs is sure of what she wants to get out of this year. Long Beach Poly came so close last season to winning a title, and she’s hoping this season they can achieve that goal. “I want to win a ring. State or CIF, both would be even better,” Buggs said. “I want our team to become closer and become like sisters. I think if we can do that, we’ll be closer to winning a ring.”