Sunday's Best | Prep Girls Hoops

While I realize it’s a few days late, I’m finally off the road temporarily with a little time to put my thoughts onto "paper". The USJN Premier Showcase at the Pacers Athletic Complex in Westfield, Indiana, hosted some of the state’s, Midwest’s, and nation’s best teams and prospects July 5-8. While there were many options to choose from, below are ten individuals from Indiana who I felt stood out throughout Sunday’s action.   [player_tooltip player_id="97242" first="Diana" last="Burgher"], 2022, 6-0 CF, North Harrison H.S. Diana is one of the better Southern Indiana prospects in the Class of 2022. Sunday she played as strong and as physical as I’ve seen her, often grabbing offensive rebounds inside and finishing through contact. She is very long, wiry strong, and she moves well in all directions, including vertically. She is comfortable on the perimeter or on the low-block, but she’s probably best suited in the mid-post. She has touch, a developing handle, and she understands how to play the game. Diana hasn’t posted gaudy numbers for North Harrison yet, but consider she was three to four inches shorter and played a more traditional post position just two Summers ago. [player_tooltip player_id="97264" first="Natalie" last="Noel"], 2022, 5-10 SF, Salem H.S. I’ve really enjoyed watching Natalie’s progression as a ballplayer over the last couple of years. She has really good length, wiry strength, and she is a gliding athlete around the perimeter. She can handle the ball a little in transition and initiate the offense, plus she has some touch around the arc. I also think she’s a quietly tough kid who does a lot of the "little things" and doesn’t mind mixing it up inside. With Salem’s top Senior, [player_tooltip player_id="131991" first="Leah" last="Miller"], going down to injury just before the season, Natalie was a big reason Salem still made a run through the Class 3A state tournament and ended up as the State Runners-Up. [player_tooltip player_id="61051" first="Jozee" last="Rhodes"], 2022, 6-0 PF, Plainfield H.S. I saw some video of Jozee with Plainfield from the 2019-2020 season. As she returned from an ACL injury, she was solid but didn’t look quite like herself on film. Sunday, really all week, she was outstanding and turned some heads with her play. She is strong, physical, and a better-than-you’d-think athlete. She plays with a lot of attitude, she will block out and rebound, but she also has a really nice offensive skillset that allows her to play in the mid-post and around the perimeter at times. She has good touch, and I think she will be a nice pick-and-pop ’4’ who several colleges of varying levels will be eyeing the next two seasons. [player_tooltip player_id="128136" first="Alaina" last="Thorne"], 2022, 6-0 PF, Washington H.S. When I saw Alaina for the first time back in the Fall, she was certainly intriguing and possessed a great deal of potential. She is extremely long, she plays with a motor, and she runs the floor very well and has some bounce to her. My only concern at that time was that she was somewhat thin and almost too nice of a kid. Sunday, I felt like she was overly assertive at times, and she had a stretch where she was physical, aggressive, and she probably scored eight points and four rebounds in about a 3-minute span. After viewing her in the Fall, I was curious to see how she’d fit in this environment, and she was great. Look for her interest to really pick up once more coaches can get out. Kearsten Willen, 2022, 5-8 2G/SF, Martinsville H.S. I had seen Kearsten in the past, but that was probably more than a year ago, so it was good to catch her in action again this week. She looks stronger, a little more explosive as an athlete, and I thought she did a really nice job of helping her team at both ends of the floor. I’m just not sure what she is positionally, because she takes on a variety of roles. She can initiate the offense, she can attack the basket, but she was at her best knocking down shot after shot from the perimeter Sunday. Defensively, she can take on different types of guards and wings as well, and she played with a good all-around motor. Maci Chamberlin, 2023, 5-7 2G, Winchester Community H.S. I am very familiar with her older sister, [player_tooltip player_id="132078" first="Becca" last="Chamberlin"] (2020), due to all of Winchester’s postseason success, but this was my first time seeing Maci live and in-person. I was really impressed with her overall feel for the game. She saw the floor well, handled it in transition some, and she made several really nice passes of varying degrees of difficulty. Maci is a strong wing guard, a good perimeter shooter, but all-in-all she’s a competitor and a ballplayer who does whatever her team needs. She defended hard as well, and her motor never stopped in the game I saw. She definitely made a good first impression. [player_tooltip player_id="59745" first="Taylor" last="Farris"], 2023, 5-8 CG, Northeastern H.S. I’ve been a huge fan of Taylor’s since I first saw her last Spring. She is a talented athlete who can run and jump with the best of them. She has a wiry strong frame, she has some toughness to her, but she’s also skilled and somewhat smooth with the ball. She can handle it in transition and even create offense for her teammates, she’s unselfish with it as well, but she’s capable of scoring the ball from most spots on the floor and is such a good offensive weapon that I would want to get her open most possessions. She is a solid defender right now, but with her talent, I think that’s an area where she can become elite as well. [player_tooltip player_id="127226" first="Bailey" last="Kelham"], 2023, 5-9 SF, Garrett H.S. According to her travel coach, Bailey wasn’t originally planning on playing grassroots ball. But with the cancellation of Spring high school sports, she found her way to the hardwood this Summer, and it has been really good for her as she stands out most games at the 16U level. Bailey is a wiry strong, versatile athlete who plays with a motor. She can run and jump, she’s physical at her size, but she also has the ability to play in the mid-post or around the perimeter equally well. She is a capable perimeter shooter, but as that becomes more consistent, she’ll be an elite scorer who can probably make a run at 2000 points over her career. [player_tooltip player_id="127238" first="Mackenzie" last="Thomas"], 2023, 6-1 C, Carmel H.S. When I saw Mackenzie on Carmel’s Junior Varsity team this past Winter, she was noticeably bigger and stronger than her opponents, and she was incredibly physical and dominant inside. After watching her a handful of times already this Summer, she is playing with a much greater sense of urgency, she is a better athlete than you might assume, and she has good hands plus touch to the 3-point line. If she can continue to play with the motor she’s shown this Summer, while also expanding her skillset and understanding of the game, look for her to potentially be a nice compliment to [player_tooltip player_id="62527" first="Bridget" last="Dunn"] (2021) inside during the 2020-2021 season. [player_tooltip player_id="59786" first="Sydney" last="Warran"], 2023, 6-0 SF, Cascade H.S. Sydney is a really nice prospect who college coaches and fans on a statewide level are probably still relatively unfamiliar with. She has tremendous length, wiry strength, and while she might not be the most explosive athlete in the world, she is fluid and somewhat smooth. She handles the ball a lot for both her high school and grassroots teams, and she does a nice job of running half-court offense. She can attack off the bounce but will need to get stronger to absorb contact better, plus she has some touch around the perimeter. As she gets stronger, I think she’ll be more explosive and finish plays better around the basket.