Thanksgiving Holiday Break Update: Standout Guards

This holiday break, I spent in Jacksonville, Florida, and Hazel Green, Alabama.  In Jacksonville, getting to meet two of my Prep Hoop collegiates was a plus.  These are some names that you need to listen out for this scholastic season and some you should know.

First up is 2023 Layla Etchison Layla Etchison 5'6" | CG Hoover | 2023 State AL | 5-6 SG | Hoover High School; a defense specialist on this team. Layla has that “gnat” mentality; she will be everywhere and you just can’t do anything about it; reading the offense, guarding the best player, and getting joy doing it.  On offense, Layla can shoot the 3-ball, help bring the ball up the floor, and will crash the board for those rebounds.

Also, there is 2022 Aniya Hubbard Aniya Hubbard 5'9" | CG Hoover | 2022 State AL | 5-8 G | Hoover High School, Florida Atlantic signee, she is the number one ranked player in Alabama for the Class of 2022. Aniya had a great Thanksgiving week, a guard that will drive expecting the contact, and will finish.  She is also a very good shooter, a great defender, and has an awesome vertical which helps in defending those pass lanes. Aniya averaged 20 points over the span of 4 games against some ranked teams from Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia.

After Thanksgiving, I traveled to Hazel Green, Alabama for the BallN Prep Thanksgiving Bash.  This event was mostly Alabama teams with two teams coming from St. Louis, Missouri.  There were a lot of players from our state that I got the opportunity to evaluate and was excited about what I saw.

2023 Jakenadi Powers | 5-5 PG | Athens High School.  I was very impressed with Jakenadi’s energy and passion she played with.  She was efficient in getting the ball down the floor to set up her team’s offense and will score as well as distributing the ball to open players.

2026 Kristen Johnson | 5-9 G | Athens High School.  Yes, this is an 8th grade that was unphased out there on the floor.  Played good defense, from moving her feet to stay in front of her player to crashing the boards.  KJ as she is called by her coach Capriee Tucker, the first-year coach at Athens; can score whether it is shooting the ball or driving to the basketball.  She was the leading scorer in her team’s final game at the Thanksgiving Bash with 20 points.

2023 Chloe Siegel Chloe Siegel 5'7" | CG Deshler` | 2023 State AL | 5-7 G | Deshler High School. I have heard about Chloe, and this was my first opportunity to see her play, and yes she lived up to what I had heard.  Talking about someone that can shoot the “3 ball” anywhere after crossing the half-court is a good shot for Chloe.  She will also put it on the floor and drive to the basket for a nice pull-up shooter.  Her defense specialty is grabbing those rebounds and getting that offense started going to their end of the court.

2024 Sydney Steward Sydney Steward 5'10" | CG Hazel Green | 2024 State AL | 5-9 G | Hazel Green High School.  Sydney is that quiet shooter for this team, she can shoot that long-range shooter as well as the short corner shot.  She uses her length on defense to help alter a lot of shots.

It was a pleasure seeing the talent from our state. I want to get out to as many games as possible; please email your schedule to denise@prepgirlshoops.com