16U Standouts at the Sunshine State Showdown

There was some very good guard play at the Sunshine State Showdown.   In this article, we look at some of the Freshman and Sophomore guards in the 16U division who were standouts at the Sunshine Showdown. <b>[player_tooltip player_id="349274" first="Ella" last="Stakem"]  (ECU Family 2024)   </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Stakem was confident on the court shooting the ball and she was knocking down the three-point shot.   Stakem’s connected on 4 three-pointers.  The guard is  always ready to let the long ball fly.  She does have a nice midrange float game but loves to pull up from behind the arc.   </span> <b>Jim’miyah Branton, Guard 2025 </b><b>(Miami Suns Team Larkins 2024 )</b>  Branton is l<span style="font-weight: 400;">ong and athletic.   She played good defense in the  Sunshine State Showdown.   She used her length to intercept and deflect passes.  She also played the passing lanes well when she was not directly on the ball.  She had good speed and had the ability to convert steals into layups.    Branton also had some nice in-and-out moves to get downhill quickly and get to the goal for easy baskets.    Branton also had a nice pull-up jumper in the midrange area. </span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="243896" first="Jade" last="Jones"], Guard 2025  (Miami Suns Team Larkins 2024 )</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">.  Jones was one of the most athletic guards I saw at the Sunshine State Showdown.   Jones was very athletic and had some serious “bounce"  on the courts.   She showed the ability to get to the basket and handled the ball very well on the court.   Jones did a good job of rebounding from the guard position.  </span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="349275" first="Jakai" last="Peterson"], Guard (ECU Family 2024)</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">  Peterson is an athletic guard and did a good job of handling the ball and leading the offense.  Peterson can really advance the ball up the floor and has unmatched speed on the basketball court.   She does a good job of taking the ball to the goal and was effective in the midrange area.  Peterson can really get to the goal and has a nice floater.  She also uses the euro step to get to the basket.   Peterson did a good job of setting up teammates for open shots.  </span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="374464" first="Ansley" last="Hicks"] (FGB DW UAA 16U)</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">  Hicks played well at the Sunshine State Showdown.  Hicks had some nice buckets, especially in the transition game.   Hicks has great energy on the floor and plays hard on both ends of the court.  The most impressive part of her performance at the Showdown was her ability to make the correct </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">basketball play.  Hicks is a very selfless player and didn’t force shots if there was an open teammate.    Hicks has very quick feet and played good on-ball defense.  </span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="221691" first="Mary" last="Kate Kent"] (FGB DW UAA 16U)  </b>Kent <span style="font-weight: 400;">shot the ball well at the Sunshine State showdown.   Kent did a good job of running the floor.   Kent sets up well for the three-point shot.  She was effective in getting to the open spot and playing off of teammates to get open shots.   Kent's primary game is the three-point shot and she knocked down multiple threes in the game I watched.   Kent is a high-energy player and does a good job of playing on-the-ball defense and also help-side defense.  </span>