GameChangers: Top-250 Standouts
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This content series is sponsored by GameChanger – The Official Scorekeeping, Stats, Team Management & Technology Partner of Prep Girls Hoops.
Saturday, September 10th, was the fourth annual Prep Girls Hoops Indiana Top-250 Expo. With 129 registered participants, it was one of our biggest events yet! The ladies played extremely hard, unselfishly, and showed a great deal of skill and ability throughout the evening. We will have several follow-up articles over this next week talking about everyone in attendance, but I wanted to take the time to highlight seven young ladies who I felt stood out from the rest throughout the course of the event.
Over the years, I’ve always been impressed with the amount of energy and intensity Emma plays with from game to game. There never seems to be a letdown whatsoever. She completely exhausts herself, dives on the floor for loose balls, runs the floor hard, defends with great effort and physicality, not to mention she has a well-rounded skillset and the ability to play multiple positions and score it at all three levels. She looked leaner and more explosive at the event, and she is primed to have a big year for the soon to be highly ranked Lady Eagles.
Rachel is another highly effortful prospect, but she’s also deceptively versatile and tremendously productive. She has fairly quick feet at her size, good all-around footwork, whether she’s posting or attacking the basket, and she can score it from all over. She has touch to the 3-point line, great hands and finishing moves inside, and she is a problem in the mid-post. Additionally, she has a nice handle for her position, and the ability to create offense for herself or teammates. I also like her motor and relentlessness rebounding the basketball.
Highlights
Kyndra seemed to be playing on a mission. She was extremely aggressive, she played with a tremendous motor, and she showcased all parts of her game. There were some of the best possessions at the defensive end of the floor I’ve seen out of her, and she showed she can be a frustrating on-ball defender. She also had stretches offensively where she shot lights-out, knocking down rhythm ‘3s’, burying pull-ups in transition, and absorbing contact when attacking, drawing and-1s. She was very, very good throughout the event.
I’ve seen Jacelyn a few times over the years, but this was by far the best I’ve ever seen her play. For starters, it was the most I’ve ever seen her handle the ball, she was creative off the bounce, and she finished through contact at the basket. Additionally, she buried shot after shot from the perimeter, including contested jumpers with limited time to get them away. She looks stronger, more physical, and she had a much greater confidence to her game. I was really impressed with her improvements, and she could have a huge year for Anderson.
Samiyah is one of the state’s better athletes, regardless of class. She has speed and quickness, an athletic frame, and some bounce in her step. When she plays with a sense of urgency, she can be dominant at times. Offensively, she can handle a little and create for others, but she’s such a mismatch when she attacks the basket, that I’d want to get her open going downhill as much as possible. Defensively, she can take on most point guards, combos, and bigger guards/wings. As her skillset continues to improve, she’ll only be that much more effective.
The more I watch Alonna play, the more I am impressed. She is a talented athlete who changes directions almost effortlessly, she has a long, wiry-strong frame, and she has a lot of bounce to her. Alonna likes the ball in her hands, and she creates for herself or teammates as a point forward type. She can turn the corner and get downhill rather easily, and she’s good at her young age of absorbing contact and finishing inside. As she adds a consistent perimeter jumper, she’s going to be a real problem for opponents to contain.
Trinity’s combination of strength for her age, her speed, and her quickness are about as impressive as any Indiana guard her age. She gets through gaps and gets to the basket or collapses defensives regularly. She’s also great at finish inside, whether it’s at an odd angle or against much taller players. She also can take over a game defensively, as she acted as a one-woman press in one game, causing a number of turnovers for her opponent. She will need to shoot it much better by college, but she’s a legit talent and a nice all-around prospect.