El Paso Week 1 Top Performers

Girl's high school basketball in El Paso is back with a full slate of games this past Friday night and a lone matchup on Saturday. Some of the city's best teams matched against each other across districts, providing some great games and individual performances. Here are the top performers from Week 1.    With the Mustangs down two key starters to start the season, naturally more would fall on the shoulders of senior guard Danae Gonzalez. She did just that and more in the season opener against Socorro High School. Burges as a team scored 36 points, with Gonzalez contributing 32 by herself, accounting for nearly 90 percent of her team's point total. It's a staggering stat by a staggeringly good prospect. Additionally, she grabbed 10 rebounds, again showing how she impacts the game outside of scoring. While other prospects and teams are knocking off the rust from the off-season, Gonzalez seems to be in midseason form and her 30-point double-double is proof of that. The senior guard is committed to Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colorado.     The Americas girl's basketball team was involved in arguably the best matchup of the week against a young and talented Franklin squad and the game did not disappoint. It was back-and-forth action for 32 minutes and junior guard Jaedyn Herrera did not disappoint either. Some of her best games last season came against Franklin, and she continued that trend with a 15-point performance. More impressively, all her points came behind the 3-point line as she hit five 3-pointers on the night. Her floor spacing and shooting are pivotal for one of the more finely tuned half-court offenses in the Borderland. Additionally, she is an effort-filled defender who does not take possessions off. Her on-ball pressure is elite and if game one is an indication of anything, it is that she is going to have a great junior year. College coaches need to start keeping tabs on this one.     There has been a lot of hype with freshman prospect Allison De La O prior to entering high school. She received a D1 offer from UTEP before playing a minute of varsity basketball. With her first varsity game in the books, I can safely say the hype is real with this one. She scored a game-high 20 points against an elite Americas squad and showed all the qualities that make her a special prospect. For starters, her high IQ was present in the way she went about scoring. Her first five attempts were exclusively in the paint, taking advantage of her height advantage over the Americas' guards. Her size and reliable handle allow her to get to just about every area on the floor and when her shot wasn't falling, she got to the free-throw line. She has qualities and skills that are beyond her age/classification. UTEP Head Coach Keitha Adams and her staff were smart in approaching her early because they will not be the only DI program offering her over the next four years.     Mia Hairston is considered to be one of the best point guards in the Borderland area. After watching her play in person for the first time for a non-preseason varsity game, I can now see why. She is a two-way player who is dynamic and reliable with the ball in her hands, on a team stacked with talent in the starting five. Montwood beat a solid Hanks squad, albeit missing some key talent, in a great opening-season matchup. Hairston scored a team-high 12 points, most coming within the paint. Her ability to put pressure on the rim is a key aspect of how she scores the ball. Across all levels, you see teams eliminating mid-range scoring, but that is not the case with Montwood and their star guard Hairston. For the Rams, shots from 10 feet and in are more than valid and acceptable. Hairston is another talented guard prospect with two more years and plenty of time for coaches at the next level to tap in!     The top team in the Borderland area opened their season with a 52-point win over a respectable Cantuillo squad and junior guard Abigail Ortega had a lot to do with that. The Eastwood bench unit saw a fair amount of playing time in the second half, but that didn't stop Ortega from scoring a co-team high 13-points. Moreover, she set the tone earlier with back-to-back off ball steals and scores. If you are going to play for Coach Falk and the Troopers, you have to compete on both ends. Ortega is a two-way player with some special qualities on the offensive end. She is currently uncommitted to any program at the collegiate level, but that should change after this season.     In an effort to try to improve my evaluations, I often ask coaches and other scouts, what is an important aspect of evals that goes unwritten. I get a ton of different answers but a reoccuring answer is the mental/emotional side: IQ, effort, toughness, coachability, and heart. Itzel Caro is the poster child for so many of those qualities. But she can also ball. Eastwood put in work in their season opener and Caro's fingerprints where all over their 52-point win. The bulk of her work came in the first half, with an on-ball steal, an and-one score, and perimeter scoring for a co-team high 13 points. She plays the game with a certain level of furosity and intensity that is largely unmatched every time she steps on the floor. The senior wing has an offer from York University in York, Nebraska and made an offical visit to Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado over the Summer.     Na'Sya Atkins is a prospect who I have to admit was not on my radar coming into this season. The Americas girl's basketball team has a ton of talent at the guard positions. However, Na'Sya Atkins give the Trail Blazers a much needed presence in the interior with her height, athleticism, and finishing ability. In her junior season debut, she scored 12 points against a tough Franklin squad, which boasts one of the better defensive Bigs in Kyla Winfield. Atkins held her own and scored some timely buckets. Her ability to run the floor especially in transition is such an undervalued skillset, especially for power fowards and centers. Being that she plays with a trio of great guards (Kaylan Medrano, Jaedyn Herera, and Mary Brooks) and a phenomenal passing wing ([player_tooltip player_id='948978' first='Kylie' last='Marquez']), she is going to get a lot of easy buckets this season. She plays her role and does it well. She will not go unnoticed anymore.

Girl's high school basketball in El Paso is back with a full slate of games this past Friday night and a lone matchup on Saturday. Some of the city's best teams matched against each other across districts, providing some great games and individual performances. Here are the top performers from Week 1.