Primed at the Point

The featured image is of [player_tooltip player_id='991171' first='Kihanna' last='Mellanson'] (2027) from Heritage Christian High School.   After the pandemic of 2020, the landscape of girls' grassroots tournaments in the Midwest changed significantly. One of the new events over the last few years has been the Prime Event-Midwest, annually held at the Pacers Athletic Center in Westfield, Indiana. This year, most of the top prospects from Indiana were in attendance, as well as some high-profile grassroots programs from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, in addition to other states. Below is a look at seven point guard prospects who stood out when I was able to see them in action.   .    Kihanna is a transplant from Texas who moved in at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. She is a traditional point guard prospect who plays with speed & quickness, but she does so by changing speeds very well. She plays with a nice pace to her game, she's always scanning the floor looking for open teammates, and she recognizes when someone is in a rhythm and tries to get them the ball. She is good with the ball, she can knock down an open jumper as well, and she's an intelligent defender who can use her talent or her understanding of the game to contribute.     Brooklyn definitely looks the part, and she has played well across two different weekends that I've seen her. She has a strong, athletic frame, she moves well in all directions, and she plays with a nice motor. She can flip ends of the floor quickly with the ball in her hands, and she's able to get downhill and absorb contact, fire long passes ahead, or give it up and cut through to the basket for easy scores. Defensively, she is very active and aggressive and rarely seems to stop moving. She's good in trapping situations, and she anticipates passes well, but she's also an effective rebounder for her position.     You see Amirah's name and think "who"? But everyone knows her as "Tootie". She is incredibly quick/fast, so much so that she makes other athletic players look stationary at times. She can get in and out of gaps quickly, put a ton of pressure on the defense, but it also helps that she has a tight handle and can change directions in an instant using a variety of dribble-moves. She can score the ball from all three levels as well, and she is an aggressive defender with quick hands. She has played against older opponents for so long, that now against her peers she stands out in a big way.     I've been watching Serenity since about 7th Grade, and she's one of those prospects who just steadily improves from year to year. She is a really nice, balanced athlete, she moves well in most directions, plus she has gotten stronger and does a really nice job of keeping her balance and absorbing contact upon attack. She plays with her head up, searches for teammates, but she can get downhill and score it herself. She is a solid defender but could be elite at that end, once she plays with just a bit more urgency. All in all, I look for her to be a highly sought after, elite small college recruit in a year or so.     Riley has always been a top basketball prospect, otherwise she wouldn't be recruited so high and have started two years of Varsity ball at the 4A level. But Saturday she looked a bit quicker, she was as active as I've ever seen her, plus her change-of-direction and start-stop movements looked improved. All in all, she was affecting the game more often and in different ways, especially from "help" side defensively, and as an attacker offensively. She is also a capable deep shooter, a good ball-handler, and a high IQ ballplayer. Riley recently gave a verbal commitment to Villanova University.     Over the past couple of years, I've gotten to know MaKenna as a skillful, talented, hard-working guard prospect. But I've also considered her more of a combo guard, or even a shooter, because in the situations I saw her play, she was off the ball, and she is a dangerous perimeter threat. Last weekend, however, she was on the ball a lot, and she showed off her ball skill, awareness for the position, and toughness. To me, she is very similar to 2023 Bedford North Lawrence grad Karsyn Norman (Butler/Ball State). If MaKenna continues to play at this level, I'd expect similar offers/interest for her.     Tatum hasn't even made it to high school yet, but she is already making an impression on people. She is a tough-nosed, hard-working, end-to-end fast ball of energy. She gets it on an outlet pass or from a rebound and immediately flips the floor. She can attack the basket without fear or bury an open rhythm jumper consistently. She is gritty and feisty defensively, but all in all, she's always around the ball at both ends of the floor trying to make a play. She could work herself into an immediate Varsity role at Fishers as a Freshman.

The featured image is of Kihanna Mellanson Kihanna Mellanson 5'4" | PG Heritage Christian | 2027 IN (2027) from Heritage Christian High School.