The Encore: 16U Point Guard Playmakers

Teams flooded the gym from across the Midwest, and college coaches from the region showed out to recruit many talented prospects. I had a blast seeing the prospects from multiple states, and Australia put their best skills on display during the tournament. Here are seven 16U point guards who received recognition as Top Performers:    Emersyn made it look easy as she glided to the basket for many drive-by buckets. She has cool control with the ball in her hands and an excellent finishing touch around the basket. Emersyn ran through a pass on the perimeter to create a straight-line driving opportunity, maintained her pace, then switched hands to her left for a smooth finish at the basket. She saw the floor well and distributed assists when the help arrived. Emersyn was a playmaker in the backcourt for [program_tooltip program_id='1307580' first='Indy' last='One'] 16U EYCL at The Encore.     Kate's aggressiveness, high IQ while playing off the ball, tough finishes, and poised ball-handling set her apart on the court. She handled the ball with poise under pressure, creating space to drive and pass with shifty crossover dribbles. Kate cut backdoor multiple times to score catch and finishes with her right and left hand or get to the free-throw line. She went by defenders using quick rip moves and finished strong off two feet, showing confidence to score with either hand. Kate swiped the ball away on the defensive end, accelerated, got the defender trapped on her hip, then finished off two. She threw kickouts to the corners with her right and left off dribble penetration, ripped by to score a soft floater off the glass, and converted a nice scoop layup with her left off a basket cut after a smooth transfer. She knocked down key clutch free throws late in a game to help seal the win and turned in a solid tournament for [program_tooltip program_id='1307580' first='Indy' last='One'] 16U EYCL at The Encore.     Alayna played up with Pr1de 16U at The Encore, and she fit right in with the older girls. Alayna drained a few smooth mid-range pull-ups off quick rip moves and created open looks as an effective facilitator. On day two, she delivered two highlight-worthy plays that had me awestruck. She swiped the ball away on the defensive end and raced straight to the basket for a speedy and-one finish, then tacked on the free throw. Soon after, Alayna buried the rare and-one three-pointer through contact from the wing. She rotated quickly to block a shot and stripped the ball away to cause a turnover. Her aggressiveness and comprehensive impact on both ends of the court were separators on the court.     Sienna had a monster weekend statistically at The Encore for AUSA 16U Aiden. Her elusive handles, craftiness in the lane, finishing touch in traffic, court vision, precise passing off dribble penetration, and three-point range made her one of the most dynamic point guards in the group. Sienna side-stepped defenders on hard drives to the basket, put a ton of English on the ball to score a contested layup, and drove through a defender's chest to score another layup. She accelerated with an extra burst up the court, used long pushout dribbles with both hands, and converted layups comfortably with either hand. Sienna had sharp instincts and anticipated where defenders were moving so she could make the right plays. She landed under control with a jump stop, pivoted to avoid a defender, then scored with her left. Sienna competed well against great competition. She drained a volleyball line three, stripped the ball away from a post on the defensive end, raced up the left side of the court, then crossed over to finish on the opposite side of the basket without slowing down. Sienna is a point guard who can help a college program.     Lily was a point guard at The Encore who consistently separated herself. She was aggressive on the offensive and defensive end, refusing to back down against tough competition. Lily showed confidence as a perimeter shooter and drained a wing three. She wasn't afraid to drive into towering bigs and elevated to score a tough, left-handed finish. Lily was able to beat defenders off the dribble and score layups throughout the tournament. She generated steals with her defensive pressure and pushed the ball quickly up the floor to create transition offense. Lily sprinted out to block a three-pointer, chased down a fast break, and deflected passes on the perimeter. She penetrated with her dribble and dished out lobs into the post for assists with excellent touch. Lily was an all-around difference maker for 5 Star Basketball 16U over the weekend.     Ava gutted through an ankle injury during The Encore and turned in a noteworthy weekend for Pr1de 16U. She ripped the nets with five threes in a game and continued to find the bottom of the net from beyond the arc later in the day. Ava penetrated on a hard drive to score a floater and sprinted all over the place to chase down offensive rebounds. She was able to penetrate, draw the help, then dish out assists to open teammates.     Millie made her greatest impact for [program_tooltip program_id='1307580' first='Indy' last='One'] 16U McQueen as an effective floor general. She scanned the court and distributed the ball effectively to open teammates for several assists. Millie beat the defense's rotations by firing skip passes on a rope across the court to open shooters ready to shoot the three. She dished a nice bounce pass off dribble penetration for an assist and pushed the tempo in transition. Millie wrestled a defensive rebound away aggressively and finished a layup with a soft touch.

Teams flooded the gym from across the Midwest, and college coaches from the region showed out to recruit many talented prospects. I had a blast seeing the prospects from multiple states, and Australia put their best skills on display during the tournament. Here are seven 16U point guards who received recognition as Top Performers: