Cal Storm Grand Finale Top Playmakers

The AAU season is winding down and this past week, Cal Storm, one of the top girls AAU programs in the country hosted their Grand Finale event at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, CA. It was a two-day event from July 24-25. I was able to attend the event on July 25 and there was plenty of top talent on display. There were teams and players from different regions, but I focused mainly on the more local Southern California talent. Having a top playmaker is key to a successful team, and here’s a look at some of the top SoCal facilitators that I saw. <strong>1. Samantha Henley – Ventura 2020</strong> Henley is a very solid point guard. She has great court instincts and is solid with the ball in her hands. She sees the floor well, especially in transition. She’s always looking for her teammates and looking to make not only the right pass, but the right play. Her shooting ability helps to draw defenders and thus enable her to find an open teammate. She’s also pretty adept at crashing the boards and getting a defensive rebound to start a fast break. Good outlet passer. 2<strong>. Kaitlyn Chen – Flintridge Prep 2020</strong> Chen has become one of the top point guards in the LA area the past couple of seasons. She’s also got great court vision and instincts. Always looking to make the right play. She’s very capable of knowing when to look for her own shot, and when to be a facilitator and create for her teammates. She always has her head up and and she’s particularly good at finding cutters around the rim. <strong>3. Patricia Chung – Mark Keppel 2020</strong> Chung just recently committed to Long Beach State, and she too has become one of the area’s top point guards. She played with another lead guard in Vanessa Aguirre last season at Keppel, but with Aguirre graduated, Chung is likely going to be running the show. She has great court vision. She prefers to be a playmaker and get easy shots for her teammates, but she can score when she needs to. <strong>4. Chloe Briggs – Ontario Christian 2022</strong> Briggs is a little bit different from the other players on this list in that she is a little bit more in the mold of a scoring guard than a traditional point. Don’t let that fool you, however, she has great playmaking instincts. She excels as a playmaker in transition. She’s constantly looking for her teammates on a fast break. She often attacks the glass and gets the break started herself. She can be a facilitator in the half-court too, she’s solid at making post entry passes. Aggressive when making plays.