Daena is an athletic guard who stole the spotlight during session one of the Zero Star Showcase. It was my first time seeing her play, and she made a phenomenal first impression. She’s very athletic, strong, and competes with a high motor. Daena has a dribble burst on her drives, changes hands comfortably, and absorbs contact well to score at the rim. She sees the floor well as a facilitator, works hard to secure rebounds, and keeps the ball in front of her on the defensive end. Daena hasn’t hit her ceiling yet and will be a prospect in the U.P. to pay attention to over the next two seasons.

Daena has a strong, muscular build, athleticism, instincts as a facilitator, and versatility that make her a very promising guard prospect in the U.P. She switched hands comfortably off the dribble and shielded the ball with her body from reaching defenders. Daena drove through a defender, absorbed the contact, protected the ball, and finished strong off two in the 1v1 segment. That translated directly to the games. Daena scored a sweet fake-pass layup after changing hands in traffic, pushed the ball up the court with both hands after securing rebounds, and scanned the floor for open teammates with her eyes up. Daena fired a long skip pass on a rope to a cutter for an assist and took a rebound coast-to-coast with pace, scoring with her left through contact at the rim. She hasn’t hit her ceiling yet. Daena was a Top Performer and made a great first impression at the Zero Star Showcase.