USJN Premier Showcase: Recap, Standouts, Other Notes
The USJN Premier Showcase brought teams from all over the country together in Indianapolis, Indiana. A handful of Washington teams attended with the Northwest Magic and Tree of Hope both sending multiple teams. Throughout the event, I followed NW Magic…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThe USJN Premier Showcase brought teams from all over the country together in Indianapolis, Indiana. A handful of Washington teams attended with the Northwest Magic and Tree of Hope both sending multiple teams. Throughout the event, I followed NW Magic Team Huff (Bluestar) and Tree of Hope 17u and 16u (EYBL) teams.
Pool Play Results:
NW Magic Team Huff Bluestar – Finished 0-6 for the Bluestar travel league, which was ran congruently with the USJN event. Their losses came to the Philly Belles 17u White, Wisconsin Playground Elite 17u, Dayton Lady Hoopstars Team Factory 17u National, M14 Hoops and the Minnesota Suns 17u. See below for some standout players from Team Huff.
Tree of Hope 17u EYBL – Finished 0-4 and placed last in the 5 team pool. Difficult matchups included games against GTS Fusion UAA, Kentucky Premier EYBL, All Iowa Attack EYBL and Lady Gym Rats EYBL. Tree of Hope 17u gave its best effort in the matchup with Lady Gym Rats out of Indiana, but eventually fell in overtime.
Tree of Hope 16u EYBL – Finished 3-2 in pool play scoring wins over Indiana Elite 16u Prime, Michigan Mystics 16u and Lady Lightning 16u. They suffered losses in their two games against EYBL teams, All Ohio 16u and All Iowa Attack 16u. When this group was able to get into their man to man half court offense, they did a good job of executing and scoring for the most part.
USJN Playoff/Exhibition Rounds:
Tree of Hope 17u EYBL – Blew out Mac Irvin Fire 17u 57-15 and more of the same against Ohio Premier with a 52-22 win. TOH 17u EYBL finished up 2-5 overall.
Tree of Hope 16u EYBL – Lost 23-46 against Kentucky Premier 16u EYBL, but followed that up with a win over All Iowa Attack’s 16u second team. The final score was 58-51. TOH 16u EYBL finished 4-3 for the event.
Standouts By Team:
NW Magic Team Huff Bluestar –
2021 6’4 C Charity Hines Charity Hines 6'4" | C Steilacoom | 2021 State WA (Steilacoom HS) showed flashes throughout the event. She has great size inside the paint making it difficult for players to finish over and she can score on some put backs. I did see some great improvement in certain games where she continued to run up and down the floor with extended minutes. The Magic’s offense showed her ability to pop out, move the ball and then flash back inside where she made the catch on the move and then finished or drew a foul. Hines is a Division 1 prospect when you look at her 6’4 frame and steady improvement from a year ago. She will be an even bigger threat as her free throws improve.
2022 5’7 PG Aniyah Heavens Aniyah Heavens 5'6" | CG Chiawana | 2022 State WA (Chiawana HS) also displayed flashes of greatness. She had stretches during the event where she did her best making plays to keep the score respectable. Heavens pushes the tempo, handles really well and can make some difficult shots. She does not posses the length that some of the guards she went up against had, but the 5’7 guard found ways to still make an impact.
Tree of Hope 17u EYBL –
2021 5’6 SG Shaunice Reed Shaunice Reed 5'6" | SG Franklin | 2021 State WA (Franklin HS) got better as the event went along. She is at her best in open space where she can make plays off the bounce. A player that finds a way to get the ball in the basket at times. Reed had the motor and aggressiveness to be able to help some program.
Tree of Hope 16u EYBL –
2024 5’10 PG Katie Fiso (Garfield HS) was the youngest player on the floor each game, but she had a really solid performance overall. Fiso plays a fundamental game at the point guard position, although she would show off a flashy breakdown move once in a great while. She gets the team info the offense consistently and makes solid reads in pick and pop situations.
2023 5’5 G Navaeh Talbert Navaeh Talbert 5'6" | CG Garfield | 2023 State WA (Garfield HS) had a couple of solid performances for the 16u group. She has one of the best floaters around with a soft touch to finish off the glass or float it straight in. Talbert has a solid handle and displayed some craftiness to get into the lane and make plays. Defensive positioning will need to improve some, but she is young and has time to work on that.
2023 6’1 SF Jenna Villa Jenna Villa 6'1" | SF Arlington | 2023 State WA (Arlington HS) had a few good games in the event thanks to her great shooting ability from three. Villa is outstanding in pick and pop situations where she can knock down open shots as well as contested ones at times too. Villa has good size at the wing position and her shot can open up driving lanes for her.