PGH Champions Challenge: Raising The Stakes
The stakes have been risen in Wisconsin! The prospects and teams have been pouring it out and are All-In! Oh boy, have the players and teams put on a show at the PGH Champions Challenge in Appleton, Wisconsin. The level…
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Continue ReadingThe stakes have been risen in Wisconsin! The prospects and teams have been pouring it out and are All-In! Oh boy, have the players and teams put on a show at the PGH Champions Challenge in Appleton, Wisconsin. The level of talent, team chemistry, coaching, and effort has turned the event into one of the best I’ve seen. It doesn’t get much sweeter than this. Here’s a recap video below:
So much talent in the gym this weekend in Wisconsin for #PGHChampionsChallenge! Take a look at the recap from Friday, day 1 of action. pic.twitter.com/cW133BOYeY
— Prep Girls Hoops Circuit 🏀 (@PGHCircuit) May 8, 2021
Where to begin. This post will be more of an introduction of the event and some of the top teams and prospects that I personally saw. I wasn’t able to see everything so I’ll be viewing games over BallerTV as well to get more of a grasp on the teams and prospects. It’s a lot to take in, but I’m more than up for the challenge. There will be no rhyme or reason to this initial post, other than me writing down what comes to mind or what and who stood out. To start things out I just want to give a mention to some prospects, then in later posts I’ll go into more detail. But, here are a few things that I saw that stood out to me.
Size
If you were in the building you couldn’t go too far and not see a towering 6’2+ prospect. Let’s check out the “towering” 6’5 2022
Tessa Towers
Tessa
Towers
6'5" | C
Batavia | 2022
State
IL
of
M14 Hoops
2022 -1
https://twitter.com/pghcircuit/status/1391196527876575232?s=21
Team Wisconsin 2023 Select Herbert had a duo of supreme height on their squad with 6’5 2024 Alyssa Wirth Alyssa Wirth 6'5" | C Altoona | 2024 State WI and 6‘4 2023 Violet Morren holding down the paint. Alyssa Wirth Alyssa Wirth 6'5" | C Altoona | 2024 State WI is the #1 ranked 2024 center prospect in all of Wisconsin.
Evyn Carrier Evyn Carrier 6'4" | PF Sycamore | 2023 State IL – (6’4/C/2023) – M14 Hoops 2023 -1— Evyn is a long 6’3 that moves well. See for yourself below.
https://twitter.com/spencerc_pgh/status/1391018111520870405?s=21
Payton Bade – (6’2/C/2022) – Wisconsin Premier 2022 – Payton was one of the top posts in terms of playing strength and having a strong base to her. She was moving girls and was not being moved herself.
https://twitter.com/spencerc_pgh/status/1391061290630750209?s=21
Jordana Reisma Jordana Reisma 6'2" | SF Brown Deer | 2022 State WI – (6’2/F/2022) – The Cleveland State commit is a highly ranked versatile weapon that I will be breaking down as well.
Alicia Burgos – (6’1/C/2023) – CBA U16 – Gold – Alicia is listed at 6’1 but she looks a bit taller than that. Great length and a smoothness about her offensive game and a rim-protector on the defensive side. Moves well and glides.
https://twitter.com/spencerc_pgh/status/1390856159616176133?s=21
Guard Play
The guards brought their A-game to the Champions Challenge this weekend. We saw a lot of full-court pressure being played, so having skilled guards was a necessity. Advanced ball-handling was on display. You had a wide variety of shooters as well. You had your deadly set-shooters and your creative shooters that can get about any shot off on their own.
There was a legitimate shooting display that took place at the PGH Champions Challenge. 5’6 2022 Hailee Marek of Illinois Rockets 2022 White drained 10 threes for 32 points! I didn’t personally see it, but it will go down as the best display of shooting.
A trio of guards stood out. The trio of 5’8 PG Ellie Magestro-Kennedy Ellie Magestro-Kennedy 5'9" | PG Janesville Craig | 2023 State WI , 5’10 CG Avree Antony Avree Antony 5'10" | SG Sun Prarie | 2023 State WI , and 5’9 SG MaKenzie Drout MaKenzie Drout 5'9" | CG Kimberly | 2023 State WI of Let It Rain 2023 Black are highly skilled and highly ranked prospects. Advanced with the ball and can score and create their own shot. They are fun to watch play together and as I see more or their action, I’ll have a thorough breakdown. But here’s a clip:
https://twitter.com/spencerc_pgh/status/1391015546058117125?s=21
Youth Movement
You can see that the future of girls basketball is headed in the right direction when you watch these younger groups. The advanced skills that some of these 2025/2026’s have is incredible. They’re not short of size and athletic ability either. Basketball IQ of these younger prospects seems to be raising year after year as well. In the coming posts, I’m going to start with the younger groups and will be forming All-Tournament teams starting with 14U on up. Stay tuned, but here’s some beautiful ball movement here from Illinois Rockets 2024 Red.
https://twitter.com/spencerc_pgh/status/1390842892919480321?s=21