E.P.I.C. Tournament 7th/8th Grade Standouts
The Tulalip Unity squad won the 7th/8th Grade Division and they have plenty of talented players coming up through their pipeline yet the talent didn’t stop with their team as runner-up Lady Chitwins and 3rd place finishers Muckleshoot also gave me some lasting first impressions and here ya go
TULALIP UNITY
I already dropped Shianna Valentine, Kristina Williams, Madison, and Kaylee Martin who were key players on their 5th/6th-grade squad that was runner-up in their division
Rilla Jones is a couple of inches shy of the magic number, which is 6’0 yet her upside impresses me the most. Her skill set is ahead of her years, she has the “hands and footwork” to get her easy baskets around the rim, she rebounds on both ends, scores on putbacks, after contact, and runs the floor. on both ends. She also showed she could drop the midrange and her interior defense was solid
Jada Smith goes hard and her understanding of how to use her athleticism on both ends was nice. She plays “on the ball defense” baseline to baseline, she also does what I love to see, play the passing lane yet she showed she could drop the jumper while being defended as well as score off the dribble and finish after contact
Tashina Cortez did a good job of not only creating her shot under pressure but dropping the pull-up jumper with a hand in her face. She also showed the jumper in transition and scored off the dribble
Jordan Heimann plays within herself and understands how to get hers in the flow. She’s heady, made good decisions on her passes, and did a good job defensively
Mani Williams scored off the dribble, a deceptive first step played a part but so did her body control on her finishes. She also showed she could drop the midrange yet her “catch and shoot” from deep was very nice
Lexi Neel threw several “no looks” on the money in every game I caught her but her court vision in the set as well as in the transition is ahead of her years. She scored off the dribble, yeah body control helped her finish after the contact but her mid to long range was nice, and so was the “catch and shoot”. On top of all that, she played the passing lane
LADY CHITWINS
Kiana Mai showed the pull-up jumper on opening night, mid to long range but her rebounding as well as scoring off the dribble was strong throughout the event
Mariah Pluff is “long and athletic” which is the base and her playing the passing lane is a huge intangible, especially since she handled the ball afterward. She also scored off the dribble and dropped it from mid to long range
#20 scored off the dribble as well as from midrange. Her defense was solid, and so was her court vision
Lailani Wagner handled the ball and saw the floor under pressure yet her passes in traffic to her teammates stood out even more. She hit the boards, scored on putbacks, as well as around the basket but she also used a deceptive first step and scored off the dribble. Her defense was also solid as she helped create turnovers
Ke’Lena Valenzala played good defense and also showed good timing to block shots but her dropping the mid to long-range jumper was a plus
Koelani Caldwell was another player that understood her role and did the little things that may not show up on the stat sheet. Her defense was nice, so was her court vision
Raven Brown played the passing lane well and also did a good job defending “on the ball”. She saw the floor and attacked the basket off the dribble and scoring after contact
MUCKLESHOOT
Krista Daniels did a good job creating her shot under pressure to attack or shoot the jumper and watching her not only drop the mid to long range but also show the “catch and shoot” was good
Jayleah Williams was solid on defense, both in the set as well as baseline to baseline. She played the passing lane and handled the ball afterward and she dropped the long ball
Ameyah Higheagle set it off on opening night with the “stop and pop” jumper in transition. She also scored off the dribble and applied “on the ball” heat. She also showed she could score in the set using her jumper and her timing to block shots was nice
Taylor LeBret was one of the most consistent players at dropping the jumper, mid to long range, that I caught. In every game, she dropped the long ball yet she also scored off the dribble and saw the floor
Mariah LeBret showed both the EURO as well as the long-range jumper on opening night, yet her pull-up jumper was solid in the 4 games I saw her as she created her shot in the set and dropped it in transition, the catch and shoot was also solid as well as her rebounding