The Memorial Day Magic girl's basketball tournament took place last weekend in sunny and exciting Las Vegas, Nevada at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. The set up of this year's event was one of a kind as the event was held inside two ballrooms of the hotel, adjacent to the hotel living quarters - providing for an easy commute for the girls participants, fans and media. This year's event was loaded with more than 200 total teams for the event, and included many girl's teams from the state of Arizona. With Team Bibby Girlz, many teams from the Arizona Rebels, the Arizona Magic Elite 17U and numerous teams from the Arizona Sting, this year's event was well represented by the state of Arizona's best girls basketball talent.
Arizona Preps was in attendance for much of the event and was able to catch many top performances of the tournament. While the Arizona girls basketball programs in attendance each performed well in this year's event, here are the very best individual performers from last weekend's event . . .
Raina Perez 5-7 Sophomore Millennium High School - 2016 Class
- Perez was terrific at times in this weekend's event. The ultra-talented and gifted young guard prospect produced on the offensive end at a high rate in this year's event at times, and looked to distribute the basketball at other times - getting her teammates involved and breaking down defenses. Perez shot the basketball with excellent range and broke down defenders off the dribble en route to a strong mid-range game o elusive finishes at the basket. Perez would lead her Arizona Magic Elite team to a strong finish in the tournament. After being selected as a 1stTeam All-State selection this past high school season, Perez has quickly developed into one of the elite level prospects in the state. An elite high-major prospect that is the female version of NBA future NBA draft pick Jahii Carson (Arizona State). Perez is beginning to pick up serious elite high-major division-I interest from numerous college programs.
Saylair Grandon 5-8 Junior Westview High School - 2015 Class
- Grandon is a big-time talent that has a variety of skillsets combined with excellent toughness. Her ability to take games over on both ends of the floor is a rare find, as she is able to make plays for herself and others. Grandon is strong off the dribble and is able to make plays for herself or others almost at will. She also has unlimited range on her shot - keeping defenses very honest in their attempts to guard her. Grandon is well-built physically and is a tough guard for guards or forwards, making her an automatic mismatch on the floor. While it is still unclear as to which schools are pursuing Grandon, but she is worthy of high-major college level recruitment.
Darian Slaga 5-10 Junior Boulder Creek High School - 2015 Class
- Slaga is one of the top overall prospects in Arizona's 2015 class, and definitely one of the elite guard prospects in the state. Slaga has grown physically a great deal over the past two years and, as a result, she is much stronger physically and is able to get her shot off at will against smaller defenders. She has a nice ability to handle the basketball and rise up over defenders and make shots - possessing a very nice mid-range game for herself. Slaga is an excellent competitor that competes at a high level and makes plays for her team down the stretch. While her team, the Arizona Sting, would run into a strong performance by the Arizona Magic Elite in the event only to lose the game, Slaga would prove in the event why she is regarded among the state's top overall college prospects. Slaga advised me that she has a favorite college program currently, after a recent official recruiting visit to the University of Denver.
Jordenn Reible 5-9 Sophomore Valley Vista High School - 2016 Class
- Reible helped lead her program to a strong showing in the event, benefiting her team with strong perimeter shooting and ball handling from the guard position. She has a strong lower body and gets low to the ground on her dribble, allowing her to get into the lane when she desires and finish with a variety of runners and floaters against bigger post players. Reible had a really strong performance in her final game of the event against a well-coached opponent. Reible has developed as much as any girls prospect in the state this spring, and now is beginning to also receive high-major college recruitment. Among the top girls prospects in Arizona's 2016 Class. The Arizona State Sun Devils have began to show serious interest.
