Livonia, MI: The April Showers Classic was a huge success drawing spectators and college coaches from all across the mitten, as well as a few other bordering states to Livonia, Romulus, and Ypsilanti for two action-packed days full of great basketball. Here are a few of the many standouts from the event...

6'0" 2020 SF Makailah Griggs-Zeigler Wayne Memorial 1 Nation Elite Sophomore
This first two events of the spring have been a big coming out party for Makailah. A big wing guard with six Division I offers, Griggs-Zeigler possesses a rare combination of speed and strength for her size. At times, with the ball in her hands, she did an excellent job of breaking down traps, advancing the ball with sharp passes to find teammates and keeping it getting inside the lane to finish. Time after time, she made defenders pay from the three-point line and blew up screens on the defensive end. If Griggs-Zeigler continues to have a spring like that her stock will multiply.

5'8" 2020 SG Brayla Jones Pontiac Hype Lady Hoopsters
I've been watching Jones since the summer and came away very impressed with her performance this weekend. She is a volume scorer with high efficiency! She has a real playground feel to her game and a competitive edge that alone will take her a long way. She excelled at hitting the jumper from distance and mid-range. She's quick, handle needs to get a bit tighter to be classified as a PG, but definitely a prospect that schools need to follow moving forward.

5'7" 2021 PG Damiya Hagemann Detroit Edison Michigan Crossover EYBL 16U
This kids' game is just menacing from the tip-off all the way to the final buzzer. It's hard to prepare for a player that gives you 100% toughness each in every possession. Guarding the ball, she is like a thorn the way she pressures the basketball; with the ball, she is so crafty and gets what she wants. She is quick off the bounce which helps her get into the lane. She will knock down shots, and she has some flash and funk when she distributes. Hagemann is a special type of talent.

6'2" 2021 PF Mya Hiram Onstead Michigan Premier
Although I've heard many good things about Hiram, this weekend was my first opportunity to see her up close and personal, and she backed up the notions with her play. A multi-dimensional (or as others would say "Modern-Day") post prospect. Hiram was all over the glass for her team on the offensive end in the championship game allowing many 2nd chance opportunities for points. She made defenders pay for trapping by hitting open jumpers and finishing inside opportunities without putting the ball on the ground. She came up big on the opposite end of the floor making it hard for the bigs to touch the ball and altering shots.

6'3" 2020 PF Whitney Sollom Hartland Michigan Mystics Dreamteam
Sollom continually shows why she is one of the more highly recruited bigs in the state with the way she plays all over the floor. Defensively, she uses her long arms to make it hard for bigs to score, she doesn't have a problem checking perimeter opponents, and on the other end, it's much of the same. She's also an improving three-point shooter; she can keep it and go up the floor to make a play, find a guard or score the basketball.

5'8" 2019 SG Kate McArthur Warren Cousino 1 Nation Elite Committed to Clemson
Kate McArthur could arguably be the top shooter in Michigan. However, you want it you can get it, she hits pull-ups, she creates space off dribble moves, she can shoot it from any spot on the floor. Her flamethrower was working all weekend long, even when she took shots that some would question while it made its way through the net. She shot the ball so well; it sometimes overshadows everything else she does well like getting to the lane and drawing contact to get “and 1” conversions or get the ball moving around the horn. She really scores the ball in bunches which helped her team capture the Platinum Championship.

6'2" 2021 PF AJ Ediger Hamilton West Michigan Drive 15U
A blue-collar post player that has such a high ceiling, I believe Ediger is only scratching the surface on what type of player she can be. She competes very hard on both ends; she is so physical rebounding the ball as well as prideful while checking other bigs, she isn't afraid to put the ball on the deck and will become an even more significant prospect as her game improves from behind the arc. AJ is solid in the post offensively and does a great job of finding teammates when she draws multiple defenders. She is personally one of my favorite players to watch.

17U Final

1 Nation Elite Avenges Pool Play Lost In Championship Game vs. Michigan Crossover EYBL.
The Nation is 2-0 in Championship games this spring as they took home hardware in both the West PA Bruins Tip-Off and this weekend at the April Showers. In Pool Play, the Crossover was a bit tougher on the inside with 6'4  four Star 2019 Sydnee Roby roaming the paint in route to a victory. In the final game of the day on Sunday, the game was back and forth early. In the 2nd half, it picked your poison! Following three 3-point field goals from Jeanae Terry, Maddie Novak & Kate McArthur to put 1Nation up. The lead would reach as high as 21 as Mauriya Barnes, and Jayah Hicks got in on the three-point action. In the latter half of the game, Crossover had a three-point shooting trio of their own on fire in Alonna Blackwell, Jasmine Powell, and Del'Janae Williams, but it wasn't enough to put out the flame that was 1 Nation, who won 68-62.

16U Final

Michigan Premier Slows Down 1 Nation On The Way To The 16U Platinum Title.
Both Michigan Premier and 1 Nation dominated their way in both pool and bracket play to reach the championship game, so it was already expected that the two would compete in a back and forth thriller. The Premier threw the first punch coming out with a 6-0 lead that was quickly erased by 1Nation. The teams would battle back and forth where each would gain a bit of momentum which brought a 24-24 split at the first half horn. In the 2nd half, The Premier did a great job of stifling their opponents with a matchup zone and catching them slipping a few times on the back end of their pressure, where they would go up by as much as seven to keep the lead for much of the second half. Alanna Micheaux scored a go-ahead basket late only to be quickly halted by one from Abrie Cabana which gave the Premier a one-point victory in the end.

Matchup Of The Day: 5'10" 2019  Jeanae Terry vs. 5'8" 2019 PG Jasmine Powell
Two of the state's best point guard prospects both fueled their teams play on Sunday. It was Terry who propelled her team to the victory by knocking down open jump shots, setting up her teammates to score and running the offense patiently, but Powell countered with solid play of her own. What appeared to be a route late in the 2nd half, was changed solely by Powell, who ran off 10 points quickly with a quick lay-in, followed by three-pointers and a blow by layup to cut the lead to six and that would halt the comeback. One thing is for sure both of these PG's will make some college program happy with both of their abilities to score and run the show.