The California Ballaz, AAU program based out of Northern California is on their way to receiving the national recognition they deserve. Director Leroy Hurt isn’t too worried about it,  as these days he has enough on his plate. A program that is the home to seven teams ranging from ages 10Under to 17under. Hurt focuses on getting these girls ready for high school and college. A program that has high expectations on and off the court. They have built a strong foundation for the young ladies in the CA BALLAZ AAU program. A program that is not new to sending girls to Division I schools. Current players in college include A 6’3 post player, Felicia Walker, McClymonds HS, now at Cal State Northridge, Standout guard Sharnea Boykin, Mercer University, Taylor Wallace – UC Riverside, Brandi Henton – Long Beach State Mikayla Lyes – Cal Berkeley, Brieanna Ashley – San Jose State and Rachel Yarnold – University of Rochester.

Class of 2011’s Brittany Boyd, Berkeley High school leads the pack as she has signed her National Letter of Intent to CAL Berkeley. Brittany is ranked 39th in the nation on ESPN Hoopgurlz. Brittany also recently participated in the try outs for the Team USA Women’s Under 18 team. Brittany held her ground and had a great performance. Chairese Culberson, Berekeley High school has signed and committed to San Diego State. Chairese has recently returned to the scene from her ACL injury. She will be a huge factor in the road to success for Berkeley High school as they challenge themselves to win the California CIF State title. At 6′1 , she has been working on her post and wing game as she prepares to join the Aztecs. San Diego State will also be the home for Senior forward, Khristina Hunter, Berkeley High School . 6’3 post-player, Deanna Calhoun from Albany High School signed with USC. The four young ladies have been scouted and recruited by some of the top programs in the country and have decided to stay in the west coast.

Working out at San Diego State

Premierball sits down with one of the Bay Area’s top female prospects
6′2 Power Forward – Khristina Hunter: Berkeley High School Class of 2011, San Diego State Commit

1.Congratulations on picking San Diego State, what was your deciding factor in picking that school?
        It was close to home, I like the team and the coaches, weather is nice, I got along with the team and the campus  is beautiful. San Diego offers what I want to Major in which is sports medicine so that was a big factor.

2. What other schools did you have on the table?    
       University of Washington, Kansas, Rutgers & CAL

3. How do you plan on contributing to the Aztecs, what are strengths and weakness what do you think you need to work on?
        I plan on bringing my positive attitude, and lot of personality, and I will bring energy to the team. As for basketball I will bring my post game and hopefully get a chance to play out a little bit in the 2 or 3 position.
My strengths:  Definitely my inside game and being able to pull if my inside game is not working.
My weaknesses: I feel like I need to work on my guard and perimeter skills.

4. When did SD State first make contact with you?
        It was when I started playing with my AAU team about 2 years ago, CA BALLAZ.

5. What are your short term and long term goals?
       Short term: for HS – help Berkeley High make it to state, and keep my grades up. I want to have a chill senior year and get ready for college
       Long term: shaping my life, figuring out what I want to do, adjusting to college basketball, growing up and being  independent

6. You had a good summer with the CA BALLAZ, what did it feel like to play with some of Northern California’s elite players?
       I felt like I was playing with the best of the best. I had an opportunity that a lot of people don’t have, playing with higher level players just made me better. We won the Nike Chicago Tournament – 2 years in a row. I felt that’s when I played some of my best basketball. We have a close team- being friends on and off the court is what made our team stronger.

7. If you could pick one teammate to play with in college, who would it be?
     “If I could pick one teammate to play with in college, it would be…that’s a hard one, I wish I could play with ALL of my girls from CA Ballaz. But if I had it to narrow it down, it would probably be Chairese Culberson and Brittany Boyd”

8. What do you want the world to know about Khristina Hunter?
I want the world to know, that without my dad, I couldn’t have done all of this, he is my biggest, #1 fan.

Henderson Heat AAU 1U4 team has made a name for themselves over the summer with a skilled group of girls that play hard, smart and compete as a team. The team is talented for their age and they all seem to really get along very well. Here is a break down on the girls from Henderson Heat with more to come from their talent pool in the future.

Taylor Turney PG
A super talented guard that can, shoot, pass and run a team to perfection. She can score at will when needed with her outstanding shooting ability. Taylor has to blow pass opposing guards with great ball handling skill. Taylor also posses a high IQ and a feel for the game you cant teach.

Sidney Clark PG
A super athletic combo guard that can score and make plays. Very difficult to keep in front of with her outstanding first step. Defensively she as physical and fierce as they come. She creates a lot of TO’s with her ability to pressure the ball.

Gabby Doxtator Wing
A versatile player with the ability to play every position on the court. She passes as well as a PG,shoot as well as SG,handles the ball and rebound with the best of them. As a great work ethic and always trying to improve.

Dani Morris SG
A superior athlete that can run ,shoot,pass and lock down any opposing team best scorer. She is a one women press,cause havoc any time she is around. she never takes plays off gives 100% every second she out there.

Paris Strouds BF
A punishing BF that is almost impossible to guard one on one on the block. She has the ability to beat you with power ,speed and most of all skill. Can finish with ether hand and has great touch around the basket ,along with ability to step out and shoot the three. She can total control the game with her rebounding alone. She is one of those rear double double players that you can count on every game.

Ally Shcmalz W/F
An utility player that can help you in a variety of ways. She can handle the ball,pass and defend. She has the ability to bang with the big girls and guard the quick girls on the outside. Very good slasher that can pull up for the mid range and ability to finish at the rim.

6′0 Jr. Ashlin Gross was one of the biggest suprises & sleepers of the tournament. Gross who was sidelined for one year displayed her sweet looking stroke form beyond the arch with range! Gross handles well for her size and rebounds well for a shooter. She is a no miss at the Divion-1 level and with a few months of hard conditioning and ball handling she can play the two at the next level. Jr. Guard/ Foward Gross was the best girl prospect in the tournament. Mid-Major-

Solja Girlz #1

#1 team was a talent led by super sophomore guard (Liberty) Destiny Whitehead who only played against here Liberty teammates and put on a clinic. Whitehead is small but is extremely athletic, can run some spoint and plays excellent on ball defense.

Solja Girlz #2

we will release within the week-

we will release within the week-

Hoops Heavan

Team consisted of all 8th graders that will more than likely all check into Canyon Springs next year. Very athletic bunch but there is still allot of growth that needs to be achieved in this group. Too many three pointers and not enough moving without the ball. A few players stood out of the pack Estella Rodrigues, Chantia Jones, Justice Akins and China Moore who all should transfer into Canyon Springs next year. Look for Canyon Spring Girl hoops to challenge the upper echelon teams within the next two to three years.

Diamondbacks-CHAMPIONS

The Diamondbacks consisted of primarly Desert Oasis players. I was very shocked by the skill set of some of there players. By the look fo them they all looked to be in Jr. high with baby faces. The core team are mostly freshmen and sophomores that play the game with solid fundelmentals and have a few major pieces to be a dominate team in Las Vegas next season. They are loaded with shooters, skilled dribblers and an excellent coach”. The Diamondbacks were ed by led by freshmen point guard Tati Kearn(Big time scorer) who started for Dessert Oasis as a freshmen handles the ball well, good shooter and makes plays off the dribble on a consistent basis. Combo guard freshmen Megan Stanton led all scores in the championship game with 20 points. Stanton is very frail but has a loaded three point shot and a creative handle thats gets her around on the floor. Stanton sees the floor very well and just needs to work on her strength and gain experience. Freshamn Savanna is another big time shooter that plays the game with excitement love. Needs to work on a stronger handle but displays the athletism and the work ethic to be a player in the upcomig season. We watched Savanna hit three threes in a row solid talent.

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks!!!

In the first annual PremierBall.com Easter Showcase, the Diamondbacks showed off their talent with a championship victory over Soulja Girlz #1. The Diamondbacks win came with pinpoint shooting and solid defense.  The Diamondbacks are coached by, Laurie Evans, who has a talented 2013 class from top to bottom; next to Bishop Gorman.  The Diamondbacks are products of Desert Oasis High School.  These girls are all young and skilled basketball players.  The Diamondbacks are loaded with several shooters who can all score big from beyond the arch.  In addition, they have the ability to handle the basketball and make plays off the dribble.

Tati Kearn and Megan Stanton both should blossom into top players in the city next year.  Freshmen Savanna demonstrated her ability to shoot and defend.  Sophomore Lenzi Cram and Auburn Smith also contributed to the Diamondbacks talented play on offense and defense.

PremierBall.com was proud to showcase a few elite teams who displayed solid fundamentals and competitive spirit.

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks!!!

17U Girls Pool Play

*Games played at Christ of King

Pool A

1. Desert Cougars (NV)

2. K-9 Unit (CA)

3. Montanta Hoops (MT)

4. Soulja Girlz (NV)

Pool B

1. Red Rock Raiders (UT)

2.Truballerz (CA)

3. Soulja Girlz (NV)

4. Hoop Heaven (NV)

Friday

1:25  B4 vs. B2

2:30 A4 vs. A2

3:35 B1 vs. B3

4:40 A1 vs. A3

5:45 B4 VS. B1

6:50 B2 vs. B3

7:55 A4 vs. A1

9:00 A2 vs. A3

10:05 B3 vs. B4

13U Girls Pool Play

*Games played at Mirabelli CC

Pool A

1. Lady Longhorns (TX)

2. Salt Lake (UT)

3. Poly Nation (NV)

4. Regina Hornets (Canada)

Friday

1:25  A4 vs. A1

2:30  A2 vs. A3

5:45  A2 vs. A1

6:50 A3 VS. A4

Check back for more game times.

This week there has been very exciting women’s basketball played on television. Many high school girl players lack women’s basketball personnel and knowledge.  For example asking a high school so called “baller” who is Diana Taurasi and she replies “a singer” there is something to say about that response.  As a former player, I lived and died for the game of basketball and still do today.  Girls today do not watch women’s basketball like in the past.  Most girls today can not and will not have a heated conversation about who the best college or WNBA player is today.  Watching the game of basketball, women or men was the thing to do if you were a true “baller.”  What has happen to that mind set?   I know that many can say the 21^st century life style has taken over and girls are more interested in cell phone use, shopping, and other extra curricular activities that do not have anything to do with basketball.  After watching an exciting game on television, the next day at school that was the topic of conversation when I was in high school.  I have witnessed many girls pick up basketball common sense from watching the game.  There are many girls today that do not understand the rules, and why certain things happen in the game.  In the women’s March Madness, with 4.4 seconds remaining in a tied game Xavier University let Stanford’s, Jeanette Pohlen go coast to coast untouched for a winning buzzer beater lay-up.  As a high school player, many things probably could have gone through your mind watching those final seconds.  This game would have been a great discussion on common sense basketball.   Not, to say that you must watch the game of basketball to be a good player, but you do benefit from watching the game along with playing the game.  ARE YOU A BASKETBALL WATCHER?

In the inaugural Battle of the Border game featuring the senior all-stars from Nevada versus the senior all-stars from Utah, Utah came out on top 72-67. The game was played at the McKay Events Center on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Oregon on Saturday, March 27.

PremierBall would like to thank to Lance Ringler for all the above info.

For complete game media click link here. http://www.utahswooshbasketball.com/NV-UT-All-Star-Game.html