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GUAA/Live at the Nook Standouts Day 1 (April 21, 2023)

04/22/2023, 7:30am EDT

By CoBL Staff

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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MANHEIM — The first day of the April live period AAU opened up on Friday, with a massive tournament taking place at Spooky Nook Sports — a combination of the first Girls’ Under Armour Association stop and the Select Events “Live at the Nook!” competition, with hundreds and hundreds of teams descending upon central Pennsylvania for three days of intense competition.

Here’s who stood out to the CoBL staff during Friday’s action:

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Darriana Alexander (2025 | West Virginia Thunder 17U)
The 6-1 wing forward played up two age classes for the reigning GUAA champions. She’s back and still dominating on another really good Thunder team this season. Alexander is a terrific athlete (how many other players get alley oops run for them on the inbounds play?) and can score in the post, finishing through contact inside with both hands. HoopGurlz No. 5 player in the Class of 2025 also has some guard skills, pushing the ball in transition and initiating offense from the point. On the defensive end she came up with a couple of swats as well.

Evalyse Cole, 2024 Penn Fever

Evalyse Cole (2024 | Penn Fever 17U)
Cole didn’t score a ton in front of the CoBL staff but she gave a glimpse into why there are quite a few Division I programs recruiting her services. The 6-1 forward has a polished post game. She can also push the ball in transition and is a good passer as well. Her offensive game extends beyond the arc with a pretty looking left handed stroke. She’s a deterrent on defense as her length helped her pile up three blocks, and she secured eight boards as well.

Sienna Dauer (2024 | FGB CW 17U)
The 5-10 guard put on a show in a runaway win Friday afternoon, tallying 17 points and sprinkling in four assists and six rebounds as well. Dauer got to the basket with ease and used a short pull-up jumper when needed. She had a few highlight assists, doing a great job of looking off defenders to free her teammates for an open look. Dauer rounded out her offensive arsenal by positing up a smaller defender for a post bucket and added a rejection on the defensive end as well.

Nina Emnace (2024 | NJ Shoreshots 17U)
Emnace, a 5-8 point guard from Trinity Hall, showed why she’s committed to Harvard to continue her basketball career. She keeps the ball on a string, hounds the opposing guards defensively, and has a smooth jumper from deep. Emnace led Shoreshots with 11 points while orchestrating an offense that saw six players score six points or more in a 52-38 win over the Lady Runnin Rebels.

Sydney Finn (2024 | XGEN Elite Premier 17U)
Finn, a D1 post target, was impressive Friday night as she piled up points and rebounds against the Magic. The 6-3 forward has a pretty looking stroke, knocking down a shot from the outside. She was also a handful down low, finishing on both sides of the basket with a soft touch.

Lena Girardi (2025 | FGB CW 17U)
Girardi played locally with the 15U Comets last season, and now in Florida she’s playing up an age class and it’s easy to see why. The high-major target was a two-way force against All Alabama. Girardi, a strong 6-foot guard, converted an and-one and scored with her offhand through contact. She also flashed her range with a pull-up triple. Giradi’s defense was terrific as well, forcing three steals as she has the quickness to stay in front and the strength and length to force opponents off the ball.

Jill Jekot, 2024 Comets

Jillian Jekot (2024 | Comets GUAA 17U)
After decommitting from Pitt this past week following a coaching change at her original collegiate choice, the 6-0 wing from Cumberland Valley (Pa.) entered the spring recruiting season back on the market, and made a great “first” impression with a 20-point outing in a Comets’ loss to BBA’s 17s on Friday afternoon. Jekot is strong going to the hoop and has a solid post-up game in mis-match situations; she’s got a solid 3-point shot, hitting a pair from deep while narrowly missing a few others while going 4-of-5 from the line. She added six rebounds (three offensive), two steals and two assists.

Zakiyah Johnson (2025 | West Virginia Thunder 17U)
Johnson, a 6-foot guard/wing, is the No. 2 player in the Hoop Gurlz 2025 rankings. She and Alexander are the lone holdovers from the GUAA championship squad. You won’t find many other players listed as a “guard” who rebound like her, crashing the class on both ends. On the offensive end, she’s another versatile player with size and guard skills who is able to impact the game in multiple ways. She was tough inside Friday, earning a couple of trips to the line.

Caitlin Kramer (2024 | Colorado Basketball Club 17U)
Kramer and her CBC squad jumped out to a 13-2 lead against Books and Basketball in a 17U evening game. The 6-3 wing from Air Academy High School — where she is already the all-time leading scorer — took control of the game when BBA cut the lead to one at the end of the third quarter. Kramer showed solid ball handling and shooting to play on the outside and the footwork and tenacity to play down low. She displayed good court vision finding teammates for multiple easy buckets and has a soft touch around the rim. Defensively, she was at the top of the zone wreaking havoc with her length and activity.

Deniya Prawl (2025 | Become One GUAA 17U)
Despite only being a sophomore in high school, Prawl is already on her second year on Become One’s 17U squad, and the Canadian wing made it clear why — and why she has more than 20 high-major offers — in a 23-point performance against the WPA Bruins on Friday afternoon. The 6-1 wing guard is at her best slashing to the rim, where she’s got tremendous length, body control, athleticism and agility to finish all sorts of ways near the bucket; she also hit one of her two 3-point attempts, and added five rebounds, four steals, three assists and a block, flashing some point guard-esque passing abilities.

Katie Purpura (2024 | Mid-Atlantic Magic 17U)
Purpura helped the Magic finish strong in a victory over XGEN. The 5-8 Council Rock South guard scored 10 points, seven of them coming after halftime. She knocked down a pair of threes, pulling up for a clutch one beyond the arc late as the Magic started to separate themselves. The most impressive part of Purpura’s game was that everything came naturally within the flow of the offense. She's part of a fun CR South backcourt that will be dangerous in District 1 next season.

Alayna Roccoe, 2024 WPA Bruins

Alayna Rocco (2024 | WPA Bruins GUAA 17U)
The Harvard commit was WPA’s only source of offense in their loss to Become One’s 17s, scoring 26 of her team’s 41 points and doing it in all sorts of ways. The 5-11 combo guard has a terrific outside shot, knocking down three 3-pointers, but most impressive was the way she moved without the ball, her teammates knowing to find her on all sorts of cuts and slips, and she’s got the ability to finish through and around contact with either hand in one fluid motion. Rocco also showed she’s a good passer, but her teammates’ shots weren’t falling enough to give her more than one assist.

Molly Rullo (2024 | Comets GUAA 16U)
Rullo did what she does and MBA (Michigan) found out the hard way, as the 5-11 Cardinal O’Hara wing worked her way to a 24-point, 11-rebound effort in a 57-51 win on Friday evening. Rullo’s at her best going downhill to the bucket and she did that over and over again, whether that was out of the high post or off a screen, and she also knocked down some pull-up jumpers in the mid-range. Rullo, a two-year starter for the Lions who already has six Division I offers, also was 6-of 6 from the foul line.

Megan Sias (2024 | NJ Shoreshots 17U)
Sias, a 6-2 forward from Toms River North, was the main reason Shoreshots flipped a one-point halftime deficit into a 14-point victory over Lady Runnin Rebels 17Us Friday night. The majority of her 10 points and six rebounds came in the second half as the Shoreshots pushed their lead to double-digits with 7:15 remaining and never looked back. Sias’ height and length make her an imposing presence in the post, but she is also comfortable on the perimeter as she shoulders more ball handling duties during high school ball.

Erica Simeone (2024 | Sun Youth Hornets 17U)
Caught Simeone and the Hornets, a group of Canada, beat the Delco Goats in a 17U morning game. The 6-1 post from Vanier College — which offers pre-University courses as well — was a strong rebounder and finisher around the bucket with both hands, was able to bring the ball up and lead the fast break, making good decisions and showing she was a strong passer on the move as well as out of the post. A strong student with the equivalent of close to a 4.0 GPA, Simeone looks like she’d make a great ‘5’ at the high-academic D-III level.

Caleigh Sperling (2024 | Lady Runnin Rebels 17U)
Sperling’s Rebels fell 52-38 to NJ Shoreshots in a night game, but it wasn’t for her lack of effort. The 5-10 guard from North Penn got to the rim at will and although a bunch of her layups rolled out of the rim, she still tied for the highest individual point total on the team. Sperling was up against an athletic Shoreshots backcourt and still produced, crashing the boards for a handful of rebounds and making savvy passes to teammates.

Reese Zemitis, 2024 Mid-Atlantic Magic

Reese Zemitis (2024 | Mid-Atlantic Magic 17U)
The recent Bucknell commit impressed in front of her new college coach on Friday, scoring 16 points and leaving her imprint in a few other ways as well. Zemitis is a 6-foot sharpshooter and hit from deep three times, including one a few feet beyond the 3-point arc. The lefty worked through tough defense off the ball and fought through contact to get herself to the line. Her length was very impactful on defense, securing three steals along with a handful of deflections as well.

Talia Zurinskas (2024 | Penn Fever 17U)
The 5-11 guard has a good feel for the game on both offense and defense. She’s a tough defender, forcing multiple steals, and brings that edge to the offensive end as she’s unafraid to drive into traffic. Zurinskas has a strong ability to drive and dish and also showed off a pull-up jumper. Her long ball was working as well Friday, hitting three times from deep as part of a 13-point outing.