First in a series looking at Horizon League Women’s basketball’s committed players for 2022
Jordana Reisma (Cleveland State)
Height: 6-3, Position: PF, High School: Brown Deer (WI), Commit Date: March 29, 2021
Cleveland State’s sole commit for next year to this point is a little bit of a coup, as Reisma hails from suburban Milwaukee, an area that is also a couple hours down I-43 from Green Bay of course, although neither of the Horizon League programs located in those cities offered. However, IUPUI – a school that certainly knows a little bit about versatile bigs – was among the others vying for the services of Wisconsin’s ninth-rated 2022 player.
Likely the first question most people want answered with 6-3 prospects, especially those in high school, is whether they translate to a higher level or whether they’re only successful because they’re, you know, larger than everyone else. After all, there are plenty of 6-3 and 6-4 girls roaming the Horizon League, so players need a well-stocked toolbox to survive. With Reisma though, it’s easy to see that it’s a total non-issue even from a few brief highlights. She jumps off the screen as a great athlete who makes good reads around the basket and adjusts accordingly, and has also developed a complete game on top of that. Prep Girls Hoops, for example, lauded her facilitation skills, defense, and midrange game while Jr. All-Star liked just about everything they saw, down to the way she ties her shoes.
Reisma’s position is listed differently by just about everyone, but Diener-Ivers Basketball’s review called her a stretch 4, which sounds about right to me as she rounds into her potential.
Teresa Maggio (IUPUI)
Height: 5-5, Position: PG, High School: McCutcheon (Lafayette, IN), Commit Date: July 20, 2020
Maggio might be the human embodiment of “spark plug guard,” my preferred phrase for those players who have probably been told a time or 30 that they’re undersized and decide to control the controllables by developing a superhuman work rate to compensate for it. You can take my word for it if you want, but you’d probably be better off just looking at how her AAU career ended: with a broken clavicle going for a steal on July 7th.
One scouting report called Maggio “a dynamic little point guard with a lot of creativity and feistiness to her game.” Well, okay, they all called her that, just using slightly different words from each other. But they’re not wrong. Just don’t spend so much time marveling at her effort level that you miss the fact that she’s also a pretty good basketball player with a quick first step, even quicker hands, and the ability to effortlessly knock down threes.
Interestingly enough, Maggio did have some mutual interest with DII’s Cedarville (led at the time, of course, by now-Wright State head coach Kari Hoffman). But there’s just something that seems right to me about the Maggio-IUPUI partnership – she’s close to home and jumped at the Jags’ offer last summer, and by the time she arrives on campus, she’ll have a chance to make an impact on a newly-young team. Between all of that and her high-energy style of play, she has the look of a future fan favorite in Indy.
Jessica Carrothers (IUPUI)
Height: 5-7, Position: CG, High School: Crown Point (IN), Commit Date: August 6, 2021
The Horizon League’s most recent commit (as of this writing) is also one of its most impressive, as Austin Parkinson landed yet another in-state gem with Carrothers. Her accolades speak for themselves, as she led Crown Point to the state title last season and was named Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year on top of it – and those are just the headliners among a bevy of other statewide and local honors for the state’s top-ranked combo guard.
Parkinson was certainly happy to get her, over the likes of Butler, Toledo, and Tulsa: “Carrothers picked up the phone late Friday to call IUPUI head coach Austin Parkinson and committed while he was out for a walk. He screamed in excitement, Carrothers said, waking up his newborn child in the process.”
Sorry about that Pearce.
“I think I’m going to fit in pretty well,” Carrothers told The Times of Northwest Indiana. “[Parkinson] basically wants to have guards who can switch positions. He thinks if I keep doing what I’m doing I should get a decent amount of playing time as a freshman early in my career.”
So what makes her such an exciting prospect for the Jags? Her versatility is a good place to start, as it’s clear that she has a full offensive arsenal and can beat people in just about every way there is to be beat. 1751 high school points with a year to go doesn’t happen by accident, after all. Prep Girls Hoops fills in most of the rest: “She plays with an outstanding motor, competes every possession, and she is also a nice rebounder and a solid defender who forces a lot of turnovers.”
Kamy Peppler (Milwaukee)
Height: 5-7, Position: PG, High School: Hortonville (WI), Commit Date: August 4, 2019
Another esteemed point guard (she’s ranked as the fifth-best player in Wisconsin by Prep Girls Hoops), Peppler seems like an ideal addition for a Panthers team that’s built its identity around defense under Kyle Rechlicz.
More from that PGH scouting report: “Peppler is an outstanding two-way talent. Her strength is definitely her defensive intensity and instincts. She pressures the ball well and reads offensive sets when she’s off the ball.”
Beyond that though, she’s also received plenty of raves for her offensive skillset and floor leadership. Prospects Nation described her as “a high IQ point guard who continues to evolve into a multi-faceted playmaker. She had her play finishing skills on full display… her jump shot looks as crisp and her footwork is also on point.”
PGH took it even further by placing her offense somewhere beyond “game manager,” saying that Peppler can score when needed with a consistent jumper. To support that point, she averaged 15 points during her junior high school season and topped out with 26 in a win over Neenah.
That’s about everything, right?
It’s easy to envision a ready-made spot in the Panthers lineup for Peppler, as Milwaukee is a school known for tough and efficient guards, but one that will be without Miquela Santoro and Sydney Staver by the time Peppler gets to campus.
Jada Williams (Milwaukee)
Height: 5-9, Position: PG, High School: Mason City (IA), Commit Date: November 7, 2020
Williams is in a rather unenviable position: her name is identical to another basketball prospect, a 2023 from Missouri who ranks 13th nationally on ESPN and is committed to UCLA (to say nothing of the videos with breathless titles like “LeBron Pulled Up to Watch Jada Williams!”). Ouch.
Still, don’t sell Jada of Iowa short. As you might expect, she has more than a little bit in common with classmate and position-mate Peppler, though her highlights show her to be someone who prefers to attack the rim and either finish or kick from there, versus Peppler’s more measured and shot-oriented approach. Here’s Williams’ high school coach, Curt Klaahsen.
“She is one of the best defensive players in the state, can guard anybody. She works really hard at that end, and has good anticipation skills… she is a really good athlete, but she has really worked hard on her skills. It was clear because of the schools that were recruiting her, and the fact that she gets to go to a really great Division I school with an excellent tradition and get a full scholarship, is a really great credit to her and her family, and all the support that they’ve given her as well.”
Williams, as Klaahsen mentioned, is a phenomenal athlete – an opinion supported by Prep Girls Hoops, which called her the most athletic guard in the state. It’s hardly your typical scouting platitude in light of the fact that she’s a state track qualifier in multiple events, with a 100-meter time under 13 seconds.
Allison Basye (Northern Kentucky)
Height: 5-11, Position: Wing, High School: Chillicothe Huntington (OH), Commit Date: June 28, 2021
There’s a lot to be said for getting in on a player early, with Basye now standing as a recent data point. NKU started recruiting her in seventh grade despite her location in off-the-radar south central Ohio, finally seeing the payoff with a commitment four years later. That’s not a small reward for the Norse’s continued loyalty and persistence, as her stock was on the rise with programs like Cincinnati, Toledo, and Kent State sniffing around, to go along with a status as the 14th-best player in a deep state.
“Complete” is a word that tends to be thrown around a lot when discussing Basye’s game and you probably don’t need to go much further than her stat line: the All-Ohio second teamer posted 25 and 11 as a junior and, just as impressively, shot 89 percent from the line. Prep Girls Hoops’ Jim Dabbelt raved that Basye is a “great scorer, very deep range and has the ability to slash and score at the rim.” When watching her highlights, just when you feel like you have a decent read on her as a big, physical wing with great defensive length, there she is effortlessly dropping pull-up threes.
“I feel like I bring versatility to the team,” Basye told her hometown Chillicothe Gazette. “I’m a big guard and I can play anything from point guard to small forward. Then if we get a mismatch, I can play inside and guard the post.”
