Top 8 shooting guards in high school girls basketball

Clay Kallam
Updated

Photo by Richard Ta

Manasquan's Marina Mabrey leads a strong crop of high school girls basketball shooting guards.

It's a simple question, but the answer often gets lost: How do you win games?

Some might say defense, or rebounding, or passion, but strip away the extras and the answer jumps out: Score more points than the other team.

And how do you score? By putting the ball in the basket. Or, to put it another way, making more shots than the other team — and in a modern game where so many players, male and female, are totally focused on getting to the rim, shooting becomes more and more important.

Granted, some of these shooting guards are a lot more comfortable around the basket than beyond the arc, but their job is to score points — and they do it well.

Top 8 Shooting Guards in High School Girls Basketball

1. Marina Mabrey, Manasquan (N.J.), 2015 (Committed to Notre Dame)
Older sister Michaela is already at Notre Dame and younger sister Dara is a teammate at Manasquan, but some feel Marina is the best Mabrey of all. Her 27.0 points a game and 55.8% shooting from beyond the arc are just two reasons why.

2. Destinee Walker, Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, Fla.), 2015 (North Carolina)
Walker defines the "shooter" in "shooting guard," as she's hitting 43.3% from three-point distance for Lake Highland Prep, en route to averaging 25.6 points a game. She also gets 4.5 assists and 4.5 steals a game, and is always the aggressor at both ends of the floor.

3. Ali Patberg, Columbus North (Ind.), 2015 (Notre Dame)
Patberg does a little more than just score, as she's racked up four triple-doubles for her powerhouse Indiana team. Speaking of Indiana powerhouses, Patberg's numbers — 26.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 3.4 steals per game — should play pretty well at Notre Dame next year.

4. Destiny Slocum, Mountain View (Meridian, Idaho), 2016 (Washington)
Unlike many players who land on coaches' recruiting lists in seventh grade, Slocum slipped under the radar until a breakout summer in 2013. She's averaging 25.9 points a game and adds more than a little spice to the game when she's on the court.

5. Sabrina Ionescu, Miramonte (Orinda, Calif.), 2016 (Undecided)
Ionescu came out of nowhere in 2013 to make the USA Basketball U-16 team, and she's just gotten better since. She can shoot, penetrate, defend and plays with an aggressive, hard-nosed attitude that makes her one of the top unsigned recruits at any position in the Class of 2016.

6. Natalie Chou, Plano West (Texas), 2016 (Undecided)
At 6-1, Chou has enviable size, and that size helps her get shots from all over the court. She's a USA Basketball veteran, and has the high basketball IQ usually associated with making one of those teams. Like Ionescu, she is a prized unsigned recruit.

7. Danni Williams, Clovis (N.M.), 2015 (Texas A&M)
New Mexico isn't usually considered a hot spot for women's college basketball coaches — well, aside from the summer weather — but they all made it their business to visit Clovis to see Williams, who's scoring 25.3 points a game for arguably New Mexico's best team.

8. Katie McWilliams, South Salem (Ore.), 2015 (Oregon State)
At 6-1, McWilliams is tall for a shooting guard, but she uses her size and length to get mid-range jumpers. Her basketball IQ and fundamentally sound style will fit well at Oregon State, one of the fastest-rising programs in the country.