The Prime Event East: Berks AAU Notebook
- Sean McBryan
- 4 days ago
- 8 min read
Last weekend, nearly 300 girls basketball AAU teams converged at the Spooky Nook Sports complex in Manheim, Pa., for The Prime Event East hosted by Select Events.
In addition to five of the top ranked 2026 and 2027 players in ESPN’s recently updated HoopGurlz rankings, many players from the Berks Girls League were also suited up for their respective grassroots programs.
BGB was on site at the Nook and caught up with Wilson’s Laila Jones, Exeter’s Addison Harper, Brandywine Heights’ Sophia and Addison Benner, and Reading High’s Xiani Beatty. Plus, we caught a few of the top recruits in the nation in action and will give an update on some other Berks girls playing AAU.
Beatty building off brilliant freshman season
Reading High 5-6 guard Xiani Beatty’s freshman season went about as good as it could go. Her play progressively got stronger as the season went on and, alongside seniors Yamilex Rodriguez (Cal U) and Tamyia Collier (Rutgers-Camden), it all culminated in the Red Knights winning their first Berks girls basketball championship in 15 years.
“My goals are to obviously just keep on winning,” Beatty said Saturday after Reading KTB’s 50-16 victory over New Jersey-based HBA Spartans. “And to progress on being county champs, just keep on going higher with my team and trying to get better as a player.”
The Red Knights are starting that on the AAU level this offseason with Reading KTB, which went 4-1 over the weekend and features all Reading High players and coaches including reigning Berks Coach of the Year Rashida Suber.
Beatty was clearly running the show, handling primary ball handling duties, hitting a 3, and getting to the basket at ease in the win that BGB had its eyes on.
“Right now I'm really trying to work on everything, all around,” Beatty said. “There’s nothing specific, just working on my whole game.”
Beatty was an all-division selection last season after averaging 8.0 ppg, third on the team behind Rodriguez (13.3) and Collier (8.9). She took her game to a higher level in the BCIAA playoffs with an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double in a semifinal win over Wyomissing and a team-high 16 points in the championship.
She’ll carry that momentum into a sophomore season where suddenly she’s the go-to girl.
“I definitely need to take on a bigger role to counter them leaving,” Beatty said of Rodriguez and Collier. “Last year, I was depending on them more. This year I have to be more independent. As a team, we need to keep getting better so we can have the same success as last year.”
She’ll be joined by key returners in 2026 6-0 forward JilliAnn Laws, 2026 5-8 forward Nayara Ortega, 2028 5-10 forward Yolanda Velez, and 2028 5-9 forward Skie Blijden, who each played over 20 games for the Red Knights last season and are also on Reading KTB.
Jones returns to the court after torn ACL
Wilson’s 2026 guard Laila Jones made the All-Berks team as a freshman and sophomore.
Then the worst-case scenario happened last July at the Run 4 Roses Classic, an enormous AAU tournament featuring nearly 3,000 teams in Louisville, Ky.
Jones tore her right ACL, forcing her to miss her whole junior season to rehab. Now, she’s back on the court playing high-level AAU with the Philly-based Lady Runnin’ Rebels Hoop Group Showcase League (HGSL) 17U squad.
“Every process of rehab feels a lot longer than expected, because you love the game so much, and you just want to be out there,” Jones said. “Mentally, it was definitely challenging. But being around my team every day helped a lot, and just having my family there to support me.”
Jones had one point, three rebounds, three assists, and a steal off the bench for the Rebels in a tough 47-20 loss to NY Gauchos 3SSB, which plays on the Adidas circuit and went all the way to the championship before falling to eventual champion and Philly-based Comets GUAA (Under Armour circuit).
Jones is on a Rebels team with players from Central Bucks West, Conestoga, Downingtown East, Germantown Academy, Gwynedd Mercy Academy, Haverford High, Phoenixville, and Wildwood Catholic.
Although she had to watch from the sideline as Wilson won its first state playoff game since 2014, Jones remained involved as a leader for the Bulldogs, a young team that returns its entire rotation. Rising seniors Violet Houck, Laura Crocona, Janai Tisdale, and Emma Williams; rising juniors Kailani Hardy and Ryan Leaman; and rising sophomore Jade Lee are all expected to be back for head coach Matt Raquet’s second season in West Lawn.
Hardy (7.0 points per game to 14.2), Leaman (2.2 to 7.5), and Crocona (5.5 to 9.8) filled the production void while Jones recovered, and adding her back to the mix will just create even more problems for opponents. The 5-8 guard averaged 13.4 points as a freshman and 16.1 as a sophomore; she’s scored 788 career points.
"I got on Kailani a lot [when I was out],” Jones said. “I knew she had a lot of potential. I was just keeping the leadership role and telling them to do it for me, fight for me.
"I think we can go way further than we went this year, hoping to win some hardware. It just comes down to competing at practice, and everyone has a role."
The Bulldogs have been one of the top teams in Berks throughout Jones’ career, but have had some heartbreakers in the county and District 3 playoffs that have prevented them from winning any trophies.
In 2023, they fell 43-35 to eventual champion Wyomissing and Amaya Stewart in the BCIAA semifinals and did not qualify for districts.
In 2024, they fell 45-36 to Wyomissing and Stewart in the BCIAA championship game, giving them only their second loss of the season. In districts, they received the No. 2 seed before falling to Central Dauphin 42-41 in the semifinals. They then lost to Lebanon in the third-place game and Conestoga in the first round of states.
Last season, the Bulldogs fell to Gov. Mifflin 60-56 in the BCIAA semifinals and Dallastown 40-29 in the district quarterfinals before beating Upper Dublin 51-46 in the first round of states. They fell to Archbishop Carroll 60-41 in the second round.
Harper ready to make her name known around Berks
Exeter’s rising sophomore Addison Harper might’ve slipped through the cracks last season as the Eagles finished 3-8 in Berks II and 7-15 overall following back-to-back division titles with all-time leading scorer Grace Reedy.
Judging by Harper’s play last weekend with Team Go Get It UA Rise (coached by Nish Edwards), she looks ready to take her game up a notch from the team-leading 8.6 points per game and all-division honorable mention nod she received as a freshman.
“My freshman year was solid,” Harper said. “I feel like I could’ve done more, though. I think we just need to train more during the summertime and build more chemistry between us [to improve our record].”
The 5-9 guard had 17 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block in a 53-42 loss to DMV-based PV Thunder. Harper scored in a variety of ways including finishing through contact and making intelligent decisions to pull up for jumpers at the foul line or in the paint. She also handled the ball well and played sticky defense, using her size and athleticism to bother the offense.
“I want to improve my finishing around the rim and just be quicker with my dribble,” Harper said. “Like, if I'm going into a move, be quick about it."
Harper said her dad got her into the game of basketball when she was younger and she eventually fell in love with it and wanted to get better. She’ll continue working on her game throughout the offseason with Team Go Get It, which finished the weekend 2-2 and also includes Schuylkill Valley’s Hannah West (six points, five rebounds, a block, and a steal against PV Thunder), Berks Catholic’s Katy Linderman and Myah Pegram, Wilson’s Emiline Harding, and Ephrata’s Olyvia Grosso.
One more time for Benner basketball
Other than friendly — or unfriendly — backyard competitions, last weekend may have been one of the final times the entire Benner family was on the same court and team for an organized basketball game.
Addison Benner, who broke Brandywine Heights’ all-time scoring record last season, suited up for Team Outcasts, which is coached by her father Rob Benner and also has her sister Sophia Benner on the team. Her mother, Erin Benner, took on the role of game-tape videographer on this specific weekend, but does it all as an assistant coach.
“I thought I was done playing AAU,” quipped Addison, who plans to go to Montgomery Community College and follow a career path in music while also playing basketball. “Now I have to go out to Ohio with my dad. I thought I was done but I guess not. I’m just going to keep playing.”
As Addison moves on, Sophia takes the reins at Brandywine Heights following a stellar freshman season. The 5-7 point guard scored 11.4 ppg and hit a Berks-high 64 3s on the season, including 10 in one game, which was the second-highest mark in Berks history behind Berks Catholic Caraline Herb’s 12 in 2021.
Sophia's 3-pointers made total is the 13th highest in Berks girls basketball history and she's one of only 11 players to make 60 or more 3s in a season.
"I think she can beat my scoring record,” Addison said of her all-division younger sister. “Yeah, I do. She can shoot the ball a lot better than me. And she shoots it a lot more."
“My sister was a senior, and she was the only senior who really started most of the game, so I'm going to have to step in her place and lead the team more,” Sophia said.
Last season was a bit of a disappointment for the Bullets, who had hopes of taking over the Berks IV crown from Oley Valley — which took a large graduation hit — but instead finished runner-up to the Lynx and 11-11 overall.
“We have to have better starts to games,” Sophia said. “Especially against Oley, our starts were a little slow. We just need to get ahead of them right away."
The Benner sisters are the only Berks players on the Outcasts, which is made up of multiple Lehigh Valley players from Allentown Central Catholic and Emmaus.
Other Berks girls playing AAU
There was one other Berks player present at The Prime Event East: Conrad Weiser 2027 Geniva Paul. The 5-10 guard is on Team Pennsylvania S40 Walker, which went 4-1 over the weekend.
Additional Berks girls playing AAU this offseason include Gov. Mifflin 2027 5-8 guard Bella Super — Sports City Angels (Ohio) 16U EYBL (Nike circuit), Wilson 2027 5-9 guard Kailani Hardy — Team PA 16U EYBL, Wilson 2026 5-8 guard Laura Crocona — Team Fever 17U, Twin Valley 2026 5-7 wing Olivia Schmittinger — 717 Hoop Dreams 17U, Berks Catholic 2028 5-6 guard Abby Cannon — Team PA 16U EYBL.
Top recruits
Some of the top recruits in the nation convened in Manheim last weekend. Here are the five listed in their respective classes in ESPN’s HoopGurlz rankings:
Julia Scott, No. 25 ranked player in the 2026 class from Albertus Magnus High School in New York. The 6-3 post plays AAU for Empire State P24 and most recently received offers from Oklahoma State and Clemson.
Emily McDonald, the No. 39 ranked player in the 2026 class from Long Island Lutheran High School in New York. The 6-0 combo guard plays AAU for Team Northeast P24 and most recently received offers from North Carolina State and Vanderbilt.
Morgan Stewart, the No. 57 ranked player in the 2026 class from St. John’s College High School in D.C. The 5-11 guard plays AAU for Germantown Panthers and most recently received offers from Virginia Tech and Columbia.
Erica Gribble, the No. 80 ranked player in the 2026 class from Greensburg Central Catholic in Pennsylvania. The 5-11 guard plays for Comets GUAA and is committed to Richmond.
Bella Owumi, the No. 32 ranked player in the 2027 class from St. Mary’s High School in Massachusetts. The 6-0 guard plays for MCW Starz P24 and most recently received offers from North Carolina State and Georgia.
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