Basketball has been a family event for Gregg since she was born. Her older brother, Collin, is a senior basketball player, so she has been to hundreds of ball games in her lifetime and would say she learned a lot of her skills from him. She has played basketball since 1st grade for her school and plays for the Minden Recreation Center, as well. 

The road to regionals began at the Minden Recreation Center. They held an event on April 23, inviting all local kids ages 13 and younger to participate in the skills challenge. The event was sponsored by the Minden Tarheels youth traveling basketball team and their coach of 14 years, Jerome Blalock. This competition gave the children the opportunity to showcase their basketball skills, which included shooting, lay-ups, dribbling, passing and defense.

  “I have been trying to get us a skills challenge event in Minden for the last two years,” said Blalock.

Until this year, if local children wanted a chance to compete, they had to travel to Shreveport or Bossier. He is in high hopes that this will continue to be an annual event to be held in Minden for many years to come. 

The local competition is the first level participants must win to advance. The top three finishers were Chloe Gregg and Shekyra Hawkins from Minden, and Jemiah Henton from Alexandria. The two girls were able to travel to the second level- Regionals. 

The closest geographical regional competition for Gregg and Hawkins was this past Sunday, May 8, in Memphis, Tennessee. Gregg finished first in the female division beating out 24 participants who traveled from Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.  

Her score will be compared with the other 10 regional winners across the country and the top male and female in each age group will win an all-expense paid trip to New York to compete in the National Finals. The finals will be held June 21 through 24. 

“We will find out in the first week of June whether or not she qualifies for New York,” said Gregg’s mother, Marnie.  

If she advances to this third and final level of competition Chloe can expect to attend special events, and interact with NBA/WNBA players, legends and draftees. She will also have the opportunity to attend the 2022 NBA Draft.