Plano East freshman Arianna Robinson is averaging 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals per game. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Just 14 years old, Plano East freshman combo guard Arianna Robinson isn’t old enough to drive a car. She can’t obtain a learner’s permit until June 22 when she turns 15. But the 5-star recruit has been driving circles around opposing players well before Lady Panthers head coach Derick Richardson watched her play for the first time when she was in the sixth grade.
Athleticism, body control, ability to score at all three levels and defensive awareness are some of the attributes that stood out about Robinson to Richardson.
Robinson got to know Richardson on a more personal level while attending a summer camp that he held one summer when she was in middle school.
“He always told me that I could play high school basketball when I was in the sixth grade,” Robinson said. “Back then, I was pretty good. We always made a joke out of it.”
College coaches thought that Robinson was pretty good. She was just 13 years old when she received her first college offer. Oklahoma State was the first school to court Robinson. Cowgirls assistant coach Kelby Jones saw Robinson play at a tournament in Dallas in the summer between her seventh- and eighth grade school year. Jones chatted with her and her club coach during the next several months before Oklahoma State made an official offer in March of 2024.
“I think that he liked my game,” Robinson said. “It was definitely humbling, and I’m really fortunate that I’m in that position.”
By the time that Robinson set foot on campus at Plano East for her first day of class as a high school student last fall, she had already received 20 NCAA Division I offers. She is now up to 21 offers. She is also currently ranked the No. 1 high school girls’ player in Texas for the class of 2028 by Prep Girls Hoops and also mentioned on the 2028 espnW Watch List for the 2028 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.
College recruitment wasn’t admittedly on Robinson’s mind until she met Jones. Her No. 1 goal at the time was to help lead her middle school team to a city championship. She didn’t see herself getting a college offer until at least the 10thgrade, but following a standout performance on the EYBL circuit, the offers began to pour in. The EYBL circuit has numerous players throughout the years that have gone on to play college basketball and professionally, including current WNBA players Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.
Robinson mirrors her game after USC phenom JuJu Watkins. Like Watkins, Robinson has plied her craft on body control. Robinson has watched film on how Watkins adjusts her body while in the air without drawing a foul.
But it’s not just by watching film where Robinson has become an elite player. She works on body control every day in practice, every time that she’s in the gym. She has gotten to the point where she can jump off either foot. It’s a big reason why she’s averaging 19 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists for a Plano East team that has already clinched a berth in the Class 6A playoffs.
“Ari is a phenomenal athlete,” Richardson said. “The things that she is able to do are amazing for any high school girl. The fact that she can do some of the things she does at 14 years old is mind blowing.”
Richardson said shortly after this season began that Robinson would be a “difference-maker”, and it didn’t take long for her to make a good impression.
At the Tipoff In The Tone Invitational last November, Robinson scored 32 points against Class 5A’s No. 1 Lubbock Monterey – a game in which Robinson played against Aaliya Chavez, who is the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.
Robinson’s efforts on the court have been a big reason why the Lady Panthers (19-11, 9-5) are closing in on a playoff berth, and she hopes to continue Plano East’s recent run of postseason success.
In 2021, Plano East made its first regional final since 1993. Robinson admired the players on that team, including current SMU junior Donovia Hall, and she believes that the Lady Panthers have the talent to make another long playoff run.
“We have it,” she said. “Our team right now has the potential to make it pretty deep in the playoffs, like they did four years ago. We’ve come together. We now have that experience of playing with each other. We have a goal of where we want to be in the playoffs and being intense in our practices and not letting our foot off the gas.”
For as many fans are ready to root on the Lady Panthers in the playoffs, Robinson is ready to cheer on her older brother, RJ. RJ, a sophomore, will look to help lead the Plano East boys’ basketball team to a second straight state championship.
“People need to tap into my brother,” she said. “He is a great rebounder. He’s not going to score 20 to 30 points a game, but he’s going to do things that other people don’t want to do: play defense, rebound, box out, do those kinds of things.”
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