With the current roster Coach Kelly Sopak still has on his Cal Stars Nike Elite team it’s no wonder the drop-off of losing multiple state and national award winner Sabrina Ionescu, and several other top California players including Valerie Higgins of CIF Open Division champion Chaminade-West Hills, is slightly visible, but not enough to supplant the Stars as one of the top if not the top girls club team on the West Coast.
Sopak and his girls definitely showed their prowess after going 5-0 at this past weekend’s Elite is Earned Invitational put on by the Cal Stars at the old gymnasium at the now closed Alameda Naval Air Station. The lighting at the old joint wasn’t the greatest but the Nike Elite did some lighting up of their five opponents.
“I think we’re a top five or at least a top 10 team in the country but Friday was the first time we’ve played as a team this season and we are just learning to play with each other,” Sopak. Remember, I lost a coach on the court (Ionescu) and we still have a lot of talent but we need to build chemistry like we had last year.”
The Prep2Prep Caravan took in the final two games on Sunday and while the entire 13-girl squad played well, two girls stood out among not only their teammates, but no doubt were the No. 1 and No. 2 girls at the entire event.
The top player without question was Stars 2018 6-2 wing Aquira DeCosta of St. Mary’s-Stockton – and why not? Not only is DeCosta the ESPN No. 1 rated player at any position in the current sophomore class, the 2015 USA U16 team member is being recruited by everyone you can think of, including Connecticut, Louisville, Washington, Cal, South Carolina, Baylor, Texas, Tennessee and tons of others that shouldn’t feel bad if their school did not get mentioned.
In the first game on Sunday, an 83-59 victory over ECBA Swish Black out of the metro Seattle area, DeCosta started a little slow for a 10 a.m. game and she picked up some early fouls, so she ended up as more of a defender and facilitator. DeCosta managed to snag 11 rebounds while scoring six points and dishing out five assists with three steals and three blocks.
Where DeCosta really made her mark for the weekend was in the second game where the Stars forged an 83-69 victory over a very talented Tree of Hope from the Seattle area.
The Stars started out trailing 6-0 and trailed 40-37 at the half and 57-55 when the athletic and long reigning Cal-Hi Sports State Sophomore of the Year took over – and when she did DeCosta was unstoppable. Her lone 3-pointer gave the Stars a 58-57 lead, and although they trailed once more at 62-61 the energy and play of DeCosta made the outcome pretty clear from that point on. She finished with a double-double 18 points and 16 rebounds with five assists and five steals. Of her totals 12 points, six rebounds and three steals came after the 57-55 deficit.
Despite most of the approximate 70 college coaches attending the Elite is Earned Invitational not having much of a shot at DeCosta she was still the buzz of the NCAA mandated seating area for the coaches that separates them from fans and parents.
“Part of the development of Aquira is going from a great prospect to a great and complete player that includes becoming a great leader, and she’s working on it,” Sopak said.
The other girl that had a ton of head’s turning was Stars 6-3 post Loretta Kakala from Manteca. She was impressive in how she can run the floor for a big girl, finishes nicely inside, has fluid motion, gets good position on defense, and plays hard. Her one weakness that she is working on is a consistent mid range shot, but when she gets the ball in the block she knows what to do with it and does it with either hand.
In the game against ECBA Swish Black, the ESPN No. 4 rated post and No. 26 overall ranked player from the class of 2017, finished with 15 points and eight rebounds with three blocks. Against Tree of Hope Kakala had 13 points and eight rebounds and played outstanding defense. According to Sopak Louisville was there to see her and some other schools looking closely at her are Duke, Washington, Oregon State, and although she recently took a visit to Arizona State they did not have a coach there to watch her.
Another Cal Stars player that bears mentioning as likely the third best player in terms of showing at the Alameda event is Evina Westbrook from two-time defending Oregon state champion South Salem of Salem, Oregon.
She had two very solid outings on Sunday including 15 points and three steals against Tree of Hope.
Sopak reports that just about everyone except Connecticut is after her including USC, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Oregon, South Carolina, Maryland and Tennessee, plus a lot more schools.
With 13 college prospects on the roster even the top players get limited time so the stats of the top three Stars Elite players could likely be higher. On the other end some very talented players did not get as much time as they may have on their high school teams.
All 13 girls on the Cal Stars Nike Elite roster, including Westbrook, Aleah Goodman (2017) and Taycee Wedin (2018) of La Salle Catholic near Portland, will get a spring evaluation, but a four other girls bear mentioning.
New team member Naje Murray (2017) of St. Mary’s-Stockton looked great and the speedy guard was quicker than ever despite this being the first time she ever played with some of these girls. A name to look for is Shalexxus Aaron, a 6-1 wing that can also play big. She hit an NBA 3-pointer and had four steals against Swish and against Tree of Hope Aaron (2017) had seven rebounds and three blocks. She is currently going to high school in Washington but will be moving to California and living in Apple Valley for the next school year. The third and fourth girls that played well in limited time were shooting guard Jordan Cruz (2017) of McClatchy-Sacramento and Bre’yanna Sanders (2017) of Clovis West-Fresno.
Sopak will find out just where his top team really fits nationally when they go east this weekend for the Boo Williams tournament. The Boo Williams event marks the beginning of play in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) with league play continuing through the July NCAA viewing period. Last year the Cal Stars Nike Elite went 54-1 and won the Nike National Championship.
Faces in the crowd at Alameda
Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year and Gatorade State Player of the Year Sabrina Ionescu was on hand to mentor her former Cal Stars Nike Elite teammates and her presence were not lost on the three colleges she has narrowed it down to, Cal, Oregon and Oregon State. She sat near the end of the bench and when Sopak waved to the third rotation sitting near her he jokingly waved at her with a huge grin to come on in as well.
There were two Ms. Basketball winners at the old gym in Alameda on Sunday with 1995 winner Rene Robinson on hand helping out with the Oakland Soldiers girls team. Robinson, who won the award as a junior, is a referee and trainer living in Sonoma County. She led tiny Division V enrollment at the time Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton to four state championships, with two of them in Division I and two in Division V. The 1994 team knocked off favored Lynwood, 59-53, and the year she was named Ms. Basketball, they pulled it off again in a 52-50 thriller against Mater Dei-Santa Ana
As Sabrina Ionescu goes so goes Oregon Coach Kelly Graves. He wasn’t just on hand in Alameda to see Ionescu since she wasn’t playing, but he made sure he sat in an area of the NCAA mandated coaches seating that was as close to her as possible. “Cal-Hi Sports has always made outstanding choices and they picked a good one this year. We sure like her,” Graves said.
An up and comer to watch for is Madison Campbell (2019) of Clovis West, the daughter of Clovis West Coach Craig Campbell. The 5-11 guard is one of the stars of the Cal Stars 15U Nike Elite team. Over the weekend she led the team in scoring and 3-point shooting, hit the boards, dished it off and played solid defense.
