SAN JOSE – These are some very joyous times for the Archbishop Mitty community, and the joyfulness is centered around its girls basketball team and Monarchs head coach Sue Phillips.
Despite it being a potential historic occasion for Mitty and Phillips, there was not a lot of fanfare on Thursday night in Mitty’s West Catholic Athletic League opener on the road at cross-town Presentation, and the crowd was decent but not overflowing. The Mitty community was waiting to celebrate in its WCAL home opener on January 12 versus Sacred Heart Cathedral. So what are they waiting to celebrate?
Earlier in the day Mitty was named No. 1 in the nation by another national ranking service that followed suit with other rankings that had already proclaimed the Monarchs the top girls basketball team in the nation. Concurrent with the national honors, Mitty obviously ascended to No. 1 on Wednesday in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings.
Then, as expected, Mitty blew out Presentation in a 79-8 rout but everyone in the house that wasn’t a Monarchs fan, including second-year Presentation head coach Gary Plummer, a former pro hoops player who spent two years with the Golden State Warriors, a year with the Denver Nuggets, and 13 years in Europe, was gracious.
Why? Because with the victory Phillips joined three other coaches in the Golden State to notch 800 career coaching wins, and Phillips was gracious as well, playing starters and her two superstars, Morgan Cheli and McKenna Woliczko, sparingly, and emptying the bench allowing 11 of 12 Monarchs to score.
With Mitty up by 30 midway through the second quarter, she took off the press and stopped the fast break, preferring to wind down the shot clock and execute plays. Also, Mitty stayed away from shooting three-pointers, and only connected on one by junior reserve Rena Robinson, who had to launch since the 30-second clock was about to expire.
Woliczko, the reigning State Freshman of the Year, led Mitty (11-0) with 20 points, six steals, four rebounds and two assists. Connecticut-committed senior Morgan Cheli assisted on six of the baskets by Woliczko and finished with nine points, 10 assists and six steals.
Lehigh-committed Belle Bramer added 10 points.
It wasn’t just Plummer who was gracious before and after such a jolting loss, Presentation Athletic Director Mike Smith was well aware of the situation and the entire staff and scorer’s table was friendly and accommodating. The Panthers even had a player that caught ours and the eyes of Bay Area News Group Scribe Darren Sabedra. It was a little hard to miss her since junior Anna Sedic scored all eight of the Presentation points, including a three-pointer early on with Mitty swarming around her on defense.
Not surprisingly, Phillips remarked that Sedic had played for the San Jose Cagers club team the veteran coach founded and runs during the off season.
The bottom line is the reason media was even present at what everyone knew would almost assuredly be a running clock game, was to see Phillips achieve a milestone.
After the game the Mitty players gave Phillips a small card that said “800” on it and two bouquets of flowers, and the somewhat short in stature Phillips posed for a picture seemingly engulfed by her girls.
“I’m grateful for this opportunity of 800 and as I told the team ‘individual accolades are milestones,” Phillips said. “These are shared acknowledgements and honors.”
“This is not possible without my current and former players and assistant coaches,” continued Phillips. “I’m incredibly proud to stand on their shoulders and achieve this milestone for the legacy of Archbishop Mitty basketball.”
It’s always been about her girls. Two of Phillips’ biggest former stars, Danielle Robinson and Haley Jones, are currently in the WNBA. One of her earliest stars, Kerri Walsh-Jennings, is one of the greatest female high school two-sport athletes that went on to win three Olympic gold medals in beach volleyball.
Speaking of gold medals, Phillips has won a couple of those as well as a head coach for USA Basketball.
Phillips may be a bit short in stature but among girls basketball coaches she’s a giant.
According to the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book Phillips now joins current Mater Dei head coach Kevin Kiernan who currently sits at 887 career coaching wins, current Harvard-Westlake head coach Melissa Hearlihy, now at 825 wins, and former Brea coach Jeff Sink who accumulated 836 wins including his early years in Alaska.
And to think, if not for the COVID shortened season in 2020-2021 when Mitty went 11-0, or the 2001 season when the Mitty math teacher took a one-year hiatus from teaching and coaching to join the Cal staff off then-Bears head coach and current West Coast Jamboree Board of Directors Chair Karen Horstmeyer, she could be pushing the 850 mark.
“I’m just in the top spot temporarily,” said Kiernan referring to Phillips for a story several years back when he broke the record of Joe Vaughn (761 career wins at Buena-Ventura), who now sits at No. 5 on the Cal-Hi Sports list behind Phillips.
Is it going to be Phillips that passes Kiernan some day? The answer is probably yes. Kiernan conceivably can get to 900 either this year or next, but he’s been hinting at possibly retiring and 1,000 may be out of reach. At 55 years old, and if she coached 10 more years and averaged 25 or more wins season, Phillips could be well over 1,000 after all is said and done.
Besides the superstars of yesteryear like Jones, Walsh and Robinson, plus others too numerous to mention, there are this year’s group led by Cheli, Woliczko and also Bramer. All three were instrumental in winning the Nike TOC and Nike Holiday Classic tournaments that propelled Mitty into the top spot in the land. All three were named all tournament at both events.
When talking to this year’s megastars about Phillips, the theme is the same as what Jones and others had to say a few years back.
“Playing here for four years for her is really a privilege and an honor,” Cheli said. “We’re all so proud of her and she’s so deserving of this.”
“She’s not just our coach. She’s our mentor, a role model and an inspiration,” Cheli continued. “She instills in us a lot of really important characteristics. When we step out on the court we all want to make her proud, and not just on the court but off the court as well.”
“Coach Phillips, she’s a role model, she’s a leader. She’s not only helping you develop as a player, but she also helps you develop as a person,” said Woliczko, who commutes almost an hour each way from San Bruno to play for Phillips. “I’ve not only become a better player from this program, but also just a better person in general.”
“It’s so cool to share this milestone with her and be on this ride with her,” Woliczko continued. “I know there will be a lot of alums calling her tonight to congratulate her. It just shows the legacy and the road that continues on at Mitty.”
If being No. 1 in the state and nation, and having Phillips achieve a huge milestone is not enough, the celebration will continue on April 27 when she joins all-time women’s basketball greats Maya Moore and Simone Augustus as an inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Before being inducted into the Hall of Fame there will be a state CIF Open Division state champion crowned in March. Mitty has played in three Open Division title games since the CIF went to an Open Division for the 2013 season, and has come up short each time, including a heartbreaking last-second 69-67 loss to Etiwanda last season.
The 1999 Mitty team that went 31-0 and won the Division I state championship, and earned Phillips the Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year, won what was almost like an open title since back then rather than competitive equity driving things teams were allowed to move up on their own. Still, it was not a hallowed open title.
“I just want to win the next game,” said Phillips with a chuckle when asked if an open championship is at the top of her list. “It’s one game at a time.”
“I think we would all love to win a state Open Division championship. There’s no question,” Phillips continued. “But that’s also not what’s going to define my career or the legacy of these girls.”
When Phillips sends out an email part of the signature at the bottom lists “Tradition of Excellence, 34 League Titles, 31 Central Coast Section Titles, 15 NorCal Championships, 6 CIF State Titles, National Champs 2018.”
Now she can add two more entries at the bottom. “Member of the 800-win club and Member Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. "
For Philips, her Monarchs, and the entire Mitty community, hopefully this season will bring a third and fourth new entry and some edits to the final two things on the list. “2024 CIF Open Division Champions and National Champs 2024.”
Like Phillips said, it is one game at a time, but there are a whole lot of people in the girls basketball community not just in California but the entire nation that are pulling for Archbishop Mitty Coach Sue Phillips to add those additional milestones to her legacy.
