The West Coast Jamboree, a 501c-3 non profit, and presented by Visit Tri-Valley, returns to celebrate its 23rd tournament beginning Thursday, December 28 with the three days of competition through Saturday, December 30.
This year’s Jamboree will have 12 Divisions and 96 teams competing at seven high school gyms and one College gym in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Three of the 12 divisions, Platinum, Diamond and Emerald, are for teams with a high competitive equity resume. The other nine, Amber, Ivory, Jade, Opal, Pearl, Quartz, Sapphire, Topaz and Turquoise, are also based on competitive equity with a goal of giving every team an opportunity to win two games.
The Platinum Division will once again be at Dublin High, and the Diamond Division and Emerald Division will start play at Chabot College in Hayward.
The remaining nine divisions will be at Granada-Livermore, Livermore Recreation Center, Carondelet-Concord, Alhambra-Martinez, College Park-Pleasant Hill and Northgate-Walnut Creek.
Teams from throughout California will be in this year’s field as well as teams from Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, Texas and Alberta, Canada.
Like just about every year this year’s Platinum Division boasts one of the nation’s top teams, Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. The Trailblazers are currently a computer based top 10 nationally ranked team and were No. 2 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports state rankings
At press time, and coming into the Jamboree, Sierra Canyon has an 11-1 record after winning two games at the 901 Tournament of Champions just outside on Memphis, Tennessee. Their only loss is 49-48 to national powerhouse Sidwell Friends of Washington D.C.
The Trailblazers feature three of the top players in the state. Mackenly Randolph, a 6-foot senior wing, and the daughter of former Memphis Grizzlies star Zach Randolph, is the top returner. Last season Cal-Hi Sports ranked her as the No. 2 junior in the state. Louisville-committed senior guard Izela Arenas, the daughter of former Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, is also back. Juju Watkins, the 2023 Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year, is lighting things up at USC, but Sierra Canyon head coach Alicia Komaki welcomes a replacement in the form of sophomore phenom Jerzy Robinson. The 6-foot-1 guard that is rated by every recruiting service as the top sophomore prospect in the nation, is now a Trailblazer after transferring from Desert Vista-Phoenix where she led that team to a large school Arizona state championship as a freshman. Another sophomore, post Emilia Krstevski, has been playing well so far this season.
Another Southern California power, Cal-Hi Sports No. 5 ranked Sage Hill-Newport Beach, is also in the Platinum field. Their top three returners are led by 6-foot senior wing and last year’s leading scorer Emily Eadie. Sophomore guard Amalia Holquin was one of the top freshmen in the state last season. The third of the top returners is senior forward Kat Righeimer.
The top team from Northern California in the Platinum field is Cal-Hi Sports No. 7 ranked Folsom. The Bulldogs are led by Cal-bound 6-foot-2 senior Kamryn Mafua, the Sacramento Bee’s 2022-23 All-Metro Girls Player of the Year. Another solid player in the Folsom lineup is senior Idaho-bound guard Ella Uriate.
Canada is represented by the Edge School of Calgary, Alberta. Unlike teams in California and several other states represented in the Jamboree, which have only played a dozen or so games, Edge has currently played 28 games and has a 22-6 record. Two juniors are garnering the most college interest, 5-foot-9 point guard Jayda Queeley and 6-foot-2 post Eirny Erinugha. Other players to look for are 6-foot-2 Liberty University-bound If Nawabi and Cal State Bakersfield-committed senior guard Caitie Gingras. Edge will be matched up with Sierra Canyon in the opening round.
St. Joseph-Santa Maria is in the Platinum Division and the Knights top player is UCLA-bound 6-foot-1 senior combo guard Avery Cain.
Defending State CIF Division I champion Oakland Tech is back in the Platinum. Their top players in action will be the sophomore duo of 6-foot-3 Jhai Johnson, the daughter of former NFL quarterback Josh Johnson, and 6-foot-1 Terri’A Russell. The Bulldogs are matched up with Sage Hill in the first round.
Rounding out the Platinum Division is perennial Orange County power Rosary Academy-Fullerton and West Campus-Sacramento. Rosary will face Folsom to open and West Campus is matched up with St. Joseph.
Northern California is represented in the Diamond Division by Salesian-Richmond, Vanden-Fairfield and Pleasant Valley-Chico. Harvard-Westlake-Studio City and Chaminade-West Hills, both from the San Fernando Valley, as well as Clovis from Central California are in the field. One of the top teams in Hawaii, Iolani of Honolulu is in the Diamond as well as Texas Kincaid of Houston.
The Emerald Division should have some great first round match-ups. Whitney-Rocklin and its Stanford-bound power forward Harper Peterson will match up with Moreau Catholic-Hayward in the first round. McClatchy-Sacramento draws Hawaii Kamehameha Kapalama of Honolulu, Marin Catholic-Kentfield will face St. Mary’s Academy-Inglewood, and Sacramento area Antelope is up against Buchanan-Clovis.
The West Coast Jamboree Scholarship Program, the only one of its kind for a high school tournament in any sport, girls or boys, is back after COVID curtailed it the last couple of years. Three seniors that play in this year’s Jamboree that meet the criteria including financial need, community service, a minimum 2.8 GPA, plus some others, will earn a $1,000 scholarship towards college at any level, including junior college.
For the second-straight year we have First Nation girls represented. Defending Ivory Division champion and Nevada small school state champion Pyramid Lake from just northeast of Reno is back to defend its Ivory title. This year we have a second first Nation team. Page School from the Navajo Nation area of northeast Arizona is playing in the Turquoise Division.
Sadly, this will be the first year the West Coast Jamboree is contested without its founder David Jackson. David, better known as “Scoop” and “the patron saint of girls basketball,” passed away earlier this year. The MVP award for all 12 divisions is called the David “Scoop” Jackson Most Valuable Player Award
All games in all divisions will be streamed live by our sponsor BallerTV. The link to purchase the Jamboree games is here https://ballertv.com/events/west-coast-jamboree-2023 and also on the Jamboree website westcoastjamboree.org:
“We are extremely excited to be partnered with such a prestigious event for a third year,” says Todd Dibs, Director of Sports Development at Visit Tri-Valley. “We are equally excited to be able to showcase our region to all the great teams traveling here from around the country.”
In keeping with the Jamboree being affordable for all families, admission is $10 (13+), seniors $5 (65+), Students (with valid student ID) $5, Children (5-12) $5. Wristbands are good at all sites for each day purchased.
All brackets for the 12 divisions through a link on Exposure that is here https://basketball.exposureevents.com/215904/west-coast-jamboree/schedule and also on the westcoastjamboree.org website
For more information, visit WestCoastJamboree.org.
