Several dozen girls high school basketball teams, their coaches, families and college scouts were packed into air conditioned basketball gyms at three different local tournaments last Friday and Saturday in the Phoenix area, providing a look at some of the region's top talent.
The annual Lady Extravaganza (aka "Lady X"), GC3 Hoops Summer Invitational, and Queens Of The Court events were held at the GCU campus, Mesa Dobson and Gilbert Mesquite high schools.
Lady X founder Marc Beasley held the event at his alma mater Mesa Westwood for many previous years, but he expanded it from eight teams last year to 44 across the GCU campus. Eight of the state's top teams, including the AIA's 6A-2A conference defending champions, were in the top bracket titled Lady X. The second-tier was the Purple bracket, two others were the White and Junior Varsity brackets, alongside the GCU women's team youth basketball camp.
"Speaking on behalf of the Team Camp Leadership Team, I felt the two days were a success," Beasley told The Republic in a text message. "To start the Monarch Sports Summer Series on a Division I campus is a good-thing.
"Seems (high school) basketball in the off-season has become more business-oriented, so it was important for us to provide a grassroots, community feel to the event. I feel Coach (Molly) Miller was ecstatic to have a number of high-caliber of athletes on her campus playing on eight courts in four facilities."
Lady X's No. 2 seed Goodyear Millennium was led by rising senior Ky'She Lunan in a win over top seed and the AIA's Open Division defending champion Phoenix Xavier Prep.
Lunan, one of the nation's top recruits, missed all of last season because of a knee injury and because the AIA transfer rule made her ineligible because she played for Surprise Valley Vista as a freshman, Scottsdale Bella Vista Prep her sophom*ore year, and then enrolled in her home district school Millennium as a junior.
“I’m excited to get back on the court doing what I do," Lunan said. "I’m actually trying to strengthen my leadership skills now, so it gives me the opportunity to direct my team, get them on the same page as me. Every time I set foot on the court, I just want to make others better and myself better and win some games.”
High school teams traveled to Phoenix area
The tournaments serve as previews of teams to put spectators on notice of who to look out for with their mix of JV and varsity players.
Perennial state playoff contenders Chandler Hamilton, Phoenix Pinnacle, Purple division champion Gilbert Perry, and Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep were in the Lady X tournament. Mesquite and Gilbert won the eight-team varsity and JV brackets in Queens of the Court, respectively.
“We got a chance to play (Cesar) Chavez before we played Millennium. I thought they’re gonna be a really good up and coming team that are young," 6A champion Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor coach Charles Wilson said about Lady X.
"They got some wheels on them and some kids that can do some great things," Wilson said. "I did see get a chance to see Williams Field, too., took a tough loss to Millennium. They got some pieces over there, too. I love what I saw.”
In addition to Lady X having two out-of-state teams from Nevada and Colorado, the GC3 Hoops tournament had teams from the northern and southern Arizona, including the state's corners and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The Las Cruces Bulldawgs and their parents drove the team 5½ hours to compete and win the Southern Arizona Hoops Review bracket. It was worth the far ride, after they were dominated in the tournament last year.
“In the summer, New Mexico doesn’t let us transport our kids, so they’re dependent on their parents to get here," Las Cruces coach Lori Shelby said. "We like coming out here because there’s better competition and we don’t know anybody. We just play the game and we enjoy coming here and facing the Arizona schools because they’re well coached and they play hard."
The same can be said for the Monument Valley girls team, which traveled five hours from the Four Corners of northeast Arizona's Navajo Nation to play.
Known for its "rezball' style, Monument Valley faced the host team Dobson. Monument Valley came with its incoming freshman and seniors, led by first-year coach Sophie Paterson. That allowed them to get exposure to the local community college recruiters in attendance, which generally don't travel that far north toward the reservation.
“This is like home away from home," Paterson said." We have young ladies who have left the reservation who have come down to play here at the junior college level or even higher. For us, I guess this is home away from home. We got to play a 6A (school) Dobson, who was in a final four. It was good for them to get that kind of experience because we don’t get to play Dobson in the regular season, unless it’s a tournament that we go to. It gives them a good understanding of all different types of basketball levels.”
Dobson, which was a 6A state semifinalist this past season, beat Gilbert Higley in the top bracket CK Hoops championship.
“There’s a lot of other events and they’re well ran. But when I started this even four years ago, I was approached by some teams and with their coaches who supported me and wanted to do something because they know I do things a little differently than everybody else," GC3 Hoops founder George Courtney said.
Courtney is also pioneer in Arizona high school girls basketball offering NIL deals to players for his own GC3 Hoops brand.
The tournaments had a couple familiar faces to longtime basketball fans. That points to Xavier Prep coach and former Phoenix Mercury star Jennifer Gillom, as well as former Phoenix Suns wing and Fox Sports college basketball analyst Casey Jacobsen. His daughter Peyton Jacobsen will play for Gilbert Highland and the program's first-year coach Clinton Treadway this fall.
"Sports teaches you so much, basketball probably or certainly the most. He’s a new coach to Highland, she’s new to Highland, the team is young, so they get to grow together," Jacobsen said. “I’m not trying to yell at her. I’m not trying to coach for him. I’m just a dad trying to watch my daughter playing hoop.”
