High school girls basketball: No. 1 Ontario Christian highlights Hoophall Classic action

Six teams in this week's MaxPreps Top 25 high school girls basketball rankings are headed to Massachusetts for action at the Hoophall Classic.

The 23rd annual event tips Thursday and runs through Monday with the final game featuring No. 15 Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis, Mo.) putting its 140-game win streak on the line against No. 18 Etiwanda (Calif.).

Incarnate Word Academy broke the national record for consecutive wins Saturday and haven't lost since February of 2020. The Red Knights are led by Indiana commit Nevaeh Caffey. Etiwanda, the reigning MaxPreps National Champion and two-time California Open Division state champion, is led by LSU commit Grace Knox, Cal commit Aliyahna Morris and Shaena Brew. The Eagles are 12-4 against a challenging schedule that has featured opponents from Hawaii, New York, Texas and the District of Columbia.

No. 1 Ontario Christian (Ontario, Calif.) battles storied Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.) on Friday as sophomore Kaleena Smith leads the Knights against top junior Olivia Vukosa.

In addition to Smith, Ontario Christian features the dynamic freshman duo of Tati Griffin and Sydney Douglas along with sophomore Dani Robinson and senior Alanna Neale. Backing up Vukosa is sharpshooter Arielle Lopez, a sophomore point guard.

No. 2 Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) plays a pair of games in Springfield, taking on No. 9 Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.) on Friday and No. 3 Morris Catholic (Denville, N.J.) on Saturday. The Monarchs are learning to adjust to life without top-rated junior McKenna Woliczko, who went down with a season-ending knee injury Jan. 4. But head coach Sue Phillips has plenty of firepower in sophomore point guard Tiera McCarthy, senior Emma Cook and junior Devin Cosgriff. 

The emergence of sophomore Ze'Ni Patterson and freshman Maliya Hunter gives Mitty energy and presence in the paint.

Sidwell Friends is led by senior Jordyn Jackson, who is averaging 22.0 points per night and has offers from South Carolina, North Carolina, Arizona and Louisville among others. She is joined by junior Autumn Fleary (14.4 points per game) and Princeton commit Ava Yoon (9.4).

No. 3 Morris Catholic features twins Mia Pauldo and Mya Pauldo, who both are headed to Tennessee. They are bolstered by senior Daniella Matus and sophomores Jacqueline Edelman and Morgan Fulston.

On Sunday, Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.) battles IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) in a game featuring a handful of future Power 5 players. The Crusaders, who lost a trio of MaxPreps All-Americans to graduation, are young but talented and led by junior Olivia Jones and sophomore Taylor Brown.

IMG Academy features five players already committed to Division I programs led by Tennessee-bound Deniya Prawl and UConn commit Kelis Fisher. Lara Somfai is Stanford bound, Nylah Wilson is committed to Auburn and Manuella Alves is headed to Illinois while junior Kelsi Andrews is uncommitted.

9 a.m. — Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis, Mo.) vs. Etiwanda (Calif.), ESPNU