High school girls basketball: 21st West Coast Jamboree features 15 divisions, more than 100 teams including preseason No. 1 DeSoto

All that talk of everything being bigger in Texas? The nation's No. 1 preseason girls basketball team — now ranked No. 2 — DeSoto (Texas) represents the Longhorn State in long fashion with three front line, college-bound players who stand at least 6 feet, 3 inches tall. They are: posts Amina Muhammad (6-3, Texas signee) and Tionna Herron (6-4, Kentucky), along with senior power forward Sa'myah Smith (6-4, LSU).

The backcourt features SMU-signee Jiya dior Perry and Texas-bound Jamia Harris.

How's that for a headliner?

The Eagles tip the scales of the massive 120-team, 15-division West Coast Jamboree that will be played Dec. 28-30 at 10 San Francisco Bay Area venues. The 21st annual event was cancelled last season due to COVID-19, but returns as the nation's largest girls basketball in-season tournament.

As the monumental event approaches, the global pandemic has hit again and currently 6-8 teams have opted out, including two from the highest division. Please check all the brackets here for updates to each division.

Before the loss of St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.) and Laguna Creek (Elk Grove, Calif.), which each pulled out due to COVID, this year’s Platinum Division was considered one of the strongest fields in the history of the Jamboree.

DeSoto, from the suburbs of Dallas, ran off 10 straight wins to open the season before losing to Sidwell Friends (Washington D.C.). It would have been the first time that the preseason national top-ranked team would have graced the Jamboree's hardwood, but even after the loss that elevated Sidwell Friends to No. 1, the Eagles came back to win their next three games, including a 60-56 victory last week over No. 18 and neighboring Duncanville.

DeSoto still comes in as the favorite to win the Platinum title, and is the highest ranked team to ever take the court in the previous 20 tournaments. Smith leads the team in scoring, rebounding blocks and assists with per game averages of 18, 12, six and four, respectively. Muhammed averages 16 points, 11 rebounds and three steals per game, and Herron is going at a 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals clip per game.

On the other side of the top half of the bracket is Centennial (Corona, Calif.). The Huskies were the CIF Southern Regional Open Division champions in the COVID-shortened spring season.

Centennial comes into the Jamboree with an 8-4 record but all of the losses are to nationally ranked teams. The Huskies went 2-2 in the top division of the Nike TOC. The Huskies are led by UCLA-bound smooth, left-handed guard Londynn Jones, who had 26 points in the win over St. Mary's and 104 points for the four games. She averages 30.4 per game overall.

Head coach Martin Woods has a lot of other talented girls and three to look for are Sydni Summers. The junior guard, who has major interest from Seton Hall, CSU Fullerton and CSU Northridge with Cal starting to warm up, had 15 points and 10 rebounds against St. Mary's and is averaging 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Another returning star is senior forward Layla Curry, the little sister of reigning Cal-Hi Sports Player of the Year and current Cal guard Jayda Curry. Layla had a double-double 16 points and 12 rebounds against St. Mary's and is currently averaging 9.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Newcomer Morgan Hawkins is another player to watch from Centennial. The team Centennial will open with is Salesian College Preparatory (Richmond, Calif.). The Pride come into the Jamboree with a 7-1 record. The lone loss is in the championship of the Iolani Classic in Hawaii, 63-60 to an Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) team on the other side of the bracket. Along the way to the title game the Pride knocked off then nationally ranked Centennial (Las Vegas), 58-39.

Head coach Stephen Pezzola uses utter balance and depth as nine girls average more than four points and four of them average better than seven. Junior guard Sofia Fidelus leads the team at 10.9 points per game and 6-1 senior post Silivia Fonongaloa averages 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Junior guard Makiah Asidanya (7.9 ppg), and senior floor general Nevaeh Asiasi (7.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.9 steals), the younger sister of NFL tight end Devin Asiasi, are other key players.

The bottom half of the bracket features Northern California powerhouse Mitty (8-0), which is led by legendary coach Sue Phillips, who ranks fourth in the state according to the Cal-Hi Record book with 739 wins. The Monarchs are also relatively young and have a lot of contributors.

Six girls are averaging more than five points a game led by sophomore phenom Morgan Cheli who leads the team in every statistical category at 14.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 3.9 assists per game.

Cheli recently received an offer from Cal and according to Phillips a lot more major offers are coming. Junior Maya Hernandez, who has several D1 offers, is a 6-foot wing who is second on the team at 9.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Seattle-bound Noemie Bariteau (8.9 ppg, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists) and Texas San Antonio-signee Siena Guttadauro (9.1 ppg, 3.1 assists) are two key senior guards.

Phillips has several other girls that can step up at any time, including 6-0 Seattle-bound senior wing Makayla Moore, and 6-1 junior forward Elle Hanson.

San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno, Calif.) is in the top division, and despite the fact they will be the youngest team in the Platinum field head coach Jackie White wants to test her girls against the best, and that will certainly happen when the Panthers open with DeSoto.

The Panthers feature seven freshmen on a a 10-person roster. Meadow Roland, a 6-2 junior that reportedly has offers from Fresno State and Long Beach State, has carried the team while averaging 25.8 points, 15.0 rebounds and 4.2 steals per game. She's backed by 5-10 freshman Saiya Sidhu (15 ppg, 17 3-pointers). Other top freshmen are guard Gabby Ramos (9.8 ppg) and 6-2 center Alexis Swillis (8.0 points, 7.4 rebounds per game). San Joaquin Memorial is 6-2 with a 59-58 loss to St. Mary's.

Rounding out Platinum Division are Carondelet (Concord, Calif.), Oakland Tech (Oakland, Calif.) and Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.).

Oakland Tech (3-3) is making a big step but head coach Leroy Hurt never shies away from getting his girls prepared to win the Oakland Section. The young Bulldogs, with no seniors, are led by junior Erin Sellers and sophomore Taliyah Logwood.

Bishop O'Dowd (6-0), which moved up from the Diamond Division to replace St. Mary's, was victorious in the fourth-toughest division of the Nike TOC after a grind it out 44-34 title victory over Seton Catholic Prep (Chandler, Ariz.). 

Cal-bound 6-1 senior wing Amaya Bonner (23.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.8 steals per game) leads the Dragons, but she has big help from senior guard Emma Mathai, 6-1 senior forward Isabella Williams (11.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.2 blocks per game) and sophomore point guard Savannah Jones (10.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 3.2 steals).

• Founded by David Jackson in 2000, the West Coast Jamboree started with 56 teams, became a 501c3 during 2001 (right after 911) and topped out at 166 teams with 148 teams in 2018.

• More than 30,000 players, thousands of coaches, and over 2,500 different teams have played in the Jamboree. The estimated attendance is around 300,000 spectators. Teams from every corner of California play every year as do scattered squads from other states and Canada. 

• Some of the notable players who have played in the Jamboree include Jayne Appel, Nikki Blue, Jacki Gemelos, Alexis Gray-Lawson, Ebony Hoffman, Charde Houston, Sabrina Ionescu, Epiphany Prince, Noelle Quinn, Candice Wiggins and Lisa Willis.

• In 2019 an anonymous corporate sponsor covered the entire $7,000 cost of expenses for the Paradise team that was devastated along with the entire town by the 2018 Camp Fire.

• In 2016, the Jamboree began a scholarship program with three $2,500 scholarships award annually. A total of $22,500 has currently been awarded.