Even as a little girl, it was clear that Chelsey Gipson was ahead of the game.
She was 6 years old, playing in the local girls’ league in the Los Angeles area, and there was a rule that defenders couldn’t guard beyond the 3-point line because, well, you don’t expect 6 year olds to drain 3-pointers. They didn’t account for Gipson.
“She would sit there and make all the 3-point shots,” remembers Keith Gipson, Chelsey’s father.
She was so good that in the fifth grade, when a local coach trying to start an AAU team inquired about the “best boy basketball player in the school,” everyone pointed at Gipson.
“She was the best boy or girl,” her father said.
The youngest of four siblings, Gipson routinely played out of her age group, in addition to playing softball and flag football – with the boys, of course. In sixth grade, her team would play against high school JV teams in tournaments – and win.
Now a high school senior, Gipson is on the same trajectory. The Loyola Marymount-commit is ESPN’s ninth best point guard prospect in the country, elected to the CalHiSports first team two years in a row, and named one of ProspectsNation’s top shooters in the class of 2017.
She’s been lauded for her high basketball IQ, her ability to anticipate plays and her uptempo style of play. Watch her highlights and you’ll see a combination of speed, shooting and defense.
“I do have a big basketball IQ,” Gipson said. “My game is mostly fast.”
She looks up to Kobe Bryant and models her game after Kyrie Irving. And she makes as big an imprint on her team as either of them. As a freshman at basketball powerhouse Windward, Gipson started alongside current UCLA star Jordin Canada and won the inaugural CIF Southern Section Division I Open Championship, scoring 15 points in the title game.
But she transferred to Palisades her sophomore season, a move that was more for personal reasons than basketball. Her parents went through a divorce, and the cost and academic rigor at Windward was taking its toll, according to her father.
“She would tell her counselor and friends that the only time she felt good was on the basketball court,” Keith Gipson said. “She poured herself into basketball.”
Gipson found her place in Palisades, a program that “wasn’t on the map” before she got there, her father said. But her addition transformed the school into perennial contenders, turning a 3-8 team into one that finished the season 25-8 record her sophomore year en route to winning the inaugural CIF L.A. City Division I Open Championship against Narbonne.
She carried the team, starring as the point guard but also raising her teammates’ game.
“She made the other girls play better,” her father said. “She brought this confidence to the team.”
They went 24-9 the next season with Gipson as the leading scorer (17.6 points per game) and won the city championship again.
“It feels great to have that impact,” Gipson said. “I don’t take full credit. I’d say I helped, and I’m glad I did. We all worked together to get the championship.”
Palisades is cruising once again this season, with a 21-7 league record and a 9-0 mark in its division. The Dolphins are 48th ranked team in California by MaxPreps, and if they three-peat in the city section as open champions, Gipson will have the distinct honor of being the first girl to win a CIF Division I Open Championship all four years of her high school career.
“It would mean a lot, to be the only girl with four open championships,” Gipson said. “Nobody else has been able to get there.”
But Gipson has dreams beyond making history at the high school level. She wants to play professionally in the WNBA after going to school at LMU, though she was spurned by her dream college in UCLA, which according to her father changed courses in recruiting strategy despite showing early interest in Gipson.
It was a disappointment, especially considering Gipson — who has been called “Little Jordan” — was slated to be Canada’s backup at UCLA.
But she’s still committed to LMU, still staying local, and still one of the top women’s high school basketball prospects in the country.
“To be honest, it was a disappointment that UCLA chose to have another direction,” Keith Gipson said. “We’re just blessed and happy the way things worked out.”
And for Gipson, she’ll reach for the stars in the sport she has dominated since she was a little girl. With a quiet personality yet a tenacious on-the-court grit, Gipson will keep living off the fuel of support and exhilaration she finds in the gym.
“I love people coming to watch,” she said. “It’s an excitement that keeps me going.”
