For the 11th-straight year the Girls of Summer Caravan will cover the extensive schedule of girls’ basketball tournaments in July for both club and high school teams.
Included will be NCAA certified events during the NCAA Women’s Viewing Period, as well as the San Diego Classic that takes place during the “dead period” in mid-July, when Division I college coaches are not allowed to view the players.
Nationwide, there will be around 150 different tournaments contested during July in which Division I coaches can observe and evaluate players. The initial viewing period begins July 6 and ends on July 12. From July 13-22 is the 10-day dead period, and then the second portion of the viewing period begins on the 23rd and ends on the 29th.
All the top club teams in Northern California will be hitting the road with most everyone heading to the Portland area where action begins on Sunday at the End of the Trail tournament.
The San Jose Cagers head to Oregon with two teams, and Elite Blue team and a team of younger players.
The Cagers, who won the Cal Stars Summer Sizzle in Oakland in June against some of NorCals top club teams, are coached by Archbishop Mitty-San Jose head coach and USA Basketball coach Sue Phillips – and other than two girls the roster is all from the defending CIF Division II state champion Monarchs.
After catching a flight out on Sunday morning, the Cagers Blue team will forgo an exhibition game and open Silver Bracket play in the afternoon against Seattle Transition.
“I opted out of the exhibition games so we don’t have to get there on the 4th and the kids can be with their families for the holidays,” Phillips said.
The girls will be on the road and away from their families for a grinding first two weeks of the viewing period. From Oregon the Cagers head to Illinois for the July 10-12 Chicago – EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) at McCormick Place.
The Cagers come home for the dead period. Then, for the second half of the viewing period, the Blue team heads east for the July 26-28 Under Armour Best of Maryland Tournament in Oakdale, while the younger team stays local to play in the EBX Summer in the City at Chabot College in Hayward.
The team will have recently St. Mary’s and Cal Poly offered All State Sophomore First Team selection Maddie Holland of Mitty in Oregon, but will be without All State Sophomore First Team point guard Heleyna Hill. After a point guard college in Sacramento Hill will rejoin the Cagers in Chicago.
“Not having Heleyna will hurt but the upside is it will mean more minutes for other players,” Phillips remarked.
Some of those other players would be Mitty 2017 shooting guard Daniela Guglielmo, 2016 guard Jahnay Anderson, and rising 2018 guard Karisma Ortiz.
Phillips, who has coached Mitty to six state championships and the USA Nationals Team to two Gold Medals, will miss the second half of the viewing period to be part of a group of three coaches selected for the Nike Elite Skills Academy July 27-29 in Augusta, Georgia.
The Mitty mathematics teacher, who has become one of the nation’s most respected girls basketball coaches, will be the lead clinician. Former Rutgers basketball player and coach John Lucas II will be heading up skills, and college basketball and WNBA analyst and co-host of the ESPN Women's Basketball podcast Debbie Antonelli, will be in charge of the administration.
Cal Stars on the move
The Cal Stars Nike Elite team will open July at the End of the Trail in the Platinum Bracket, the tourney’s top division, with Cal Stars teams also competing in the Silver, White, Yellow and Violet Brackets.
From Oregon the Cal Stars and director and head coach, and Prep2Prep NCS Girls Coach of the Year, Kelly Sopak of Miramonte-Orinda, move on to the nation’s top summer club basketball tournament, The Battle in the Boro in the Nashville, Tennessee area from July 10-12.
After Nashville and the dead period they go to the July 23-25 North Tartan Meltdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then end the viewing period at the Nike Nationals in North Augusta, South Carolina. Only the Nike Elite and 15U Nike Elite teams will go to all four tournaments.
The Nike Elite team, which already captured the prestigious Boo Williams tournament in April, is led by Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball finalist and State Junior of the Year Sabrina Ionescu of Miramonte. State Freshman of the Year Aquira DeCosta, and First Team All-State Junior Kat Tudor, both of defending CIF Open Division champion St. Mary’s-Stockton, and rising Salesian-Richmond 2016 Minyon Moore, are also on the roster.
Orinda Magic and EBX have full schedules
The Orinda Magic will also have teams at the End of the Trail, the Chicago – EYBL event, and then after the dead period they go to Southern California for the July 23-25 San Diego International Games at Alliant International University.
The top players for the Orinda Magic Black head coach and Salesian head coach Stephen Pezzola are fast-rising 2018 guard Lesila Finau of Dublin and Salesian 2016 guard JulieAnn Martin.
EBX (East Bay Xplosion) director and head coach Mark Anger has teams in action. The EBX black team competes at the July 5-8 Run for the Roses Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, then heads to the Nashville area for the Apache Paschall Memorial Showcase, then move on to the Battle in the Boro, and finally return home to host the Summer in the City event.
Anger sent a Tweet last week about his star Naje Murray, a 2017 from St. Mary’s-Stockton that has been having a great summer so far.
“Naje Murray 2017 will have a great Summer for EBX Black 1 Run for the Roses Apache Memorial and the Boro Can't wait!!”
