Girls California Live brings national prospects, college coaches to Placer County

The high school recruiting trail is red hot this summer and last weekend, Placer County was a hotbed for some of the top girls basketball prospects in the country. Girls California Live brought more than 100 high schools from the West Coast to Roseville's Roebbelen Center for a three-day showcase tournament, drawing the attention of college coaches ranging from Folsom Lake College to Michigan and Iowa. It's one of a few NCAA-certified tournaments on the West Coast, and while most collegiate recruiting is done through AAU tournaments and showcases, this gives coaches a rare glimpse at players with their high school teams. "In AAU, you see how these players play well with other talents, which is what college is in general. But in college, you got to play in the system on a team and that's what you see in high school," said Jessup assistant Matt Lowry. "When they play in these tournaments or in the playoffs, we're going to see how they play in a system on a team a lot of the time when the stakes are high." Lowry also said it's important for the area to host these tournaments, especially for Jessup as it transitions to NCAA Division II and looks to expand its outreach and build on its brand. "It's outstanding for us because we're right up the road. We're only 10 minutes away so this is right in our backyard," said Lowry. "We can tell everybody about our school and not only that, but kids can come up and check out the campus, too. It's great just to have so many good schools, good players in one area, especially in California. When we recruit AAU, we have to go to Chicago or Vegas." "I think it's a huge thing for high school basketball, especially in our area and in teams that are coming from out of the area," said Sierra assistant Tom Tran, who has also coached AAU in the area for years. "The experience that they get here as high school players is huge. It's also a great atmosphere. I mean, we don't really ever get this in Roseville. I think it's an amazing opportunity." Some college coaches preferred to keep their recruiting strategies close to the vest, such as an assistant from Nevada who declined an interview, while others were open about what they are looking for at a showcase of some of the top talent in the state. Lowry said he comes into the tournament with an idea of players that are on his radar, but keeps an open mind in case anyone stands out. "You come in predetermined of a list of players that you've looked at during the spring summer, but then there may be a kid that catches our eye and has us thinking, 'Where'd this kid come from?' " said Lowry. "We're a defensive team so that's a big thing that we look at. Of course, character as well. Jessup is a private Christian university, so character is a big thing, especially in our program." Small schools get exposure The showcase provides an equally big opportunity for the players. Madalyn Sigrist of Colfax is a senior with all of the tools and traits a college coach is looking for. She's a talent that should play at the next level but still hasn't found her future home. Tournaments like California Live give her exposure to more coaches on a bigger stage against quality opponents. Sigrist doesn't feel any extra pressure with the coaches looking at her. She has played under the bright lights at Golden 1 Center at the state championships and knows she can perform on the big stage. "As long as I play like my best and my best impresses them, it's fine," says Sigrist, who is talking to multiple programs. "There's no need to go out of my way to try and impress them." Sigrist impressed in the tournament, helping the Lady Falcons go 2-2 with wins over Whitney and Livermore. Colfax also faced two of the top teams in the state in Southern Section power La Salle and Bay Area stalwart Pinewood. Faith Christian of Yuba City was another small school that showed it can hang with some of the larger powers in the region, narrowly falling to Lincoln of Stockton 56-53 behind a strong performance by Lauren Harris. Tran, who coaches Harris in AAU, says the tournament is pivotal for a player like Harris because it allows her to be seen by more coaches. "Faith Christian won the NorCal title in D-VI, but not a lot of colleges are going to their campus," said Tran. "Now they have a row of coaches here to see them." National recruits shine Some of the top recruits in the country were in action, attracting large crowds of Division I coaches to catch a glimpse of the blue-chip prospects in hopes of winning them over and drawing them to campus. One of the biggest crowds of the weekend was for Archbishop Mitty, which finished last season ranked in the top 10 nationally after reaching the CIF Open Division championship game. The Monarchs boast 2026 top-100 player Devin Cosgriff and four-star 2028 recruit Maliya Hunter. Other notable stars in action were all-state forward Saundra Jordan of Cardinal Newman and Myella Chapman of Bishop O'Dowd, who's ranked as the No. 54 prospect in the nation by ESPN. New coaches get to work Multiple area schools have new coaches this season, and the tournament gave them a chance to learn about their new teams and see them in action against stiff competition to learn which lineups work and see how each player fits into the system. "When you have college coaches all around, it kind of adds a layer of pressure, and it's a good type of pressure for our girls to understand what the college atmosphere is like," said Amir Farooq, who is taking over as head coach at Del Oro. "It's helping our program a lot, just to be able to get this type of exposure. We are still early in the summer but a lot of this tournament is helping us build for the season." Some coaches don't put any weight into the results of the tournament or the competition they are seeing in June and are primarily focused on getting the team on the same page before the season tips off. "It doesn't matter to me what the level of competition is that we're playing," said Ryan Gee, who is taking over at Lincoln. "I'm using the summer just to get everyone a little bit more experienced, a little bit more comfortable and just playing basketball and having fun again."