Two of the top-ranked players at first-ever Girls California Live 23 event are Samari Bankhead of L.A. Windward (left) & Devin Cosgriff of Oakland Bishop O’Dowd. Photos: Harold Abend.
Connecticut-committed Morgan Cheli from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose and Brazilian transplant and newfound phenom Taissa “Tissa” Queiroz of Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman were the top two players among some pretty impressive talent that performed for around 75 college coaches at the Roebbelen Center in Roseville two weeks ago. We have starting top five, next eight best as second team and another 38 third team or on the bubble.
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Notes: Of the 96 varsity teams that competed at Girls California Live 23 there were 24 teams that were seeded in the Open Division, and most but not all players that made these evaluations competed for Open Division teams. We didn’t get to see State Freshman of the Year McKenna Woliczko because she was busy representing the USA U16 Team in Merida, Mexico at the FIBA Americas where she established herself as the No. 2 underclass player in the nation and the world. As the Co-Tournament Director it was not possible to see a lot of games but we did see four of the Top 5 players compete. Because of that, we brought in Arizona girls basketball analyst George Courtney of GC3hoops.com to assist with evaluations and he contributed to this report. Executive Editor Mark Tennis was also on hand for one day and contributed to a couple of the evaluations. The first team consists of a Starting Five in order of their evaluations, and the next eight who could be called second team. There are 38 on the third team/bubble. Only players observed were evaluated. Some non first-team players on the college watch list were not observed.
FIRST TEAM
Starting Five
(in order)
1. Morgan Cheli (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose) G, 6-2, 2024
The Connecticut-committed Cheli had nothing to prove at Girls California Live 23 and for the first two days, Thursday and Friday, when her Archbishop Mitty teammates were comfortable winners in three Open Division games, she cheered her Monarchs’ teammates on from the bench. Cheli sprung into action on Saturday and showed why she is the top player in Northern California and a potential leading preseason candidate for 2024 Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year honors. She was content on playing mostly defense in the first half against Oregon powerhouse Benson Polytechnic of Portland, but despite foul trouble she took over in the second half to lead Mitty to a 70-54 victory. Before Cheli would talk about herself she wanted to talk about the event and the unique opportunity. “We’re going to use this tournament to go forward, and improve, and come together, and work on our chemistry, and our bond as a team. This kind of tournament will help us in the future.” She looked good in the CIF Open Division title game loss to Etiwanda but on the final day of Cali Live she looked even better and says she’s over the foot problems. Next, she will make the summer circuit playing for the Cal Stars. “I’m healthy and I’m excited about what’s coming up. We go to Oregon and then Chicago so I’m looking forward to that for sure.”
