Sydney “Bean” Douglas stands with mom Maylana and dad Rome at their home in the Inland Empire during a visit in August. Photo: Harold Abend / Cal-Hi Sports.
It has only taken three games for Sydney “Bean” Douglas to make an impact as a 6-foot-6 freshman at Ontario Christian. The daughter of former Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year Maylana Martin and former NFL lineman Rome Douglas was the leading scorer for the Knights in their big win last week over preseason state/national No. 1 Etiwanda. We sat down with the family for an interview in August and got the answers why Ontario Christian became the preferred high school destination.
We hope you enjoy this free story on Cal-Hi Sports.com. All future game stories or reports from showcase events from lead girls hoops analyst Harold Abend will be for Gold Club members of our site only. All upcoming state rankings packages plus State Stat Stars of the Week, state record updates and special features also will be for Gold Club members only. If you’re not a member, CLICK HERE.
CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.
Back in 2015, when Katie Lou Samuelson of Santa Ana Mater Dei was named the Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year, there was a play on words. It was a reference to a song by country music superstar Johnny Cash called A Boy Named Sue as Samuelson was called “a girl named Lou” since her nickname at the time was Lou.
Ontario Christian of Ontario 6-foot-6 freshman Sydney “Bean” Douglas has a long way to go to match the exploits of Lou, or her mother, 1996 Ms. Basketball Maylana Martin of Perris and then UCLA and WNBA acclaim. However, after all the hype prior to Douglas even playing the first game of her high school career, and then after the first three games of this season at the Harvard-Westlake Invitational that saw Ontario Christian win them all, including a 74-66 championship game victory by Cal-Hi Sports preseason No. 4 ranked Ontario Christian over top-ranked Etiwanda last Saturday evening, it’s pretty apparent that “The Bean is born.”
Through the first three games, Bean has certainly made her mark. Heading into the Nike Hoopfest in Dallas, Texas this weekend where Ontario Christian opens with nationally ranked Texas Duncanville, and then faces a Texas Monterey of Lubbock that features senior five-star point guard and 247Sports 2025 No. 1 rated Aailyah Chavez, the balance in scoring and rebounding with Bean in the lineup has turned Ontario Christian into a complete package.
Sophomore and reigning Cal-Hi Sports State Freshman of the Year Kaleena Smith put her name in several spots in the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book with her prolific scoring last season. However, it’s not scoring machine Smith that leads the Knights in scoring in the first three games. It’s Bean at 18.7 points per game, although Smith is not far behind at 18.3 per contest.
She may only be a freshman, but Ontario Christian’s young phenom already has done plenty of media interviews. Photo: X.com.
Bean, who is also averaging 8.7 rebounds per game, is also part of a rebounding machine along with 5-foot-10 Tatianna Griffin, another highly regarded freshman who is averaging 10.3 boards a game.
While this is a story is about the high school basketball coming out party for Douglas, and how she sojourned to where she is now, part of the reason mentioning Smith and Griffin and what the trio has been mostly responsible for so far is that the three are best friends.
The irony of this saga is that Bean was originally going to enroll and play at Etiwanda, and in fact she played for Etiwanda in June at the NCAA Scholastic Viewing event in Arizona. The Eagles weren’t just the preseason No. 1 team in the state. They were preseason No. 1 in the nation by some and they are two-time defending CIF Open Division state champions.
Then, word came out via Cal-Hi Sports managing editor and boys’ basketball guru Ronnie Flores that the Douglas family had instead decided to enroll Sydney at Ontario Christian. That led to an introduction to Rome Douglas, Sydney’s father.
Back in August, we visited the Douglas family to interview the blossoming star at their home in the northern foothills of the Inland Empire not far from either of the two schools. How Sydney will develop as a basketball player, young woman and all the other things still to come might not be affected by the change of high schools, or it very well might be, but the question still had to be asked right when we started the interview. Why make the change?
The answer was twofold. It was Sydney who said that the opportunity to play with her childhood friends was a big factor. She also talked about her deep faith, and it was at that point her parents also spoke about one of the deciding factors in making the change being the opportunity for a Christian oriented education.
“Mt faith is very important to me,” Sydney remarked. “So, the opportunity to get an education at a Christian school like Ontario Christian and be able to play with my good friends Kaleena (Smith) and Tati (Tatianna Griffin) was an important factor for me and my family.
“I don’t think anything really works out if you don’t have God at the center,” she continued. “Its all God’s timing so staying humble and keeping him close and everything will work out.”
The decision was made and now it’s at Ontario Christian that the Bean will begin to sprout, but in reality, Bean has been budding for a while.
As the story was told, the nickname “Bean” was given to her by father when she was just a little girl because Sydney Bean rhymes with kidney bean. Little did Rome know his little kidney bean would grow into a freshman who is the prototype modern point forward, although she’s taller than anyone we’ve seen in over 40 years of covering girls high school basketball who can handle the ball up top and do it well. Bean may be tall and long, but for a 15-year-old 6-foot-6 freshman she has a solid frame and moves fluidly, unlike almost all young big girls. We already knew she can shoot the three-pointer. Her upside potential at this point is limitless.
When asked if she likes to handle the rock and shoot the three-pointer, Bean answered “yes” with a huge grin.
After seeing her play, some have asked how Douglas compares to two-time Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year and current USC sophomore Juju Watkins at this stage of her career. The answer is Watkins is 6-foot-2 and plays mostly starting out up top, so it’s not really fair to try and compare the two. We never saw her in high school, but some analysts have compared Bean to Las Vegas Liberty megastar A’ja Wilson when she was in high school in South Carolina, and that’s saying a whole bunch.
Sydney looks like she has a frame that could resemble Wilson, but Bean has two inches on Wilson. Maybe that’s why around 30 Division I colleges have already offered Bean, and who knows how many will eventually, but with just about all the big names already covered, maybe others need not bother.
In no particular order Bean and her family mentioned South Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Cal, Maryland, USC, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State, Louisville, UCLA, Tennessee, Baylor, Texas A&M and Michigan State, plus many more schools that have already made offers.
After she was named Ms. Basketball in 1996, Perris High grad Maylana Martin went to UCLA and scored 2,101 points from 1997 to 2000. She was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame in 2013. Photo: X.com.
More recruiting analysts than not have called Bean the best and most talented and the top player in the Class of 2028 in the nation so between all the hype and recruiting buzz, how does she keep it together?
“I really appreciate all the things being said about me, but I try not to think about it because I don’t want to let it get to my head,” Bean said. “It doesn’t but I just don’t think about it.”
Not surprisingly, when asked what she is thinking about for short term goals her answer was simple and to the point.
“Winning a CIF (Southern Section) championship and state championship and continuing to develop my game,” she said.
Afterward, she added “dunking” which is just on the horizon.
Bean was just as matter of fact about long term goals.
“Go to college, make one of the USA teams, play in the Olympics and get to the WNBA,” she said. “I haven’t really thought about the future if basketball doesn’t work out, but I know I want to go to college and get a good education.”
The Douglas family appears to be well knit. The full kin gathered around to watch the start of the interview. Sydney is the oldest of four, all named after foreign capitals. There are seventh-grade twins London and Rome jr., and Zurich. She’s a fourth grader.
When his football career ended, Rome Douglas found a successful career in packaging sales. After her playing days, Maylana assisted at the University of Portland and then her alma UCLA, and finally Pepperdine. She currently has a career in pharmaceutical sales and still does some work in broadcasting for women’s college basketball.
One of the twists to this story is the fact that there has never been a mother/daughter combination to each be named Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year, a class State Player of the Year, or both to be entered into the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book.
Bean can get a one up on her mother because as the leading candidate for State Freshman of the Year she can earn an honor Maylana never achieved. In fact, Maylana never won the freshman, sophomore or junior player of the year awards, so there are three opportunities to do something her mother never did.
It’s going to take some big-time, four-year scoring for Bean to match the 2,863 career points that earned Maylana a spot in the Record Book on the Most Points (Career) list in the Girls BB Individual Records (Scoring, Shooting) section. As for rebounding, Bean will need a lot of boards to match the 1,501 rebounds Maylana had that earned her another record book spot on the Most Rebounds (Career) in the Girls BB Individual Records (Rebs, Asst, Stls, Blks) section.
One thing is certain, Sydney and Maylana have the best shot in history of both etching their names in the record book and as Ms. Basketball. The journey has just begun.
Bean may have talked about being humble, but sitting in the living room with her parents and with her siblings looking on, she had another matter of fact answer to the question of who is the best athlete in the family?
“I am,” she responded with a giggle and the biggest grin of the day.
One thing is absolutely certain, and that is that this Bean has definitely been born, and she’s sprouting right before our very eyes.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
