San Diego Waves players Liv Harness, Tatiana Harness, Atlanta Bass-Sulpizio and Jasmine Bernabe all looked during first stop on our annual Girls of Summer tour. Photo: Harold Abend.
After taking a few days off from being co-director of the massive Cali Live boys basketball event in Roseville, Harold Abend hits the road again for girls basketball during the NCAA July viewing period and the first of our Girls of Summer features focuses on some very exciting players, some of them who haven’t yet started high school. We also have a list of nearly 20 players who greatly helped their cause at the End of the Trail SoCal Showcase.
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Days one and two of the first half of the NCAA July Viewing Period for certified girls basketball events saw us covering the End of the Trail (EOT) SoCal Showcase at the AIM Center in Seal Beach beginning on Thursday and concluding on Monday.
Of the games covered on Thursday and Friday, most of the players that will get fairly high marks in the upcoming Cal-Hi Sports Girls of Summer Player Rankings will be high schoolers, however, at the EOT SoCal Showcase there was no shortage of youngsters that found our radar screen and turned some heads of the college coaches in attendance.
Based on that, the decision for the first two days of viewing period coverage was spent trying to uncover some hidden talent, or “diamonds in the rough” as unproven and somewhat untested talent is referred to in just about any sport where players that haven’t even entered high school are being evaluated.
Lucia Khamenia is a 6-foot seventh grader from Harvard-Westlake School who is the younger sister of Class of 2025 national/state boys standout Nikolas Khamenia. Photo: Harold Abend.
Topping the list is Olivia “Liv” Harness and Lucia Khamenia, a couple of 13-year-olds who earned just about the same marks for the upcoming Girls of Summer Player Rankings despite having totally different games and positions that are poles apart.
Khamenia is a 6-foot post from the Class of 2029 that is currently attending Harvard-Westlake of Studio City as a seventh-grader and plans on playing for the 2024 CIF Division II state champion Wolverines once she becomes a ninth-grader.
Of all the incoming freshmen or younger observed on the first day at Seal Beach, Khamenia earned the top mark for middle-schooler inside players, but to California high school basketball aficionados it should come as no surprise. Lucia is the younger sister of Nik Khamenia, a 6-foot-8 incoming senior forward for the CIF Open Division state champion and Cal-Hi Sports No. 1 Harvard-Westlake who was a Cal-Hi Sports All State First Team Juniors and Second Team Open/D1 selection, and who has two dozen offers including heavyweights like Duke, North Carolina and Kansas, plus several other Big 10 and former Pac 12 schools like UCLA and Stanford.
Lucia is still developing but she certainly didn’t lack aggressiveness right from the start of her first game BTI Elite Pro Elite16 17U out of Pasadena against the Northwest Blazers 17U from Montana and Idaho. Less than a minute into the game, she forced two held balls and blocked a shot playing in the post. She needs to develop her mid-range shot but her aggressiveness on the glass and on defense and her passing game are far superior to most any girls her age.
At that point we looked at the coaches packet to see some details about Khamenia and when we saw 2029 next to her name it warranted a double take.
Harness Can Be Hard to Handle
La Jolla County Day head coach Terri Bamford has a penchant for developing young talent that has led her to four CIF state championships in eight appearances and 722 career coaching victories, good enough for ninth-place all time in state history.
This summer as the head coach of the San Diego Waves club team from the San
Diego area, Bamford has more than one up-and-comer she’s nurturing toward stardom.
Topping the list is Olivia Harness, a flashy 2029 combo guard who slightly edged out Khamenia as the top middle-schooler in the initial upcoming Girls of Summer Player Rankings, but impressed in a much different manner.
First off, Harness can shoot the three-pointer, and she converted four in a Friday romp by the Waves over West Coast Hustle from the Santa Clarita Valley, and four, including two from NBA-range in a Saturday blowout of West Coast Elite Los Angeles 16 National based in El Segundo. Harness can also handle the rock and easily broke down the defense of the Hustle. Her court vision and passing is excellent, and she has quick feet on defense.
One analyst contacted and queried who was not at the EOT SoCal Showcase but saw Liv in action made this anonymous comment.
“Liv is popular, super talented with the rock, handles go crazy!!!” he texted.
Liv is popular for sure. Back in 2022 when she was 11, and in a guest spot on NBA on TNT, Harness revealed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the NBA and told Shaquille O’Neal she could “drop” him with “one move.” That has led to tens of thousands of social media followers.
More Kids Coming Up To Watch
There were several other very solid current middle-schoolers or incoming freshmen observed on the first two days.
Bamford has another gem playing for the San Diego Waves in Jasmine Bernabe, an incoming freshman point guard who will be attending San Diego Westview. Another middle-school standout was Lucia Wright, an incoming freshman at La Jolla Country Day who was unafraid to mix it up inside with the bigs despite being only a 5-foot-7
combo guard.
Raani Erekson, a 2028 from San Marcos, made five three-pointers in a game and that was the most observed at Seal Beach. She also showed good ball handling skills.
Amiyah Aldridge, a 2029 from Inglewood, may be diminutive in stature at 5-foot but she has a crafty game and can handle the rock and turned some heads of the college coaches and analysts.
We were unable to see all the teams in action but other players from incoming sophomores to seniors we did see that made enough of an impression at the EOT in Seal Beach to garner a mid-range ranking in the upcoming Girls of Summer Player Rankings include:
Taylor Ballew (Marlborough, Los Angeles) 5-10, 2026
Leila Boykin (Marlborough, Los Angeles) 6-0, 2026
Atlanta Bass-Sulpizio (La Jolla Country Day) 5-9, 2026
Tatiana Harness (La Jolla Country Day) 5-5, 2026
Kellis Hawkins (Etiwanda) 6-4, 2025
Chloe Hines (La Costa Canyon, Carlsbad) 5-9, 2027
Stella Hoss (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 6-2, 2027
Ayla Johnson (Bishop’s, La Jolla) 5-9, 2026
Keira Kamida (Mark Keppel, Alhambra) 5-2, 2025
Nevvaeh Lemons (Long Beach Poly) 5-4, 2025
Mia Matautia (St. Joseph, Santa Maria) 6-0, 2025
Anik Nortikyan (Crescenta Valley, La Crescenta) 6-0, 2027
Moana Peterson (Bishop’s, La Jolla) 5-4, 2026
Bailey Prewitt (Long Beach Poly) 5-7, 2026
Jazmine Shamburger (Long Beach Poly) 5-9, 2025
Amira Smith (El Camino, Woodland Hills) 5-10, 2026
Melina Wehrle (St. Monica Prep, Santa Monica) 5-11, 2025
Day three of the first half of the NCAA July Viewing Period will see coverage from the Hype Her Hoops Summer Showcase at Ladera Ranch.
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
