For most of the last decade, other than the final years of Courtney Christmas at Liberty, the best of West Valley girls basketbal has been easy to spot - Millennium or Valley Vista.
In the last two years, these were the clear top two programs in the state, with only Hamilton having a legitimate argument otherwise. Valley Vista has five of the last six 6A state titles, while Millennium won 5A all four years since moving down there - and lost to the first Valley Vista title team in the 2017 6A state final.
As the Open Division debuts this year the power has shifted decisively baack eastward. The calendar turned to 2023 with Desert Vista, Hamilton, Perry and Xavier playing like the clear top four teams in the state.
And in the last week before most schools kicked into holiday break, the most eagerly anticipated game was not the annual Millennium-Valley Vista showdown Dec. 15. It was a rivalry battle of unbeatens when Mountain Ridge visited O'Connor.
The Eagles served notice to Westside and the rest of 6A, by shutting down Georgia commit Miyah Verse and routing the Mountain Lions, then ranked in MaxPreps' top 5 for Arizona, 56-31.
“I didn’t expect it to come out that good. I didn’t think we were going to come out and get it right away. I thought it was going to take a little bit. Credit to Taeja so much. She was on her like crazy and everybody probably underestimated her because she’s little but she went on her. The rest of her team, we all had her help the whole time,” O'Connor senior guard Makaylei Snyder said. “We all took it personal. We’re 27th and they’re 3. That’s personal for us. They have this top player but we have all the pieces we need. We won as a team.”
Millennium also dominated its rival for the final three quarters after Valley Vista nabbed an early 6-2 advantage. clamping down on the Monsoon's attempts at post entry passes and feasting off the resulting turnovers.
The visiting Tigers limited a much younger Valley Vista team to two points in the second quarter and five in the third en route to a 53-29 blowout. Junior guard Elli Guiney led the way with 18 points, 8 rebounds and a bunch of deflections.
“She reads well and she’s got good length. We stat deflections and she does a good job of getting tips on the ball. Our total defense was tremendous, our guard pressure on the ball and our post defense,” first-year Millennium coach Danny Soliman said. “She’s bought in. She’s a coachable kid that wants to get better.”
Seven other Millennium players scored at least three points with senior newcomer Bella Barrett adding seven points and five rebounds.
For more veteran Tigers it was a dose of revenge from the last time these two teams met in Surprise, the COVID-19 shortened 2021 season. Valley Vista took Millennium apart for most of the night, leading 38-16 at halftime and 44-20 after three quarters before a late Tigers run made the 67-56 final look deceptively close.
Soliman was coaching O'Connor that season and said the best part of this win was how routine his team made it look.
“I think it’s us doing what we’re supposed to do. It’s satisfying when you beat a rival, but we’re doing exactly what we expected to do,” Soliman said. “Our physicality was really good, our ability to bump them off their spots and not let them get anything easy.”
In that 2021 season, Barrett starred at district rival Verrado, which fell to the Tigers in the 5A semifinals after splitting two regular season games. She left the Vipers to play for the new Arizona Elite Prep national girls program last season, then headed for Millennium when that team collapsed after one year.
Which prep teams fell apart, and which teams poached West Valley players, is the driving force behind the shifting landscape.
The new year hearkens the bulk of region play. And the 32-team Open Division automatically takes the top 8 ranked teams in 6A, 5A and 4A, along with the eight next best teams from the three conferences by power point rankings.
So where do I rank the four teams I've seen so far? As an aside, yes I do believe these are the four best teams in the West Valley (at least in the long run). One game Tuesday night will serve as a litmus test to see if I'm right.
The easiest way to determine my West Valley hierarchy? See how the tht top programs fared in the prep school ... err ... "transfer portal."
1. O'Connor (8-2 overall, 6-0 regular season)
Other than the state's new #1 Desert Vista (which picked up Shay Ijiwoye from Arizona Elite Prep, and freshman prodigy Jerzy Robinson - who likely plays for Arizona Elite or PHH Prep if either teams till existed) no high school girls program received a bounty like O'Connor.
The Eagles' top three players were not there last season. Neither was their coach.
“It has been a phenomenal ride so far. All of the girls have bought into the principles and things that I have installed,” first-year coach Charles Wilson said. “And they’ve made sacrifices. All of them are kids that are used to having the ball in their hands and scoring a lot. We’ve got a balanced attack and they’ve bought into that.”
Snyder and junior forward Thalia Daniels played for Arizona Elite Prep last season after playing for O'Connor when Soliman was coach there two years ago. Senior guard Kairlyn Elsholz transferred in from Cactus Shadows.
All three are averaging between and 11 and 12 points per game for the Eagles and keeping the ball moving. They set the trend defensively too, averaging 1.5 to 2.1 steals for Wilson's swarming defense.
Danels plays more like a big in half court defense and on the boards, but opens up the offense with her ability to shoot the three. She leeds O'Connor with 41 long range attempts and is hitting 39 percent.
She said the Eagles new coaches have given players a sense of freedom
“They really encourage you to do your thing. If you’re good at shooting, they encourage you to. If you’re good at dribbling they encourage you to drive to the basket. They’re really tough. They harp on you when you need to be harped on. But they’re also super supportive,” Daniels said.
Thus far every new piece of the puzzle has fit, including Wilson, in his first year as assistant coach after two years as a Millennium girls assistant.
“It’s such a fun environment. We’re all so close off the floor, which we never had before. It’s a totally different chemistry. It’s like (Wilson is) one of us, we can joke with him and he can joke with us. But it’s totally serious when it comes to game time and practice time. It’s awesome … my favorite year,” Snyder said.
O'Connor finished the Nike Tournament of Champions 2-2 Losing to Orange (Claif.) Lutheran and Omaha Skutt Catholic and beating Long Beach (Calif.) St. Anthony and Mesquite.
Right now the Eagles are a bit behind the top four East Valley teams. But their home game Wednesday should give us a good idea who's really #5 in 6A. Region rival Pinnacle is 11-4 and ranked #5 in 6A and among AIA teams by MaxPreps. The Pioneers also beat Mesquite and loss to Skutt Catholic in the Nike tournament and visit Happy Valley for a toss up game.
“It’s early … very, very early. So I want to pump the brakes a little bit and see how it goes. But it’s been awesome,” Wilson said after the Mountain Ridge win.
2. Millennium (5-7 overall, 4-2 regular season)
The overall record is a bit misleading because of the tough Nike Tournament of Champions bracket the Tigers played in. Millennium was 8-5 at this point last year and only Sunrise Mountain really troubled the Tigers on the way to the 5A title.
The regular season losses are to Mater Dei (Santa Anna Calif.) and Xavier Prep. In addition to Valley Vista, the Tigers beat defending 4A champion Tucson Salpointe Catholic 52-45 at Hoophall West in Scottsdale.
But this team is not playing like the squad that pushed Desert Vista before losing in the Lady X final in June. Millennium lost to 4 California teams and each game was less competitive than the last.
Each of the past two years, this teamw as the #3 seed in the 5A tournament and rolled through it undefeated. With the current Open Division format, though, the Tigers seed could drop to the mid 10s.
I think Millennium makes the final eight of the Open Division but does it as a seed anywhere from 12-20, knocking off a highly ranked opponent n the way.
3. Mountain Ridge (10-2 overall, 6-1 regular season)
The Mountain Lions, cnversely, are rated too high by MaxPreps, tops among these four teams. To me they're closer to #4 or even #5 in the West Valley.
Admittedly, my view of the team is based on seeing it only on its worst night at O'Connor. The Mountain Lions were never in the game, as O'Connor jumped to a 10-0 lead and was up double digits almost all night.
“I was expecting a tie game at halftime, or something like that. I knew it was going to be back and forth. But I did not expect for us to fold so hard like that. I was telling them at halftime, ‘I can’t lead you if I don’t recognize who I’m leading,’” Mountain Ridge coach Jaime Carreon said. “I don’t know if it was the big game, or the crowd, or O’Connor or what it was. We’re too good to play that bad.”
However, better teams can use that game as a blueprint. What looks like a balanced team on paper fractures if opponents can prevent SEC-bound power guard Verse from creating for herself or others.
O'Connor assigned 5-5 junior Taeja Bartee to Verse to hound her dribble penetration and doubled her without being predictable. It worked, and the Mountain Lions offense often became Verse going 1-on-2 or 1-on-3 or other starters like Alyssa Fraulino, Hannah Uhlenhop and Janae Floyd passing the ball around the perimeter without getting very close to the basket.
“They played well and they knocked down shots and we didn’t. We couldn’t buy a basket to save our life and we couldn’t get into the lane enough. We were settling for outside shots because their defense was in our face,” Carreon said.
Carreon built a solid program for the past four seasons, but the arrival of Verse from Arizona Elite Prep completely changed the program's short term outlook. There aren't many 6-1 wings with point guard handles and a post game out there.
Mountain Ridge beat Gilbert and Sunnyslope early, and this team should make the first or second round of the Open Division before falling and heading back into the 6A bracket.
With the top individual talent in the West Valley, a bit aove Guiney, the Mountain Lions are an absolute threat to win the 6A crown.
Tonight will give us more of a bead on Mountain Ridge as it plays one of the top four 4A teams in Deer Valley. Ignore the Skyhawks 4-4 record as those losses were to Hamilton and three talented out-of-state squads.
Carreon said a main goal is improvment by the Jan. 21 O'Connor rematch.
“One goal I want to make sure we do is that we’re constantly growing. Use this game as an example. If we play like this the next time we play them, what goal are we really getting to?” Carreon said.
4. Valley Vista (6-5 overall, 0-3 regular season)
It feel silly ranking any team coached by Arizona hall of famer Rachel Matakas fourth in the West Valley and the Monsoon could be a very different squad as we enter February.
Sophomore Destiny Lunan was expected to lead the defending 6A champs into a competition with the East Valley's best for the Open title. But she transferred to Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale later in the summer.
This team was always going to be young. but now it lacked an offensive focal point. Seniors Olivia Arvallo and Hannah Young are top notch role players who are both averaging 10 points a game but not ideal for carrying an offense.
Freshmen Isa Juarez and Deja Strong have their moments, as does junior post player Emma Dasovich, who transferred in from Minnesota.
Losses to Seton Catholic, Cactus Shadows and Millennium knocked the Monsoon back. But Valley Vista regained momentum, beating Monument Valley and Gilbert to win its bracket of the Epic Turney's New Year's Classic.
Desert Vista visits in a week. Then, California tournament play, followed by a fairly easy region play.
Cesar Chavez is the only West Valley Region opponent that can give the Monsoon a game or help its power points really.
By the end of the year the Monsoon will make the Open and have an outside shot at the final 8. But I'll predict the ultimate irony - Valley Vista gets knocked down to the 6A bracket and by then has grown into the team that wins the conference - yet again.
