Leuzinger's Watts brightest among SBAC All-Stars
TORRANCE >> It had been more than a month since Madison Watts last stepped onto a basketball court, but in Friday night's South Bay Athletic Club Senior All-Star basketball classic, Watts didn't miss a beat.
The Leuzinger High senior scored 33 points, including five 3-pointers, helping lead the American squad to a 112-80 victory over the National team in the 27th annual girls all-star game at El Camino College.
“I wasn't really nervous but I haven't played in a while,” the Loyola Marymount University-bound Watts said. “The energy was fun and the crowd was good.
It was fun playing against some of the girls I played against in high school.”
Watts' high school career-high in points was 43, and she said she was feeling her shot more on Friday after working on some things with her father prior to the All-Star classic.
“My shots were falling,” said Watts, who spent the final two years of her highschool career at Leuzinger. “I had been working on stuff with my dad, and that's how I made it happen.”
It wasn't just Watts who had a big night for the American squad. Westchester's Mariah Blake added 21 points, with North Torrance's Leyna Miyake scoring 16.
Blake, who is headed to Cal State Los Angeles in the fall, said it took her a few minutes to get her energy.
“My energy was up and down, but I feel like I had more energy toward the end of the game,” said Blake, who called Lisa Leslie her favorite WNBA player.
South Torrance's Leah Richard had nine points for the American team, Rolling Hills Prep's Madinique Shibata
had eight and North Torrance's Bailey Enomoto finished with five.
Redondo's Ella Zimmerman led the National team with 22 points. The University of Portland-bound forward relished the chance to play alongside others with whom she had grown up playing.
“I've been playing with (Redondo teammate) Ashley Minei since we were in the sixth grade,” Zimmerman said. “It was a lot of fun playing with and against girls I've been playing for the last four years.”
Torrance's Bella Roosa had 12 points; St. Mary's Heidi Luna added 10 for the American team. San Pedro's Shalia Coleman finished with nine and North Torrance's Reese
Noa added eight.
Roosa, who admittedly was caught off guard when she got the call to play in the all-star game, said she draws her basketball inspiration from Clippers' guard James Harden.
“I love watching (Harden),” Roosa said. “I get a lot of my power and moves from him.”
The game was full of teammates playing against each other, and in one instance, Zimmerman blocked a shot by Sea Hawks teammate Elyse Cho. When asked if there was any good-spirited trash talk, Zimmerman quickly shot down any inclination that's part of her evenkeeled game.
“I don't really engage in trash talk,” Zimmerman said.