Scorebook Live’s All-Decade Washington high school girls basketball team
BY TJ COTTERILL
Two of the top three all-time scorers in the history of high school girls basketball in Washington played within the past decade. Two others will still be playing next season with a shot to take down the all-time record.
That should partially give a glimpse into how much the game has grown for girls over the past 10 seasons, starting with Brittany McPhee earning three state player of the year awards in four seasons at Mount Rainier, and now with Cashmere guard Hailey Van Lith heading to Louisville as the state’s career scoring leader.
So Scorebook Live decided to commemorate all that’s transpired and compile the All-Decade girls basketball team, consisting of players who played their high school ball at some point between 2010 and 2019.
It’s a roster of 13 players, with five starters and eight on the bench. Players were selected solely based on what they did when they were walking the halls of their high schools, not what they went on to do afterward.
Some continued onto stardom, some didn’t. But all certainly left an impression.
We’ll also let you decide who we snubbed, and who you think should be the All-Decade team’s starting five. Just submit your votes at the bottom of the page.
Let’s get started:
ALL-DECADE STARTING FIVE
LEXIE HULL
F Central Valley (2015-18)
Her Central Valley teams might be some of the best the state has ever seen. From her sophomore season on she only lost one game Hull finished with a career record of 100-6, playing alongside her twin sister, Lacie. But the state was left wondering what could have been when CV’s 52-game win streak was snapped Hull’s junior year against Bellarmine Prep in the state quarterfinals – when the Bears seemed a shoe-in for the state title.
So Hull led a revenge tour the following season in which Central Valley went 29-0. Hull’s career stats would probably be a whole lot more impressive had she not been subbed out by about halftime of most of her games. They beat beat teams by an average of 38.4 points (44.4 in league play) her senior year.
Still, she finished with 1,827 career points and she was a three-time all-state selection, including Gatorade player of the year as a senior when she averaged 20.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.6 steals.
BRITTANY McPHEE
G/F Mount Rainier (2011-14)
Among all the trophies and accolades McPhee compiled as one of the greatest girls basketball players in state history, the only hardware she left Mount Rainier for Stanford without was a state-championship golden ball. She was the back-to-back 4A state tournament MVP her final two years and took the Rams so agonizingly close for three consecutive years.
After losing in the semifinals to Central Valley and Mead as a sophomore and junior, McPhee had to change out of a bloodied jersey late in the semifinals against Moses Lake her senior season before she hit the go-ahead jumper with 15.3 seconds left. She then had 28 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks in the championship against a young and talented Gonzaga Prep squad, which came back from a 12-point deficit to win, 53-51.
But how could you ask any more of a player? McPhee finished her career with 2,815 points (which at the time was second-most in state history behind Davenport’s Jennifer Stinson, 2,881) and 1,411 rebounds. She’s earned Gatorade state player of the year three consecutive seasons – and had a 4.0 GPA. Her senior year McPhee averaged 27.1 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2.8 blocks and 2.3 assists per game, which wasn’t much different from her previous seasons.
MIKAYLA PIVEC
G Lynnwood (2013-16)
You hear a lot of gushing from those who watched Pivec play. She was as great an all-around player as any in state history and a fiery, locked-in competitor on the court. Off it, Pivec was as approachable, selfless and humble as they get. Led Lynnwood to the state championship her junior year, scoring 31 points with 17 rebounds in the title win over Cleveland, and took the Royals to the semifinals her sophomore and senior years (losing to Gonzaga Prep as a sophomore and unbeaten Bellevue her final season) and Pivec finished her career with 1,799 career points and 1,429 rebounds.
She won Gatorade state player of the year her final two seasons and Lynnwood went 98-7 her four seasons there. Her senior season she averaged 21.7 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.4 steals and 4.1 assists per game and now is on the Wooden Watch List as Oregon State’s standpoint point guard (yes, she’s playing point guard these days). She’s probably the best all-around player in the Pac-12 outside of Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu.
She was also a standout in cross country and track and field, winning the state javelin title and helping Lynnwood to the state team title her senior year.
HAILEY VAN LITH
G Cashmere (2017-20)
(Photo by Vince Miller)
That 25-year-old all-time state scoring record sure went out with a bang. Van Lith passed Davenport’s Jennifer Stinson with 46 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in a 1A Caribou Trail League-title win over Omak - and finished her career with a remarkable 2,994 career points.
The five-star Louisville signee, who is the No. 2 ranked senior in the nation by prospectnation.com, earned her fourth consecutive all-state selection nod - this time as the state player of the year.
She broke out as a ninth grader, averaging 23.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, but what was most telling of her game was that she earned co-MVP of her league alongside Jill Townsend, a senior at the time who was coming off back-to-back 2B player of the year seasons and now is leading Gonzaga University’s women’s basketball team in scoring.
Van Lith, a McDonald's All-American selection, reached the 1A title game in three of her four seasons. The Bulldogs lost to Lynden Christian twice - in 2018 and earlier this month - 58-55. She scored a game-high 27 points in her final game.
The reigning two-time Gatorade state player of the year averaged 34.0 points and 10.0 rebounds during her senior season.
JAMIE WEISNER
G Clarkston/Walla Walla (2009-12)
Clarkston had been to one state-title game (in 1991) and never won it until Weisner showed up and carried the Bantams from a 23-14 halftime deficit against East Valley to a 53-41 win in the 2A title. She finished with 33 points and 12 rebounds, with 26 points, eight rebounds in the final 16 minutes. She was a three-time league MVP including her time at Walla Walla, where her dad was the principal before moving to Clarkson where he was a district superintendent. She averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds her senior season.
And she’d have plenty more success at Oregon State, leading the Beavers to their first Final Four with 16 points in a win over No. 1-seed Baylor before falling to UConn. She earned Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2016, was a second-team All-American and a second-round WNBA draft pick to the Connecticut Sun.
Weisner was also an all-league volleyball player, placed in the hurdles and high jump at the state track meet and her older brothers, Brett and Michael played college basketball at Western Washington and Montana, respectively.
ALL-DECADE BENCH
KATIE COLLIER
F Seattle Christian (2009-12)
There were few other more inspiring displays of fight and toughness in the girls basketball scene over the past decade than what Collier lived her teenage years at Seattle Christian. She was a McDonald’s All-American with offers from Duke, UNC and Maryland before heading to UW, all while The Seattle Times’ 2012 state player of the year was undergoing chemotherapy treatments throughout her final season while she battled promyelocytic leukemia (APL).
Yes, she still played, even when a doctor had told her she’d never play again. She was limited to 18 games and missed eight of the Warriors’ first 12 contests, but she played. Collier once cut a chemo session short to show up just in time for a game. In a game against King’s, she played the entire fourth quarter before collapsing in the locker room afterward because she was overheated and dehydrated.
All that should be inspiring enough to be an all-decade player, but she also broke Seattle Christian’s career scoring record and through that agonizing senior season she still averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks per game. She would go on to beat cancer, and recover from a torn ACL, and then start every game at UW her junior and senior seasons. Said one of her former coaches at UW: “Come on. She’s the best story in basketball.”
DALAYAH DANIELS
F Garfield (2017-20)
Daniels is 6-foot-4, yet plays with such a high motor, handles the ball well and runs the floor “like a deer” said her AAU coach. The five-star Cal commit is a McDonald’s All-American and three-time all-state selection (2018-20).
Two years, Daniels scored 20 points with 15 rebounds in a 3A state-title loss against Gig Harbor. Last year she had 17 points, 13 rebounds, eight blocks and eight steals in 25 minutes in a state-tournament game against Roosevelt in the Tacoma Dome. Garfield was later upset by Mount Spokane in the state semifinals.
This season, Daniels missed nearly a month with a foot injury. She returned to lead the surging Metro League runner-up to a Sea-King District second-place finish to Eastside Catholic.
Then at the 3A tournament, the two-time Metro player of the year saved her best performance for last, scoring a game-high 18 points (on 8-for-13 shooting, two 3-pointers) in the Bulldogs' 55-41 victory over Lake Washington to win the 3A crown. She added four rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the victory.
Her best statistical season came in 2018-19 when she averaged 21.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game.
Her father, Dale Sr., is a Garfield graduate and former four-year starter who won a state title with the Bulldogs in 1974 before eventually playing at Central Washington.
OTIONA GILDON
F Gonzaga Prep (2012-15)
Gonzaga Prep had no shortage of thrilling moments on its way to back-to-back 4A state titles in 2014 and 2015 behind Gildon in the post and Laura Stockton, the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer and Spokane native John Stockton, at the point. Their junior seasons Gildon had 18 points and 15 rebounds and scored 10 of G-Prep’s 11 fourth-quarter points to rally back for the state-championship win, the program’s first, over Brittany McPhee’s Mount Rainier. G-Prep coach Mike Arte has coached for more than three decades, but he said had never before seen a post with Gildon’s combination of skill and effort – which made her an exceptional rebounder.
Gildon averaged 15.2 points, 9.1 rebounds per game as a junior, then 18.3 points and 8 rebounds per game in a senior season that ended with a title win over Inglemoor and The News Tribune’s state player of the year award. She lived in Indiana before moving to Spokane in middle school before the five-star recruit landed at Gonzaga Prep and eventually the University of Oregon.
JORDYN JENKINS
F Kentridge (2017-20)
Jenkins was starting as a freshman, but she really made a name for herself in the Tacoma Dome, helping lead the Chargers to the 2018 state title alongside now UW post JaQuaya Miller. Jenkins only got better from there, with the USC commit averaging 21.5 points, 9.2 rebounds last season, earning The Seattle Times’ state player of the year, in Kentridge’s run to the state semifinals. She was averaging 20.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.3 blocks and 2.1 steals this past season before suffering a season-ending knee injury after her 10th game.
The five-star recruit has averaged in double figures every season, steadily taking her game farther out of the paint with each passing season, too. She’s gone from a 6-foot-2 ultra-competitor below the rim to adding attacks from the wing and step-back jumpers.
ERIKA JOHNSON
G Holy Names (2008-11)
Johnson was the most versatile player in the state, a 6-foot-1 guard who could knock down step-back jumpers or post up smaller defenders. But where she really excelled was defensively. In the state tournament her senior year she had 71 total rebounds, setting the tournament record, and helped cap Holy Names’ season at 29-0 and a 3A state championship trophy, beating previously unbeaten Prairie. Johnson had six points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the game.
That completed Holy Names’ revenge tour, one year after losing to Cleveland in the 3A title game, with Johnson leading her team with 13 points. She’d go on to average 16.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 4 steals and 2.4 blocks per game her senior year and earn Gatorade state player of the year, as well as Parade Magazine All-American before heading to Cal and eventually North Carolina.
DEJA STROTHER
F Inglemoor (2012-15)
Her father, Mark Strother, called her a female version of Shaq. Except the 6-foot-4 Strother was a bit better from the free-throw line. Strother was a McDonald’s All-American her senior season and a three-time all-state selection for leading Inglemoor to state trophies each of her final three seasons, including a trip to the state-championship as a senior, where the Vikings lost to Gonzaga Prep.
Actually, the only teams able to stop Strother in the Tacoma Dome over her career were Brittany McPhee’s Mount Rainier (beat Inglemoor in the quarterfinals two years in a row), or G-Prep. Strother was a program changer, averaging 17.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks her senior year before heading to UW, where she medically retired after the 2017-18 season because of another in a slew of leg injuries. As a junior she averaged 16.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 14.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 blocks as a sophomore.
TALIA VON OELHOFFEN
G Chiawana/Tri-Cities Prep (2018-21)
Before the five-star recruit had transferred to nearby Chiawana entering her junior year, Von Oelhoffen had already scored more than 1,500 career points. Yes, all that as an underclassman at 2B Tri-Cities Prep, where she led the Pasco school to its first state title last season, averaging 30.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 5.1 steals and 3.6 blocks per game (a line that wasn’t much different from her freshman season). In the state championship game last year, she had 25 of her team’s 50 points against Liberty of Spangle, went 12-for-12 at the free-throw line and had eight steals. Earlier in the season against White Swan she had 42 points and 19 rebounds.
Not bad for a 6-foot point guard. She’s strong enough to control most every rebound, which she can use to start her own transition opportunities, and she can hit shots from well beyond the 3-point line. What a nightmare for 2B basketball teams. But not much has changed since moving from the second-smallest classification to the largest at Chiawana, where she averaged more than 25 points, 3 assists and 3 steals as a junior. Keep an eye out next year when she'll chase Van Lith's career scoring record.
MERCEDES WETMORE
G Auburn Riverside (2007-10)
As the decade started, Wetmore put the finishing touches on what was a dominant run for nationally ranked Auburn Riverside, leading the Ravens to a 29-0 season after an overtime victory against Mead in the state championship game. Wetmore hit the dagger buckets late to seal it, finished with 17 points and nine rebounds and earned tournament MVP.
She would head to UW the next season, but not before finishing her high school career with 104 wins and three state titles as a four-year starter. The only year she didn’t get the state-championship trophy was her junior year when AR placed fourth.
Wetmore averaged 17.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.3 steals her senior season to earn Gatorade state player of the year. Said her coach at the time, Terry Johnson: “I don’t think I’ve ever coached a player who has a greater desire to win.”
FIRST FIVE PLAYERS LEFT OFF
Jessie Loera, Moses Lake (2013-16)
- Two-time first-team all-state; two 4A semifinals appearances
Laura Stockton, Gonzaga Prep (2012-15)
-1,308 career points, 414 assists; two-time state champ
Chandler Smith, Brewster (2011-14)
-Two-time 1A POY, won state title, lost another, 4th another
Brooke Pahukoa, Lake Stevens (2010-13)
-Two-time first-team all-state; two-time Herald POY; Four state trips, three Wesco titles
Oumou Toure, Kamiakin (2016-19)
-Notable: 2,137 career points, three-time all-state pick
OTHER PLAYERS CONSIDERED
Tia Presley, Gonzaga Prep (2008-11)
Jenna Moser, Colton (2011-14)
Jill Townsend, Okanogan (2014-17)
Kourtney Eaton, Mark Morris (2012-15)
Anna Wilson, Bellevue (2015-16)
Keeli Burton-Oliver, Eastlake (2017-20)
Anna Luce, Mercer Island (2014-17)
Talia Walton, Federal Way (2008-11)
Shalyse Smith, Bellarmine Prep (2016-19)
Jazmine Redmon, Mead (2007-10)
Jade Redmon, Mead (2010-13)
Jamie Loera, Moses Lake (2015-18)
Jordan Loera, Moses Lake (2008-11)
Makala Roper, Cleveland (2011-14)
