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A big two weeks of high school basketball culminates in Thursday’s girls’ State Champions Invitational, a tournament created last year as another way for the country’s top teams to square off in postseason play. Last week featured two national events, the McDonald’s All American Game and the Geico Nationals.
The boys’ and girls’ SCI tournaments, at Georgetown University, will be available on ESPN+, ESPNU and ESPN2. The girls’ tournament gets underway Thursday with games at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET. Friday’s girls’ games are at noon and 2 p.m., with the championship game Saturday at 10 a.m. on ESPNU.
Defending SCI champion and top seed Sidwell Friends from Washington, D.C., the current No. 2 in the SCNext Top 25, returns for this year’s event, as does Centennial (Nevada), the No. 4 seed in the six-team single-elimination tournament.
Eligible teams must win their respective state championship and be selected by the SCI committee. Criteria are national rankings, strength of schedule, roster and record, as well as approval from individual state federations. Only nine states, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawai’i, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, Utah and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., currently allow their teams to participate.
This year’s field includes numerous college-bound seniors and espnW Top 100-caliber players. Headliners include two of the top freshmen in the country, Jordyn Jackson (Sidwell) and Jerzy Robinson (Desert Vista). Sensational twin sophomores Mia and Mya Pauldo lead Morris Catholic out of New Jersey. They represent the new age of name, image and likeness as they already have a promotional deal with Puma. No. 13 junior Kendall Dudley of Sidwell Friends is said to be making her college decision soon. She is expected to choose between North Carolina and UCLA.
Here’s a deeper look into each team competing in the SCI.
No. 1 seed: Sidwell Friends (D.C.)
Coach: Tamika Dudley
Record: 28-3
Key wins: Duncanville, South Grand Prairie, Lone Peak, Montverde,…
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