Washington WBB Preview, Pt. 1: Freshman Focus

Washington Women’s Basketball is around the corner and the expectations are high for the number thirty-six team in the country. In fact if all goes well on our easy non conference schedule, it is extremely likely our Christmas matchup against Louisville will be a ranked game. Langley is still relatively new with the program and for that we will break this up by looking at Freshman, Washington’s good cop, bad cop duo, and the rest of the team. Stay tuned for a stats page and game threads for the team’s bigger games this year.

GUARD Chloe Briggs (5’11) — Ontario, California

(High School Stats): 28.2 PPG | 10.8 RPG | 7.7 APG | 3.3 SPG

(Accolades): CIF Player of the Year X2, Ambassador League Player of the Year X3, First Team All-CIF X4, John Wooden Award X2, 2023 Inland Empire Basketball Outstanding Performance Award, 2023 McDonald’s All-American Games Nominee

(Background): Chloe Briggs joins UW a highly coveted recruit for many different reasons. The Ontario, CA native put up tremendous numbers straight from the get-go averaging 33.8 points per game as a Freshman which is also the highest by a Freshman in school history. With her strength the school went 112-17 in her tenure and 50-0 in league play. It would then take a 32-point performance a couple years later to make her the highest scorer in the CIF Southern Section.

Finishing 93 in the ESPN top 100 came after Briggs placed second at states three times. Rewriting school records in droves, the Knights were forever made different by her talent.

GUARD Ari Long (6’0) — Moreno Valley, CA

(High School Stats): 28.0 PPG | 12.4 RPG | 4.4 APG | 4.1 SPG | 2.0 BPG

(Accolades): Ivy League MVP X3, First Team All-Ivy League X4, First-Team All-CIF SS (Division I) X2, First-Team All-State (SBLive), 2023 Inland Empire Basketball Outstanding Performance Award, 2023 McDonald’s All-American Games Nominee, 2023 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Girls High School Player of the Year Watchlist

(Background): Ari Long, another player from the Golden State comes at the same time as Chloe Briggs with almost complimentary statistics. The six-foot guard’s high school team finished 82-26 over her career there and would also go on to relinquish several school records her way. These include 3,084 total points, 1320 total rebounds and 468 assists. Long has also won two CIF SS Ivy League titles as well.

Ranked 46 in the ESPN top 100, she will go on to enter Washington as California’s leading scorer her Senior year.

FORWARD Olivia Anderson (6’6) — Ellensburg, WA

(High School Stats): 22.0 PPG | 7.1 RPG | 3.0 BPG

(Accolades): First-Team All-District Awards(CWAC) X3, 2023 Washington All-State team, number one ranking on the PrepHoops 2022 Washington Prospects List

(Background): In Central Washington, Ellensburg High School will forever be in her debt as Anderson finished winning three Central Washington Athletic Conference Championships. This was the culmination of a 47-2 conference record for her team and a 72-5 overall record. The team also won two 2A State championships in Anderson’s final two years at Ellensburg.

Peaking at 25 in the ESPN top 100 in 2020, Anderson comes to Washington to study business with the long term goal of coaching or managing teams in the future.

GUARD Sayvia Sellers (5’7) — Anchorage, AK

(High School Stats): 26.0 PPG | 6.0 RPG | 9.2 APG | 5.0 SPG

(Accolades): Max Prep’s Alaska State Player of the Year X2, Gatorade Alaska State Player of the Year X2, conference player of the year X2, First Team All-State X2, state tournament MVP honors X3, Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Player of the Year Watch List, Jersey Mike’s All-America Team, McDonald’s All-American watchlist (sole Alaskan on the list)

(Background): There is absolutely no better way to complete a glowing list of Freshman recruits than with Sellers, debatably the best women’s basketball to come out of Alaska as a new player. Completely flipping the script in the state, Sellers took her team to an overall 92-10 record, three 4A State championship victories, four undefeated conference records, and three conference champion titles.

Ranking at 28 in the ESPN 100, Sellers was the only Alaskan girl’s basketball player to leave high school with a 76-0 in-state record (or better). The most points she scored in a game was 47 in the state semifinals in 2023. She is the state’s all time leading scorer at 2,651 points.