The Bee’s Best: Our look at the 40 top girls’ basketball players in the Sacramento area

There are no Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for basketball teams this spring, but there are at least games.

That means more games for Jzaniya Harriel, the talented fourth-year senior guard for top-ranked Antelope High School. She tops The Bee’s Fab 40 girls’ basketball watch list. Harriel is headed to Stanford on scholarship, which will come as a sigh of relief for area programs who have had no answer in slowing her down over four prolific seasons.

In El Dorado Hills, junior wing Teagan Brown of Oak Ridge has her coach Steve White wondering about her place on the school’s all-time list. At Folsom, Charity Gallegos is a fourth-year starting guard who is small in size but enormous in ability.

In the Metro League, Laguna Creek and McClatchy feature a lot of guard talent. For McClatchy: Imani Felix and Saray White. For Laguna Creek: Ahrray Young and Zoey Tillery.

In the outskirts of Placer County, small-school powerhouse Colfax has another star in guard Jazzy Owens.

The Bee’s Fab 40

(alphabetical order):

Joe’l Benoit, Inderkum

Teagan Brown, Oak Ridge

Madison Butcher, Del Oro

Mary Carter, Rocklin

Sophia Covello, Woodcreek

Jiana Creswell, Vanden

Samaya Dillard, Antelope

Bridget Dolan, Union Mine

Imani Felix, McClatchy

Jillian Friedman, El Camino

Charity Gallegos, Folsom

Jzaniya Harriel, Antelope

Sarah Jackson, Christian Brothers

Simone Johnson, West Campus

Kaiija Lesane, Antelope

Emika Love, Cordova

Katie Leeth, Lincoln

Natalie Lundberg, Colfax

Natalie Moulos, Del Oro

Abby O’Brien, Rio Americano

Sophie Olson, Oak Ridge

Jaclyn Orchard, Union Mine

Jazzy Owens, Colfax

Eden Perry, Woodcreek

Harper Peterson, Whitney

Ella Ray, Oak Ridge

Sidney Richards, Inderkum

Diamond Richardson, Grant

Julia Riley, Granite Bay

Kiari Roberts, Vanden

Kira Sadler, Vista del Lago

Heaven Samayoa-Mathis, Sacramento

Alyssa Sandle, Roseville

Skylar Schouten, Davis

Katelyn Sitterud, Granite Bay

Monet Stallworth, Grant

Kristen Sobrepena, Sacramento Adventist

Paisley Specht, Folsom

Saray White, McClatchy

Ahrray Young, Laguna Creek

Zoe Tillery, Laguna Creek

* Who’d we miss? Is there a rebounder, a scorer, an assist maker deserving of Bee Watch List mention? Email to csalerno@sacbee.com

This story was originally published May 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.