Hoophall Classic girls basketball 2026: Biggest storylines, top matchups to watch on Friday

It might just be the best day of the year for national-level high school girls basketball action.

Friday at the Hoophall Classic has a six-game slate with some of the best talent from across the country on display. It may well end up deciding the national title race and providing the best head-to-head matchups of all of 2025-26.

Here's a preview including top storylines followed by most exciting potential individual matchups and then schedule with streaming information:

Ontario Christian and Sierra Canyon try to shore up national title race for California

When No. 1 Ontario Christian and No. 6 Sierra Canyon take on No. 3 Bishop McNamara and No. 8 Long Island Lutheran, respectively, these Southern California powerhouses are fighting to remain undefeated (when at full-strength) and add resume bullets for their own stock.

That much is quite obvious.

But those who've followed the last three or more years of high school girls basketball from a national lens know that there are other stakeholders in these games besides the four teams in action. The most unmistakable ones are No. 11 Etiwanda and No. 4 Archbishop Mitty, which have met in California's CIF Open Division state finals three years in a row, with Etiwanda winning all three times and winning disputed national titles the last two seasons.

If Ontario Christian and Sierra Canyon hold off arguably the top two national title contenders on the East Coast, that exponentially raises the likelihood that the national championship stays in California. And, of course, the chances that it specifically goes to Ontario Christian or Sierra Canyon.

Bishop McNamara and Long Island Lutheran look to stay in national title race

Forget just putting on for the East Coast – Bishop McNamara and LuHi might have the entire country outside of California (and perhaps Nevada) rooting for them. Because of who they are playing, the Mustangs and Crusaders might not drop a single spot in the rankings if they lose on Friday, but their own national title hopes will be on life support because of a growing trend that they have a chance to snap despite holding two losses each (including a 1-1 record against each other).

That trend is that the national title goes to whomever comes out of California.

For two seasons in a row, Etiwanda has won a disputed national crown by slaying the Golden State's other world beaters en-route to a state crown (including the CIF-Southern Section crown in 2023-24). In fact, in 2022-23, Sierra Canyon fell to Etiwanda in the state semifinals but was named ESPN's national champion "just" by having an undefeated regular season for the ages and winning the Southern Section crown. For most of the four consecutive seasons that Archbishop Mitty lost in the state finals after winning a NorCal Open Division regional title, it would've won a national title itself if the season ended on a better note.

The trend is understandable, as California's top teams are not only among the nation's very best but also usually play some of the hardest schedules. And when they lose in the playoffs, the teams that beat them pick up wins over teams that beat many of the best teams everywhere else in the country. That's aside from the sheer fact that someone has to finish on top in the grueling CIF Open Division postseason, which between sectional and statewide brackets provides a resume that no other state offers. Put it all together and makes it hard to keep national title votes out of California, except for seasons like 2021-22 when Sidwell Friends went undefeated against a world-class schedule.

Seasons like that Sidwell Friends campaign don't come around often, and other than No. 2 DME Academy, No. 5 Princess Anne, No. 9 Johnston, and No. 15 Austin Westlake – which might have a tough time earning national championship votes even if they do finish undefeated – no national contenders outside of California remain unbeaten. Put it all together and Friday may well be a memorable day in modern high school girls basketball history, as hyperbolic as that sounds.

Lastly, one more team that has a dog in this race is No. 7 Incarnate Word Academy, which has lost to both Sierra Canyon and Ontario Christian but recently upset Long Island Lutheran. If the East Coast teams sweep these two games, IWA is suddenly a very serious national title contender for what wouldn't be the first time in recent history.

Can Mater Dei, Christ the King rejoin national rankings?

John Meore/The Westchester County Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn

Before the season, this looked to be a matchup of two 5-star seniors in the frontcourt and two of the top 25 teams in the country, in which Mater Dei would be a somewhat heavy favorite.

Unfortunately, one of those 5-star seniors, Mater Dei F Kaeli Wynn (South Carolina), is missing her entire senior season with an injury. Christ the King has been just a notch below where it needed to be to stay ranked, but only barely. The Royals fell 57-45 to Bishop Ireton and 66-65 to Friends' Central in December, but those are some dang good teams, and wins this week against Monsignor Scanlan and Mater Dei would likely earn CtK a mention in someone's national rankings or at minimum spearhead a gradual return. Mater Dei has mostly played national-caliber ball even without Wynn, beating a slew of formidable teams that are just below the status of nationally ranked, but the Monarchs couldn't muster a strong at Nike TOC, where they went 1-3 facing unranked competition.

With the circumstances being what they are, CtK is a slight favorite, and both of these teams have enough tough competition remaining to finish ranked quite highly if they consistently bring their A-game from here on out. A win on Friday has a great chance to help propel a nice run for whichever team wins.

The player who'll have the most responsibility in slowing down 5-star Christ the King senior Olivia Vukosa (UConn), a 6-foot-5 bruiser and the top true center in high school girls basketball, is probably junior forward Stella Hoss. Standing between 6-2 and 6-3, Hoss is more of the archetype of long, rangy power forward than low post bully, but operating within Mater Dei's extensive help schemes, she might still offer more resistance inside for Vukosa than the vast majority of CtK's other opponents.

Springfield Central or Northwest Catholic will register big win on national platform

Friday's opening contest features two New England teams who aren't on the national radar but are dang good. Both enter with only one loss and can pick up one of their most impressive wins of the regular season with a lot of eyes on them.

Springfield Central is off to a 7-1 start and is ranked first in Massachusetts in MaxPreps' computer rankings. Its only loss came in its season debut and was actually a single-digit affair against nationally ranked Virginia Academy. On Jan. 3, the Golden Eagles handed MaxPreps' reigning national champion, Morris Catholic (NJ), a 72-33 beatdown. With so many key players expected to come back next year, and in many cases, for another year or two after that, Central has a serious chance to rise to national prominence in the years to come.

Like Springfield Central, Northwest Catholic only lost on its season debut against a great team and is since unbeaten at 8-1. It's not often in high school sports that a team has a chance to "put on for Connecticut" with fans from many other states looking on, but this is such a case.

Westtown, The St. James, IMG, Bullis face make-or-break challenges

To clarify about the usage of "make-or-break", all of these teams are outstanding high school girls basketball teams and will stay firmly planted on the national radar no matter what happens Friday. Some of them have lofty goals that don't have anything to do with the Hoophall Classic that they will go on to achieve win or lose.

With that said, maybe it's just a matter of living up to outsiders' expectations, but all of them were anointed as national title contenders before the season and badly need a win on Friday to stay within the top two tiers or so of national title contention.

No. 12 Westtown only has one loss, but it was to an unranked team in Cresset Christian Academy. The Moose don't have a ton of chances against other national contenders so they really need this win if they want to stay in national title consideration.

Their opponent, No. 20 Bullis, has lost only to higher-ranked teams but already has four losses.

No. 21 IMG Academy lost to Bullis on Dec. 13 and then fell by 18 points to Canada's Fort Erie International in its next game. With a lot of wins over very good teams that aren't quite top-25 in the nation, IMG Academy wouldn't drop much in the rankings for losing to The St. James, but it would miss out on a much-needed opportunity for a win over ranked competition.

And No. 24 The St. James Performance Academy has three losses, with all of them coming by single digits against great teams in Westtown, Legion Prep, and SPIRE Academy. If the reporting is accurate, SPIRE Academy recently lost to a Michigan team that isn't even ranked very high in its own state, so it's unclear exactly how much that loss will hold the Strivers down in the rankings weeks or months from now. But a fourth loss for The St. James, which has been lights-out for the past month, would pretty much end the team's chances of accruing an impressive resume against ranked competition.

Top HoopHall individual matchups to watch

• PG Kaleena Smith, G/F Tati Griffin (Ontario Christian) vs. PG Nyair McCoy, G/F Qandace Samuels (Bishop McNamara)

When it comes to winning consistently at high school basketball's highest level, Ontario Christian and Bishop McNamara might have the best duos in the country. Their duos happen to consist of players at the same positions, and it couldn't possibly be much more exciting that they're going head-to-head on Friday.

Smith is the top-ranked player in the Class of 2027, Griffin is the top-ranked player in the Class of 2028, and Samuels is another 5-star junior. Usually listed at 5-foot-4 or 5-foot-5, McCoy doesn't have the stars next to her name from ranking services that she's arguably earned by giving countless top point guards prospects the business on both sides of the court, but everyone knows she was one of the most important players on last year's disputed national champion as just a sophomore, which is why MaxPreps named her a Sophomore All-American last year.

Making this matchup more interesting is the fact that the players going head-to-head operate pretty similarly. Smith and McCoy have similar modi operandi as lightning-quick undersized point guards who can both score and distribute. Griffin and Samuels can both play 2-4 at the high school level (and maybe all three positions at future levels) while using their size to overwhelm opposing wings, especially when attacking off the dribble and rebounding. Griffin is one of the strongest wings – and probably just players at any position – that you will ever see at the high school level, and Samuels has fantastic perimeter length at upwards of 6-foot-2 with a wingspan that appears to be in the ballpark of 6-5.

Nicole Mullen/Arizona Republic / USA Today Network/ Imagn

Keep in mind the fact that both of these teams have a slew of other important contributors especially on the perimeter, so this game might not actually have a heavy dose of these matchups going head-to-head on both sides of the ball. For instance, Ontario Christian junior Dani Robinson is one of the top guards in the country in her own right and will likely spend time guarding one or both of Bishop McNamara's biggest names. And Jaylah King and Kai Powell are also huge factors on the perimeter for the Mustangs.

• G/F Jerzy Robinson (Sierra Canyon) vs. G/F Savvy Swords (Long Island Lutheran)

Speaking of big, strong, and talented wings, fans will probably hope to see these 5-star senior wing guards matched up against each other as much as possible. Although LuHi has so many elite guards in the vicinity of six feet tall that it's hard to imagine that any one player will be relied on too heavily to get in the way of the slashing wrecking ball known as Jerzy Robinson (South Carolina). Also an explosive athlete standing 6-foot-1, Swords (Kentucky) is probably the Crusaders' best option on paper along with Sanai Green (Duke). Although Robinson is a staunch defender in her own right, whichever LuHi star she guards will likely be well served going at her on offense to try to wear her out and get her into foul trouble. If Robinson is held below 20 points and 10 rebounds, LuHi has a great chance to win, but if she goes infernal, Sierra Canyon probably has too much accompanying talent to beat.

Also keep your eyes out for Sierra Canyon 4-star senior Emilia Krstevski (Oregon) and LuHi junior Emily Forrester dueling in the post. Both of these players are crucial to shoring up the middle for their respective teams at upwards of 6-foot-4 and usually do their best work outside the points column but can find ways to take over games.

• G/F Jordyn Palmer (Westtown) vs. G/F Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka (Bullis)

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  Shelly Stallsmith/York Daily Record / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn

Continuing with the theme of big, versatile slashing wings, here we have two reigning SN First Team Sophomore All-Americans going at it. These 5-star juniors are the top two wings in the Class of 2027 and do some of quite literally everything for their teams. As opposed to the previous individual matchups we talked about, we absolutely expect these stars to go head-to-head on both sides of the court for much of the game. In 2024-25, Palmer averaged 21.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 3.1 blocks, and 2.6 steals per game and Wilson-Manyacka averaged 18.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks.

• G/F Jordyn Jackson (The St. James Performance Academy) vs. F Miciah Fusilier (IMG Academy)

Honestly, this one is a shot in the dark because IMG Academy has a slew of big names on the perimeter and any one of them could be the team's best player on any given night. Fusilier is a unicorn at 6-foot-4 with the mobility of a wing and skill set of a point guard, and if she's cooking, there aren't many players on the Strivers (or anywhere in high school girls basketball) with the size and perimeter ability to match up. But Jackson is one of the top perimeter defenders out there and is at least in the same physical ballpark at 6-foot-1 with a quickness advantage.

Equally interesting and important to wonder is, who's going to be tasked with chasing around St. James' 5-star junior point guard Jezelle "GG" Banks? 

Hoophall Classic girls basketball schedule

The Hoophall Classic takes place from Thursday, Jan. 15 through Monday, Jan. 19 at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

While girls basketball only accounts for one day of games at the event, Friday is dedicated to the girls and brings arguably the best one-day slate of girls hoops all season. Here's the full schedule for Friday including streaming options:

(All game times in local time [ET].)

More high school girls basketball news

• SN's national top 25 rankings for Jan. 12
• She's back! How to watch McKenna Woliczko, Archbishop Mitty games this season
• 8 takeaways from Nike TOC 2025