Local Girls Basketball Among the Best in the Country

Several players from the DMV area helped their teams reach this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Sweet 16, including: UCLA’s Kiki Rice (Sidwell Friends), Duke University’s Jaydn Donovan (Sidwell Friends), University of Maryland’s Jakia Brown-Turner (Bishop McNamara), and Ole Miss’ Madison Scott (Bishop McNamara). Further, University of Connecticut (UConn) freshmen Qadence Samuels (Bishop McNamara), UConn junior Azzi Fudd (St. John’s), North Carolina State graduate student Mimi Collins (Paul VI), and University of South Carolina freshman Sahnya Jah (Bishop McNamara) are all in the Final Four.

However, the trend of successful women’s basketball stars from the DMV is not.

For years, local high school girls’ basketball got little or no attention from the media. Then along came Gwen “Ms J” Jones in the early ’70s.  Jones was a standout at Ballou High School in Southeast.  At the prompting of her head coach, the late Wanda Oates, Donald Huff of the Washington Post came to watch her play against some members of the boy’s team and left impressed with her extraordinary skills.  It prompted coverage of girls’ high school basketball that led to rankings and ultimately all-Met selections.

A short time later a guard from St. Anthony’s High School in Northeast, Penny Toler, would burst on the scene and take local girls basketball to another level, gaining national attention from recruiters and the media.  

The mercurial guard was named All-Met for three years and ultimately a Parade All-American.  Toler would go on to star at San Diego State and Long Beach State before being drafted in the first WNBA draft.  Toler holds the distinction of being the first player to score a basket in the WNBA.

These groundbreaking women laid the groundwork for the current state of high level of basketball in the DMV.

With the increased attention on women’s basketball in the NCAA, this area has officially become a hotbed for national recruiters.

“The talent has always been there,” said Christy Winters-Scott, who started as a standout player at South Lakes High School in Fairfax, Virginia, before going to University of Maryland and helping lead her team to the Final 4.  “  “People are just discovering the (girls’ basketball) talent in the DMV area.  Social media has played a huge role.  Now there are 10 million eyes on the players.”

Winters-Scott worked as a successful coach at her high school alma mater, and had stints on the university level as an assistant at George Mason, University of Maryland and Georgetown before becoming one of the top basketball analysts in the profession.  She serves as an analyst for several formats including ESPN, FSN, NBC Sports, Big10 Network and Raycom.

“When I was a college coach, I stayed in this area recruiting.  I’ve always known that this area has great talent.  With the things that are now happening with the game, people are beginning to realize it,” said Winters-Scott, whose daughter Brianna Scott plays for Georgetown women’s program and son Jordan Scott is a junior standout at South Lakes.

Some of the area’s most successful coaches reflected on the DMV’s strong women’s basketball talent pool. 

Top Area Coaches Reflect on Local Talent 

In June 2007, Jonathan Scribner took over as Girls’ Varsity Head Coach for St. John’s College High School, and under his leadership the Cadets have become a regional and nationally recognized program. In 17 seasons 38 student-athletes have gone on to Division 1 basketball scholarships, while amassing an overall record of 423-91, including seven Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) Championships and seven city titles.

Scribner has four times been named WCAC Coach of the Year and three times USA Today Coach of the Year for Washington, D.C., and recently captured both the WCAC and DCSAA titles in less than a week.  He coached all-American and national player of the year, Fudd for four years before she went to UConn and Lindsey Allen, a member of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA.

“I would argue that [local women’s basketball talent] is not new,” said Scribner, whose team was again ranked in the Top 20 this year. “I think that the recent rise of women’s basketball and March Madness has certainly played a part. I think that they are starting to play at an earlier age.  And as the game has evolved, the players are picking up new skills. They are motivated to work on their games more and the commitment level has grown.”

Frank Oliver added to Northeast, D.C.’s H.D Woodson High School’s winning tradition, before leaving to coach at Bishop McNamara in Forestville, Maryland.  At McNamara, he produced some of the top players in the country including former McDonald All-Americans Scott, Brown-Turner and Madisen McDaniel, who is headed to the University of South Carolina to play for Coach Dawn Staley.

“There is more access to development trainers than there was in the 2000s when I first started,” said Oliver, explaining the wealth of talent. “Another factor has been the growth of the AAU programs… and that has changed the talent pool landscape.”

Oliver, who is in his first season as head coach at nationally renowned IMG Academy in Florida, also cited increased national exposure as a contributing factor.

“There is no substitute for playing against some of the top competition in the country,” he said.

“When they reach the high school level, there are a number of sponsored national tournaments that invite teams from this area because they are aware of what it adds to the profile of their tournament.”  

Coach Tomika Dudley has had much success over the past 12 years.  It started at Northern Virginia’s Woodbridge High School, where she won four state titles, before moving on to Sidwell Friends in Northwest D.C. 

In four years, Dudley has compiled a phenomenal 115-15 record, including national rankings each year. The 2021-22 season, she led the Quakers to an undefeated 30-0 record, number-one national ranking and was the first Black woman to receive the prestigious Naismith Coach of the Year award for high school girls basketball.

In the process, Dudley has coached and produced McDonald’s All-Americans in Rice, Donovan and recent UCLA commits, her daughter Kendall Dudley and Zania Socka Nguemea.

“We are in a unique situation here in this area in that we can draw from three different areas and that allows us to compete nationally,” noted Dudley, emphasizing the legacy of successful women’s basketball players from the area.  

“In my opinion, the DMV has the best talent in the country. Much can be attributed to the history that has been established over the years.  The players have the mentality that they have to carry on and maintain that tradition,” said Dudley. “That’s why it continues to grow.  It embodies that competition that allows for them to carry on that tradition.”