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Stanford women’s basketball incoming freshmen Haley Jones and Fran Belibi were named Naismith High School Girls’ All-Americans and Gatorade State Players of the Year on Friday.
The nation’s consensus No. 1 recruit, Jones earned on a spot on the Naismith All-American first team in addition to her second straight Gatorade California Player of the Year award. She was also announced as one of three Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year finalists.
Belibi, the No. 23 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100, landed on the Naismith All-America third team and won recognition at the Gatorade Colorado Player of the Year.
The 6-foot-1 Jones averaged 26.1 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 3.7 steals and 2.8 blocks in her senior season for Archbishop Mitty in San Jose. The Monarchs went 25-3 and repeated as Central Coast Section Open Division champions with a victory over Pinewood and fellow incoming freshman Hannah Jump.
Jump and Pinewood went on to win their second straight NorCal title.
Jones averaged 21.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists as a junior and was named the 2017-18 California Gatorade Player of the Year and earned All-America honors from USA TODAY and MaxPreps.
Last summer, she won a gold medal with the United States at the FIBA U17 World Cup in Minsk, Belarus, alongside Belibi. Jones was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 10.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in seven starts for Team USA.
Belibi, a 6-foot-1 forward, averaged 21.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 3.4 steals and 2.7 blocks in her final prep season at Regis Jesuit in Aurora, Colo., which went 23-4 and advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals.
As a junior in 2017-18, she put up 13.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.6 blocks in helping lead her team to a 24-4 record and state runner-up finish. A year prior she averaged 15.7 points, 11.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists., 2.6 steals and 3.2 blocks to help the Raiders to a 20-7 mark and the state tournament semifinals.
When Belibi was a sophomore, she became the first girl to dunk in a Colorado high school game on Jan. 6, 2017. She began playing basketball in September 2015 and averaged 6.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks that freshman season.
A USA Basketball veteran, Belibi won gold medals with the United States at the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup and 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. This past summer at the World Cup in Minsk, Belarus she averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds. She averaged 4.8 points and 5.8 rebounds at the Americas U16 Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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What athelete would not want to attend Stanford? Maybe some dumb guys looking to play in the NFL might prefer a full-time training program at Alabama or Clemson. But Stanford is good in every sport – in women’s basketball, Stanford makes the NCAA tournament every year. And these 3 additions might get Stanford back in a championship game against UConn (or Notre Dame). But first things first. Tonight (Saturday) Hannah Jump and her Pinewood teammates play at 6pm in Sacramento for the state open division title against a team as good as any in the country: Sierra Canyon (32-1) a small private school in Chatsworth (San Fernando Valley north of LA). The game should be on cable TV. I will look. Pinewood has a shot.