City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA — The 12th annual Girls’ All-City Classic featured three games and a ton of talent Wednesday night, featuring top players from the class of 2028, followed by the class of 2027 and the class of 2026 at Imhotep Charter.

Here’s who stood out:

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Isabella Allen (2026 | Lansdale Catholic)
The rising 6-foot junior was athletic, strong under the basket and rebounded well. She was most dangerous running the open floor in transition, where she scored most of her team-high 11 points in being named Pink team MVP.

Reginna Baker (2027 | Neumann-Goretti)
If GG Banks was easily the best player of the night, the 5-foot-6 rising junior Neumann-Goretti guard was the second-best player overall in the three games. She stayed with Banks, sometimes, if anyone could manage to stay with her, and finished with a game-high 27 points to lead the Pink team to a 64-62 victory, beating the White team, which had Banks and Audenreid’s 6-3 Nasiaah Russell. Baker was named Pink Team MVP and many of the same skills she exhibited during the Saints’ PIAA Class 4A state championship run were on display: Timely shooting, three-point accuracy, defensive anticipation, and hoop smarts. It was Baker that calmed the frenzy of the final minute of what turned out to be a fun, competitive game. She hit three of four free throws to seal Pink's victory. Her overall game has vastly improved in a few months’ time. The Division I offers have been pouring in.

Jezelle ‘G.G.’ Banks (2027 | St. James Academy, Va.)
The 5-foot-10 guard is not among the best in her age group nationally for nothing. She was simply amazing—putting on a real show with her agility, explosive first step, court vision, incredible passing ability, shot making, and defensive anticipation. What really stood out above it all was her ability to make her teammates around her better. She was by far the best player on the court and was willing to pass the ball. It was up to her teammates on the Pink Team in 2027 game to be alert. Some were not. There was one sequence when she weaved her way through a maze of players and threw a behind-the-back, no-look pass to an open teammate under the basket. Regrettably, her teammate could not convert the shot. But it was also interesting that she played to win. With her White team down, 61-53, with just over a minute to play, it was Banks who made the difference, getting her team within three of winning in the closing seconds. She controlled the whole game. Anything she wanted to do, she did. Banks finished with 24 points, eight assists and eight rebounds—in a spring all-star game. She will be attending St. James Academy in Virginia next season, transferring out of Ursuline Academy.

Kamora Berry (2026 | Neumann-Goretti)
There is a reason why Neumann-Goretti won the PIAA Class 4A state title, and not all of it had to do with stellar guards Carryn “Clutch” Easley and Amya “Mousey” Scott—it also had quite a bit to do with role players like the 5-7 Berry, who finished with a game-high 14 points in leading the White team by the Pink team, who were coached by her former teammates Easley and Scott, 54-31. Once Berry finds a rhythm, she can be a deadly three-point shooter. What she showed Wednesday night was an area of her game that she will need to display next season—defense. She is an underrated defender. She anticipated a few passes and came up with a number of steals in a sloppy game. Berry was named White team MVP.

Tamia Clark (2027 | Upper Dublin)
It would have been easy for the 5-foot-7 rising junior guard to get lost on a White team that had Banks and Russell on it, but she didn’t. She held her own, and contributed to her team’s effort with nine points, and playing solid defense. When everyone was collapsing on Banks each time she drove the lane, Clark benefitted as the recipient of Banks’ no-look, or court-length passes. She knew where to be when Banks had the ball—near the basket waiting.

Zion Coston (2026 | Neumann-Goretti)
Coston, the 5-foot-6 rising junior, followed the same script that made the Saints state champions—playing great defense, rebounding, setting picks, scrambling for loose balls, and an overall attitude to do the nasty, little things no one else likes doing on a basketball court. She canned a three and kept the ball in White possession numerous times with her relentless hustle under the boards.

Alexis Eberz (2026 | Archbishop Carroll)
The 5-foot-8 rising senior guard is instant offense. She played sparingly in the 2026 game, scoring 10 points in the White team’s winning effort, though there was one sequence when she scored six of her 10 points in a span of three seconds. She nailed a three, and on the ensuing inbounds pass, intercepted the ball, sliced through the lane for a layup and was fouled—converting the free throw. In the coming weeks, she said, she will go public with his college choice.

Kayla Eberz (2028 | Archbishop Carroll)
The 5-foot-10 rising sophomore was named MVP for the Pink in a 52-47 loss, in which she scored 12 points. Eberz is looking at a big summer, after a fabulous freshman year for Carroll, and she started it well by doing all the things she did this past season, spotting up for threes, defending inside, and she showed an improved handle. Because there is no structure to these games, Eberz continues to show a court savvy well beyond her age. There were a few instances where she would make eye contact with a teammate, and that teammate invariably cut to the basket, hit in stride by a perfect Eberz bounce pass. As her athleticism improves, so too will her game continue to grow. Even though she will only be a sophomore, she will be a strong candidate for Catholic League MVP next season.

Chloe Kham (2028 | Audenreid Charter)
Named defensive MVP in the 2028 game as part of the White team, the 5-foot rising sophomore was like a magnet to the ball. Where the ball went, she followed, causing problems for the Pink team with her help defense, and often times coming from behind to bat the ball away from an unsuspecting opponent. She was one of the few willing to play defense, when mostly everyone else was thinking about offense.

Aubrie Smith (2028 | Penn Charter)
The 5-foot-5 rising sophomore was fearless driving to the basket. Her low center of gravity and court vision allowed her to wend her way through the lane more than a few times, a couple of times getting three-point play chances. One she finished on an amazing spinning move, and another she missed the free throw after converting an up-and-under layup.

Carly Wakefield (2027 | Cardinal O’Hara)
The 5-foot-11 rising junior wing uses every drop of talent she has. She is a relentless hustler who has added a three-point shot to her offensive bag, hitting a pair of threes and finishing with 10 points, all scored in the second half, while grabbing around eight rebounds and blocking two shots. She is a worker bee who any college would crave, based on her attitude and willingness to do anything she has to to get on to the court. She was Baker’s wingperson in the Pink team’s surprising 64-62 victory over GG Banks and Nasiaah Russell and the White team. She forced more than a few to redirect their shots when they tried driving on her.

Faith Watson (2028 | Friends Central)
The 6-foot rising sophomore was at times unstoppable inside in being named the White team MVP in its 52-47 victory. She knows how to position her body and was too strong for anyone to try and stop her. She’s far more athletic and agile than she was a year ago. Defensively, no one could drive on her, her reach forced penetrating opponents to redirect their shots. With Friends Central losing a wealth of experienced senior talent, Watson now becomes the face of the program. It looks in good hands.

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.