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It took two consequential life decisions about five months apart to ensure the Bay Area’s top two women’s basketball players of the past decade would finally meet on the floor.
That meeting is finally upon us.
For eight years between them, Sabrina Ionescu and Haley Jones dominated Bay Area high school basketball. Yet, four years apart in age, they never were on the same floor together, as teammates or opponents. That is, until Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
In November 2018, in the San Jose high school gym she’d called home, the Archbishop Mitty star donned a Cardinal red cap and declared she would be going to college just up the road at Stanford. Six months later, Ionescu, after being eliminated from a Four Four run that cemented her stardom, announced she would return to the University of Oregon for another go at a national title.
The two people possibly most excited for Thursday night’s showdown between Ionescu’s sixth-ranked Oregon Ducks (13-2, 3-1 Pac-12) and Jones’ third-ranked Stanford Cardinal (15-1, 4-0) are the high school coaches of each player. Through the intertwined web of club basketball, each has coached both players at one time or another — and each has an outsized role in the backstory of Thursday night’s clash.
Kelly Sopak, the longtime Miramonte coach and founder of the Cal Stars AAU program, began coaching Ionescu in the third grade. It was her first game as a freshman at Miramonte that he knew he had a star in the making.
“I knew right then and there, I don’t know how good she’s going to be,” Sopak said, “but I do know she’s going to be the best player to step foot on this court.”
Sopak has been there with Ionescu every step of the way: while she earned state player of the year honors at Miramonte; on her recruiting visits to Oregon; on the floor after the Ducks’ Final Four loss last season; on the phone the night she made her decision to forgo the WNBA draft and return to Oregon.
Now, Ionescu — who posted her NCAA-record 22nd triple-double Sunday against Arizona — is getting shouted out by LeBron James on Twitter.
“I remind her that at one point, I had more Twitter followers than she did,” Sopak said with a laugh. (For those keeping track, it’s now Ionescu: 30,000, Sopak: 2,500.)
Sue Phillips, the Archbishop Mitty coach who earned national coach of the year honors last year, has known Jones literally since birth. Her parents, Patrick and Monique, were high school coaches at the time. When they arrived at a San Jose Cagers open house with a seventh-grade Haley, Phillips couldn’t believe it.
“In middle school, I had no idea at that time Haley had grown up,” Phillips said. “When they showed up at the open house with Haley, I was elated. And yet I couldn’t believe how much she had grown.”
Jones began her club basketball career with Phillips’ Cagers program. She would move on to Sopak’s Cal Stars a few years later but stayed with Phillips to play high-school ball at Archbishop Mitty, making the commute from her Santa Cruz home.
Over the years, Jones grew into the dynamic, 6-foot-1 force that earned her Naismith player of the year as a senior, back-to-back state player of the year honors and the top spot in the recruiting rankings.
One of the many qualities Jones and Ionescu share that set them apart is their basketball IQ. Credit to their coaches, but even they say it was apparent early on.
“One of the things we noticed fairly early is Haley, she makes the right basketball plays and that’s really hard to do,” Phillips said.
They began to implement a system at Mitty called “10 Seconds of Latitude.” She had 10 seconds to take advantage of mismatches and utilize the space on the floor in transition offense to make the right basketball play.
“She was growing up watching Magic Johnson play,” Phillips said. “She reminded me of that type of player that was essentially a post player that could bring the ball up the floor and post you up. Her vision is incredible.”
Another trait the two share is that they’re such generous teammates, sometimes they need a reminder to assert themselves.
Jones has done that, particularly of late. It took her all of a half dozen games to work her way into the Cardinal’s starting lineup.
Just this week, Sopak texted Jones a picture of the box score of a recent game with the message: OK, now you’re rolling.
“I was reminding her: You can play like a freshman or you can play like a starter on a Pac-12 team,” Sopak said.
Jones has scored in double-digits her past five games, including two 21-point showings — a season-high — and her first collegiate double-double.
Back in high school, that would have earned her a coveted prize from Phillips.
“We had a thing where if you had a double-double, it was a Double-Double with cheese from In-N-Out Burger,” Phillips said. “Now Sabrina’s getting triple-doubles, which is incredible.”
At one point, Phillips and Sopak had to fight over Ionescu. She was splitting her time between Phillips’ 17u Team USA squad and Sopak’s Cal Stars team that was competing for a national championship.
It came down to Team USA or a club championship. Ionescu chose the championship.
“I don’t know if a kid has done that before,” Sopak said. “To turn down a chance to play USA Basketball to win a national title for a club team. … As the buzzer sounded, that game was a pretty emotional moment.”
This past spring, Ionescu faced a similarly daunting decision: cash in as the surefire No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft or return to Oregon for one more championship quest.
On the court after Oregon’s win over Mississippi State to send the Ducks to the Final Four, Sopak found Ionescu and told her the only thing on his mind in that moment.
You won’t have this in the pros.
At the Final Four, Ionescu finalized an insurance policy for her senior season. After the Ducks were eliminated, Sopak helped her weigh the pros and cons.
“I think when I got off the phone with her she had 11 minutes to make her decision,” Sopak said.
Not long after, an article appeared on The Players’ Tribune: “We have unfinished business,” Ionescu wrote in a piece titled “A Letter to Ducks Nation,” announcing her decision to return.
Despite all their accolades, high school and college championships have eluded Ionescu and Jones. It’s likely they’ll have to go through each other if either will be hoisting a trophy this April in New Orleans — the unfinished business Ionescu was talking about.
Thursday night’s meeting will be the first of at least two head-to-head matchups, with possible Pac-12 and NCAA tournament clashes ahead, too.
“It really will be a surprise to all of us when we watch them because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Phillips said. “I really think you have to pick your poison with both of those kids. They make the right basketball plays. That’s what’s so fun.”
