Manhattan Beach Basketball Team To Represent Southern California

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA —The South Bay Ballers, a Manhattan Beach-based basketball team, has been invited to represent Southern California for the inaugural Ladies Ball, the nation's top girl's youth basketball championship.

The Ladie's Ball is made up of eight regions, four rounds, and one championship moment, according to team coach Jeff Yeh.

"This event is the equivalent of the McDonald's All American Games for boys," Yeh told Patch. "It's a big deal."

According to Yeh, the girls continued to practice basketball on their own during the COVID lockdown and first got together in-person in March.

"I think the experience made our team members closer as well as better players," he said. "We have never lost a game since."

The team will be the Southern California representee for the U12 division in the Arizona bracket at the end of August. The finals will be played in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame."

The South Bay Ballers is a private U12 Junior NBA/AAU/USAB Gold licensed non-profit girls club team, completely free of charge. All coaches are volunteers and there are no fees charged to the parents and the players.

"We are always looking for ex-players and/or coaches who love coaching and are willing to volunteer their times," Yeh said. "We are also seeking any corporate or individual sponsorships to help us with gym time as we practice in parks and schools and also to help us grow and able to add more teams so more local girls can play this wonderful game."

Team members consist of girls from all over South Bay and Orange County. They are:

• Kenia Bohman (Redondo Beach, Adams Middle School)
• Leighton Devereux (Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Beach Middle School)
• Jessica Liu (Torrance, Joseph Arnold Elementary School)
• Kylee Yeh (Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Beach Middle School)
• Regan Enright (El Segundo, American Martyr)
• Alyssa So (Cerritos, Leal Elementary School)
• Mina Mitsuuchi (Gardena, Casimir Middle School)
• Kayla Priest (Cypress, Lexington Junior High)
• Leah Sasaki (Torrance, Madorna Middle School)

For more information about the team or to reach out to Yeh, write to southbayballers1@gmail.com.