2007 HoopGurlz Challenge

The tournament held in the same facility used by the NBA Sonics and WNBA Storm, and which has featured many of the West Coast's top players, now is taking registrations.

SEATTLE, Wash. - Some of the best high-school players on the West Coast have been showcased in perhaps the best venue used anywhere for a youth basketball tournament.

From Samantha Gipson, the highly recruited 2008 guard out of San Leandro High School in California, to Becky Goll, the Santa Clara-bound forward from Central Catholic in Portland to the Seattle area's UCLA-bound Christina Nzekwe and Regina Rogers of Chief Sealth, Gonzaga-bound Courtney Vandersloot of Kentwood, and Washington-bound Kristi Kingma of Jackson, the HoopGurlz Challenge is where we've watched the growth of some of the best young players in the West.

Registration for the fifth annual HoopGurlz Challenge now is being accepted. Teams from Alaska and Oregon already are committed to playing in this year's event!

(Registration forms will be posted here in the next few days).

Hold your place right now, via Pay Pal (secure process; credit cards accepted; $5 transaction fee added):

Click Here to Pay Registration via Pay Pal

To register by mail:

Click Here for Registration Form

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Mercedes Wetmore

Held in conjunction with the NBA's Sonics and the WNBA's Storm, the Challenge for 6th, 7th and 8th grade teams takes place at the beautiful Furtado Center, home of the Sonics and Storm, Feb. 16-18. The $275 registration fee includes 10 $24 tickets to the Sonics vs. Charlotte Bobcats and former Gonzaga star Adam Morrison on Sunday, March 4. All tournament teams will be introduced to the KeyArena crowd before the game.

The Sonics and HoopGurlz.com chose the Sonics-Charlotte game for its 6 p.m. start, making it a more "school-night friendly" game for families. The tickets represent a $240 value, with more available for families and friends at a discounted rate of $15 apiece. There will be prizes for the team that orders the most tickets. There also will be an opportunity to purchase more tickets and still sit with your group, on site during the tournament - a first for this event.

The Challenge is a function of HoopGurlz.com and truly is the place where young players get on the radar screen for national rankings that appear on this site, as well as the Gatorade Player of the Year program, RISE Magazine, Scout.com and FOXSports.com. Chris Hansen, national director of scouting for HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com, and Glenn Nelson, HoopGurlz.com publisher and editor-in-chief of Scout.com, will be on hand during the tournament for evaluations.

In its previous four years, the Challenge has been host to some of the best basketball of the season. Last year, The 2005 tournament featured perhaps the best fields of the year and was swept by the Tukwila Reign. One of the most impressive teams in recent years, the Mill Creek Wolfpack, featuring Kingma, Ashly Burns and Ashley Todd now of Jackson High School and Eryn Jones of Meadowdale, beat an Oregon Xtreme team featuring Ashley Corral of Prairie, Alex Earl and Michelle Jenkins of Southride and Audrey Miller of Central Catholic, in 2004. Participants also got to meet Luke Ridnour that year.

And the inaugual Challenge was dominated by outsiders - the Oregon Triple Threat, with Goll and Paige Halberg and Kelly Marchant, now of Oregon City High School, and two teams from the East Bay Xplosion, which features Gipson and Alex Cowling, now of Benicia High in California.

As usual, the action will be memorialized by the same, top action photography featured year round on HoopGurlz.com.

The Challenge continues its commitment to the best officiating of the year and, as usual, there will be surprises and additional benefits announced as the tournament gets closer.

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