Los Angeles City Section Western League: Standout Players

The Los Angeles City Section Western League is packed with talent from top to bottom. The list highlights some of the league's brightest stars who are primed for a big year.    As just a freshman, McKenzie averaged a monstrous double-double, posting 16.4 points and 18.2 rebounds per game (#1 in California). Offensively, McKenzie did most of her scoring around the rim and was efficient at doing so, shooting 53% from the field. It's what Mckenzie does on the defensive end that has helped her earn a top-ten ranking in her class in California. The 6'1 Power Forward averaged 1.0 steals and 1.9 blocks per game. While she is already a defensive star, it can be expected that McKenzie will continue to grow her offensive game and become more of. threat from beyond the paint. If she can do so, expect her to rise in rankings and continue to be one of the top prep players in the state.     Another Fairfax Lion joins this list, and it's McKenzie's partner in crime in the front court. With McKenzie and Johnson in the frontcourt, the Lions have two players over 6'0. Johnson was the defensive anchor for the Lions last season, averaging 8.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. While Johnson got off to a slow start to the season, she was dominant in the latter half — averaging 10.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game. If she carries her end-of-season momentum into this year, she's on track to be one of California's top frontcourt players in the class of 2025     Aubrey is coming off a very productive sophomore season for the Unicorns, in which she averaged 14.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. Since her freshman season, Aubrey has boosted her scoring by six points, so we can expect another leap as she enters her junior year. Aubrey's scoring production really began to pick up towards the end of the season. Aubrey closed out the season by averaging 19.0 points per game over the final eight games of the season, including scoring 20 or more points in four of the eight games.     Harris was a do-it-all kind of player for the Yankees last season. The 5'10 forward helped lead Hamilton to a 25-7 record (11-1 in league play) while averaging 9.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. Harris did not need the ball in her hands to be productive as she shot 54% from the field and was able to produce double-digit scoring nights without taking a lot of shots. Harris was dominant on the defensive end last season. At 5'10 she is able to effectively use her length to disrupt shots at the rim as well as generate steals when she gets out in passing lanes. Harris is very disciplined on both the defensive and offensive end. She only averaged 2.2 fouls per game and 1.1 turnovers per game.     Last season, Waugh played a pivotal role in leading the Comets to the best record in the Western League, averaging an impressive 12.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. This marked a significant improvement from her sophomore year, where she averaged 8.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Waugh was consistent throughout the season, scoring in double figures in all but three games. With the departure of Mariah Blake who averaged 23.0 points per game last season for the Comets, expect Waugn to pick up some of the scoring load in her absence.     Myles put together a very impressive freshman season for the stacked Westchester Comets. As just a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points per game and had a 23 point performance in a win against Lakewood in just her third varsity game. Myles thrives with the ball in her hands and is able to use her speed and ball handling skills to get all the way to the rim when out in transition. She is able to capitalize on her ball handling skills when in a high ball screen action. She has good instincts and knows when to take a pull up jumper when her defender is overplaying or when to use a hesitation move to blow past her defender when they are overplaying. As she heads into her second season, expect her scoring production to also increase with the departure of Mariah Blake.     Sano is another sophomore on this list who is coming off an impressive freshman season. Last season, Sano averaged 10.1 points, 1.9 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game. Sano consistently reached double digit scoring last season and had a season high of 18 points in a 39-38 loss against Providence. Sano was the third leading scorer for the Unicorns last season behind Katie Chiba and [player_tooltip player_id='843659' first='Sincere' last='Aubrey']. Last season, Sano shared much of the ball-handling duties with Chiba, who led the team in scoring at 16.8 points per game. With Chiba's departure, Sano is expected to take on the primary facilitator role for the Unicorns, likely increasing both her scoring output and overall usage.

The Los Angeles City Section Western League is packed with talent from top to bottom. The list highlights some of the league's brightest stars who are primed for a big year.