This West Coast phenom already has declared that she'll attend Tennessee--and she only just finished her sophomore season!

We've profiled a number of High School Heroes from California in the last year, including Brooke Smith, Nikki Blue, and Noelle Quinn. But there seems to be no end to the run of talented hoopsters produced by the Golden State. Most recently, Gballmag.com reader Monica Ceja nominated Lynwood High School's Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood for coverage on this page.

"She scores, passes, rebounds, and plays defense," writes Ceja of Wiley-Gatewood.

The 5-8 Wiley-Gatewood, who will be a junior this fall, has started for Lynwood the past two seasons. As a freshman, she averaged 17.5 points, 8.5 assists and 8.5 rebounds while helping Lynwood reach the CIF Southern California Division I final. Even though the team fell to eventual state champ Narbonne (led by Loree Moore, now at Tennessee), Lynwood still finished No. 19 in USA Today's year-end rankings for the 2000-01 season.

Wiley-Gatewood's sophomore season was even more outstanding. Along with fellow starters Andrea Adams and Janice Bright, she led Lynwood to a perfect 33-0 season and the number-one spot in USA Today's 2001-02 year-end rankings. She scored 18 points in the 74-55 victory over Kennedy High School in the CIF Division I state title game.

Wiley-Gatewood has obviously been on the fast track during her high school hoops career. Two years ago, she was the only incoming freshman selected to attend the Nike All-American camp. She's already verbally committed to attend the University of Tennessee after she graduates from Lynwood. And last year, she led her AAU team, the West Coast All Stars, to a second-place finish in the 16u national tourney--while she was only 14.

With two more years to develop at the high school level, there's no telling how good Wiley-Gatewood will be. A couple of years ago, Bob Richards and Capri Small of MrHoops.com saw Wiley-Gatewood at the Nike camp and were impressed. They noted that she was "Cat quick and can hit from anywhere, whether off the dribble, a runner down the lane or a pull-up three," and said she had "plenty of offensive skills along with a very solid nose for defense."

While citing a need to build physical strength and learning to read her opponents' moves, Richards and Small ended their assessment by noting there was "unbelievable potential here" for the then-incoming freshman.

Hoops fans, teammates, and coaches alike are eagerly awaiting to see exactly how this California phenom fulfills that potential over the next few years.

Article written by Gball Associate Editor Jim Catalano.

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