Napheesa Collier Elite 15U selected to play in the U.S. Open Basketball Championships

The Napheesa Collier Elite 15U girls basketball team has enjoyed a tremendous spring and summer on the grassroots circuit.

Phee Elite’s summer schedule will conclude with a trip to Memphis, TN, where it will participate in the U.S. Open Basketball Championships at the NCAA College Basketball Academy. Phee Elite is one of 24 elite teams from around the country that were selected for this invitation only event. 

Led by head coach Jordan Olufson, Phee Elite features a group of top young prospects from the St. Louis area who are entering their sophomore years. Many of them have already received NCAA Division I scholarship offers after a very productive summer.

They have been dominant throughout the summer as they have brought home numerous championship trophies while losing only one game. That’s right. They suffered only one defeat during the entire grassroots season.

Last week, Phee Elite brought home the championship of the Elite 40 National Championships in Orlando, FL. They also won the Elite 40 Platinum Division championship at the Run 4 the Roses Classic, which was held in Louisville, KY.

Phee Elite is a very talented group that plays well together as a unit. They have an excellent set of guards and wing players along with a group of tall and talented young ladies along the front line.

The backcourt features five players who were all part of state championship teams as  high school freshmen. The quartet of Peyton Olufson, Savannah Stricker, Addi Owen and Amya Porchia all attend Incarnate Word, which is in the midst of a 100-game winning streak along with its Class 6 state championship. The fifth guard is Kyrii Franklin, who was a starter and key player for Lutheran St. Charles’ Class 5 state championship game. These girls have basically been playing together since grade school and they operate like a well oiled machine.

The frontcourt features three excellent young prospects in 6’2” Kennedy Stowers of Lutheran-St. Charles, 6’3” Moriyah Douglass of John Burroughs and 6’2” Nevaeh Lucious of Cape Girardeau Notre Dame. 

Stowers was a starting forward on Lutheran-St. Charles’ Class 5 state championship team. Douglass is the granddaughter of former Saint Louis U. great Monroe Douglass and daughter of former Chaminade standout Monroe Douglass Jr. Lucious was the starting center of a Notre Dame team that advanced to the Final Four of the Class 5 state tournament.