Cal Basketball: Mia Mastrov, Who Plays at Sabrina Ionescu's HS, Commits to Bears

Mastrov's grandfather played on Pete Newell's first team at Cal

Mia Mastrov, who has connections to Pete Newell and Sabrina Ionescu, has committed to play for the Cal women’s basketball team.

A high school senior-to-be from Orinda in the East Bay, Mastrov is the granddaughter of Bert Mastrov, who played alongside Bob McKeen and Larry Friend on Newell’s first Cal team in 1954-55.

And she plays at Miramonte High School, the alma mater of Ionescu, the former All-America point guard at Oregon and rookie with the WNBA’s New York Liberty.

Mastrov says her grandpa’s influence was significant in her college choice.

“Ever since I was like in second grade, I’ve been following Cal,” she says. “Grandpa played at Cal for Pete Newell and he always brought me caps. I’ve dreamed of going there ever since i was little.”

Mastrov says she attended lots of Cal men’s games as a youngster but recently has followed the Bears’ women much more closely.

She picked Cal after also attracting interest from Duke, Washington, Washington State and Colorado.

A 5-foot-10 guard, Mastrov is the first commitment in Cal coach Charmin Smith’s 2021 recruiting class. She has played point guard much of her basketball career, but figures to play more off the ball when she arrives at Cal.

.

Mastrov averaged 15.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.8 steals last year for Miramonte, whose season ended with a loss to Pinewood in the NorCal playoffs, just before the COVID-10 pandemic shut down high school sports in the Bay Area.

Kelly Sopak, who coaches Mastrov both at Miramonte and with the Cal Stars club team, described her as a scorer but has watched her game evolve.

“Her improvement’s been remarkable every year,” says Sopak, who has worked with Mastrov since grade school. “Her ability to be a complete player — defend, rebound and facilitate — has gotten so much better over the last year or two.”

“I’ve grown a lot, playing with the Cal Stars’ top team last year, being exposed to better competition and the challenge of being a leader on my high school team and working my way up,” she explains. “I’m just trying to elevate my game.”

Mastrov says she has taken the summer off from playing with the Cal Stars in order to keep her family safe from the coronavirus. “It’s a high risk to play,” she says. “I think it’s the best thing for my family and friends."

Mastrov says she looks forward to playing for Smith, who landed a top-10 recruiting class this past year, led by four highly rated front court players, Dalayah Daniels, Fatou Samb, Sela Heide and Ugonne Onyiah.

“Charmin definitely knows what she’s doing,” Mastrov says. “She understands the game from a player’s perspective, which is really helpful. She played at Stanford and sees the floor in a similar way that I do.

“They have a really good foundation for the future of the program. I’m excited to play with them.”

.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page