Clash of The Titans: Is this Archbishop Mitty's greatest team? Tonight's Open Division game with Etiwanda may determine

The 15-time NorCal, six-time state champion Monarchs feature two elite talents instead of one, to go with throng of 6-foot-plus standouts, pushing team to new heights

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sue Phillips's Archbishop Mitty-San Jose girls basketball program is the standard. 

Like their coach, the Monarchs are buttoned up in every way. Precise cuts. Pressed jerseys. Immaculate conduct, offensive sets and defensive execution. 

There is and never has been any apologies for unrelenting intensity, supreme effort and, of course, winning, which Phillips will remind is simply byproducts of all of the above. 

In her 30th season, Phillips is the state's third all-time winningest coach according to Cal-Hii Sports, with 789 wins against only 136 defeats with 24 of her school's 31 Central Coast Section titles with a state-record 15 regional crowns and six state championships. 

Sue Phillips directs the Monarchs in section title win over Pinewood. Photo: Darren Yamashita / Photo: Darren Yamashita

All of it has attracted some of the Bay Area's finest athletes and players, who have gained national acclaim thanks in part to Mitty's tutelage: Stanford All-American Haley Jones, WNBA All-Star Danielle Robinson and three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings. 

Entering her fourth decade, Phillips may be coaching her crowning jewel. 

The 2022-23 Monarchs will need an Open Division title win over a tough, rugged and skill Etiwanda squad to be considered Mitty's greatest team. 

Clash of Titans

Phillips had to chuckle when told the Monarchs caught a break Tuesday when Etiwanda upset national No. 1 and previously unbeaten Sierra Canyon in the Southern California title game.

Mitty (28-2) takes on Etiwanda (31-3) for the Open Division crown 6 p.m. Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

“So instead of preparing for the No. 1 team in the country, now we get the No. 2 or 3 team in the nation,” she said. “They beat Sierra Canyon last year and returned just about every one off that team and they beat Sierra Canyon one out of two times this year.

Mitty's toughness and effort is always in play. Photo: Darren Yamashita

“At the end of the day, we’re still dealing with a Goliath. Our group wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s still going to be a Clash of the Titans.”

Phillips is something of an expert on Goliaths and Titans.

Besides her high school coaching, she also has led many of the country’s best for USA Basketball, including her current assignment as head coach of the 2023 USA Women’s Nike Hoop Summit Team. This after leading the 2022 USA U17 World Cup Team to a gold medal in Debrecen, Hungary.

She knows talent and good basketball when she sees it. When asked to assess her current team’s plight, in comparison to Etiwanda and Sierra Canyon, she said: “We’re pretty good too,” she said.

Especially of late.

The Monarchs have won 21 straight by an average margin of 37 points a game, the exact margin it beat Salesian-Richmond in the Northern California Open championship, 83-49.

Dynamic duo

What perhaps sets this Mitty team apart is they have two elite talents, a pair of 6-foot-2 all-around standouts, junior guard Morgan Cheli, a 5-star junior recruit, and freshman forward McKenna Woliczko, who this week received her eighth college offer, this one from USC.

Her first offer came from UOP as an eighth grader but after her performance at the Phoenix Nike Tournament of Champions in December, she’s picked up other offers from UCLA, Ohio State, Arizona, Florida, Vanderbilt and Stanford.

Woliczko, whose dad Aaron is a former college coach and the current senior associate commissioner of the West Coast Conference, was pressed into a more formidable role after Cheli, ranked the No. 14 junior nationally by Prospects Nation, went down with a foot injury in early December.

McKenna Woliczko (20) is averaging better than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Photo: Darren Yamashita / File photo by Darren Yamashita

Woliczko didn’t blink, taking the reins as the team’s top scorer and rebounder at better than 20 and 10 per game. She was way better on Tuesday with a 29-point, 21-rebound performance against undersized Salesian.

“It was an incredible performance,” Phillips told reporters after the game. “Offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, block shots. She scored in transition, in traffic, from the high post. She’s quite a talent.”

So is Cheli, who has more than 40 D1 offers including UConn and South Carolina. She returned two weeks ago, and is now 100 percent healthy. She had 15 points and eight rebounds on Tuesday.

Morgan Cheli (33) is the complete package. Photo: Darren Yamashita / Photo by Darren Yamashita

“Morgan Cheli drives that team,” Salesian coach Stephen Pezzola said. “She gets everyone in a position to succeed. Woliczko is really good, but Cheli makes the team run.”

Celebrating greatness

It doesn’t matter who drives who, Phillips said. The two budding superstars are utterly cohesive, compatible and supportive.

“Their chemistry as people and basketball players is impeccable,” Phillips said. “Both have great hands, skills, basketball IQs and are each intensely competitive. They feed off each other. They celebrate each other’s greatness. There is zero jealousy or resentment.”

Phillips said that’s how these current Monarchs roll. All of them are geared toward 100 percent efficiency, improvement, winning and “to be great,” Phillips said.

On top of Mitty’s formidable length (eight players are 6-foot or taller), skill and depth — three other seniors, Maya Hernandez (LMU), Elle Hanson (Point Loma) and Layla Woods (Champman) have college offers and two junior transfers Elana Weisman and Belle Bramer will likely play in college also — this may be Mitty’s best team ever.

Mitty's bench is filled with future college players and 6-footers. Photo: Brian Kimoto

That’s a mouthful considering Mitty’s track record. But these Monarchs can handle it. They entered last year’s state title game on a 21-game winning streak, only to lose 85-61 to Sierra Canyon.

“There is zero trepidation, no hesitation or uncertainty what we’re trying to accomplish,” Phllips said. “We had high expectations heading into last year’s game and fell short. The good news is we’re back, most of those kids returned and we have some great additions.”