High School

Aaliyah Chavez one-on-one interview with High School On SI's Myckena Guerrero (video)

Wildly popular No. 1 ranked 2025 girls basketball recruit speaks candidly about relationship with her dad, bright future of her younger sis, her path to Oklahoma and love to prove doubters wrong 

Mitch Stephens, Myckena Guerrero, SBLive Sports

Apr 1, 2025; Brooklyn, NY, USA; McDonald's All American West guard Aaliyah Chavez (2) dribbles the ball against McDonald's All American East wing Kaelyn Carroll (20) during the first half of the game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Pamela Smith-Imagn Images
Apr 1, 2025; Brooklyn, NY, USA; McDonald's All American West guard Aaliyah Chavez (2) dribbles the ball against McDonald's All American East wing Kaelyn Carroll (20) during the first half of the game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Pamela Smith-Imagn Images / Pamela Smith-Imagn Images

Media darling. Influencer. Golden child. Celebrity. Super star. 

Such titles get bandied about more frequently these days. And the age requirement seems to get younger by the reel. Especially around the athletic arena. 

The latest in high school sports circles is Aaliyah Chavez, an 18-year-old point guard from West Texas who has either caught or caused the media fever by setting ablaze high school basketball gyms that were never considered hoop hotbeds. 

The 5-foot-10 point guard finished her high school career at Monterey in Lubbock with 4,796 points over four seasons along with 1,279 rebounds, 771 assists and 476 steals in 150 games, 128 of which were victorious.   

Fittingly, poetically, she won her last game, a 64-35 Texas 5A Division II romp over Liberty Hill to win the school’s first state title in 44 years. Doubled and even tripled teamed at times, Chavez finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. It was well off her 34.5 scoring average, but spot on her ultimate goal of winning that ever elusive state crown. 

“It was incredible because it was with a special group of kids I’ve been playing with since like the seventh grade,” she told High School on SI’s Myckena Guerrero in a one-on-one interview (see it below) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, site of the 2025 McDonald’s All America Games. “And this being my last year ending it with a championship means a lot.” 

All of it means so much to Chavez because of her unique route to stardom, a Hispanic girl with little to no athletic ability according to her father and trainer, to outwork all her peers and earn the unlikely title of No. 1 recruit in the nation for the Class of 2025. 

Guerrero had four minutes to hit the major points with the classes’ true media darlings/golden child/celebrity, a role she accepts gladly if it paves the way for all kids with a dream, especially ones who have been counted out. 

•
Baylor commit Tounde Yessoufou wins McDonald's All-American dunk contest
•
McDonald's All-American 2025 dunk and 3-point contest participants: AJ Dybantsa says his dunks 'never seen before'
•
Cameron Boozer is Morgan Wootten National Boys High School Basketball Player of the Year
•
List of McDonald's All-American dunk contest, 3-point shootout winners since 1985
•
McDonald's All-America Games spotlight; Chavez, Boozer shine: Top national high school sports stories (3/31/2025)
•
McDonald's All-Americans show big heart off the court in Brooklyn (video)
•
Southern California's Grace Knox a big hit at McDonald's All-American Games (video)
•
Sienna Betts is Morgan Wootten National Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year
•
NBA giveback, McDonald's matchups, Cameron Boozer reigns again: Top national high school sports stories (3/26/2025)
•
Aaliyah Chavez vs. Aaliyah Crump headlines 5 McDonald's All-American matchups to watch

She spoke candidly about being a gym rat, the relationship with her dad, her tightly-woven circle of friends, the endlessly supportive Lubbock community, the bright future of her 12-year-old sister Bel’A and her own path to play college basketball at the University of Oklahoma. 

Ultimately, Chavez told Guerrero that she simply wants to be remembered as “one of the best,” that despite some naysayers who believe her game won’t translate to the next level or two, “I like to prove people wrong.” 

Thus far her basketball career has been all correct, including being on the winning side of the West’s 104-82 victory over the East Tuesday when she had 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. 

High school girls basketball
Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez announces she will be playing for the University of Oklahoma in front of an auditorium filled with fans at Monterey High School on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. / Jacob Lujan/For The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Published |Modified
Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

Myckena Guerrero, SBLive Sports
MYCKENA GUERRERO, SBLIVE SPORTS

For the past eight years Myckena Guerrero has been working with great, talented individuals in the sports industry and beyond. Her goal is to show the world the authentic stories behind the helmets of their favorite athletes. Myckena graduated from California State University of Sacramento with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. She has been honored to interview athletes from all levels and walks of life including Steph Curry, Jerome Bettis, Canelo Alvarez, Larry Fitzgerald, Bryce Young, DJ Uiagalelei Trevor Lawrence, Allyson Felix, and Abby Wombach.

Home/National