(Photo credit: Sierra Watson/WCSN)
Inside a gym in San Jose, California, basketball shoes squeak across the hardwood as their wearers run with full intensity. It’s only a practice, but that’s not stopping the players from pushing themselves to their limits.
While running drills, they give it their all, battling fiercely on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Although they might all be teammates, in practice, they’re competitors pushing each other to be the best versions of themselves on the court.
Unlike an actual basketball game with natural lulls and stoppages, these players are all go. There’s little time to stand around until after the workout is over. It’s a grueling experience, but this proven method makes this team one of the best in the nation.
For Arizona State junior guard Makayla Moore, practices like that weren’t uncommon as a varsity player for Archbishop Mitty High School from the 2019-2020 season through the 2021-2022 season. The level at which Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Sue Phillips operates the Monarchs girls’ basketball team might seem extreme, but alongside great academics and a true sense of community, it’s what made the school a perfect place for Moore.
“Sue Phillips is a great coach, and I just learned she sets you up for that college experience,” Moore said. “No practice I’ve ever had in college is as hard as a high school practice (was). She would run us till our lungs were burning. It was just a great overall experience.”
Moore had – and still does have – the desire to be as good as she possibly can be. It’s what made the match with Mitty so perfect. Her four years at Mitty helped her become the basketball player and person she is today. For Moore, the allure of being coached by Phillips is what started her down this journey.
“Since I was in the sixth grade, Mitty was the school that everyone looked for to play basketball,” Moore said. “Sue Phillips, being the USA Basketball Coach, being a Hall of Fame coach now, you just saw her, and you thought, ‘Wow, I want to play for that program.’”
Moore was set on playing high school basketball at Mitty, and she prepared herself perfectly. From a young age, she was trained by her dad, Robert Moore, who played college basketball for Ohio State and Wright State. Moore fell in love with basketball and played for the San Jose Cagers growing up, which is how Phillips first got to know her.
“She was a young girl at the time and just excited about the game of basketball,” Phillips said. “Just loved to play.”
The Cagers, who are founded and directed by Phillips, are a girls’ AAU basketball program that fields several teams for players ranging from nine to 17 years old. Due to the close ties between the programs, there is a lot of crossover. Mitty coaches would be Cagers’ coaches and many of Moore’s AAU teammates would later become her teammates on the Monarchs. The relationships forged on the Cagers helped create chemistry and an easier transition to the high school level.
“My AAU coach was my JV coach my first year at Mitty,” Moore said. “(AAU) really just set me up to be in a perfect position to play at Mitty.”
Mitty made sense for Moore beyond just basketball reasons. Mitty is an academically challenging high school, something Moore takes pride in. It’s also a Catholic school, something important for Moore and her family, who raised her in the faith.
“Mitty overall just holds all students to a high standard,” Moore said. “Whether that’s through your faith, showing up for God, showing up in the classroom for your teachers, just overall respect as a person, I would say that’s how it shaped me. Mitty taught me how to be humble, respectful, just overall work, work for all I have, work hard.”
The religious aspect of the school played a major role in athletics. Whether players were Catholic or a different denomination of Christianity, the shared similar faiths created opportunities to increase chemistry.
“We’re a faith-based institution,” Phillips said. “Praying before games, or pregame meal or if someone’s injured, that’s not unusual at all. With that being said, there’s different denominations in our group and it’s just this idea of spirituality and prayer and inclusivity amongst our group to just being able to have everyone be spiritual in their own way.”
The close bond could be felt across the team, from freshmen to seniors. In Moore’s freshman year, she had a close relationship with senior guard Haley Jones, the No. 1 recruit in ESPN’s 2019 recruiting class.
Jones, who would go on to play at Stanford and now plays in the WNBA for the Atlanta Dream, was a mentor for Moore, teaching her different lessons and allowing her to soak up knowledge.
“(Jones) was the first one in the gym, last one out,” Moore said. “Knowing you’re the No. 1 player in the country, knowing you have a target on your back, just the way she kept her composure during the games, during practice (was something I learned from).”
Phillips noticed the effects of Jones’ mentorship; Moore became a more composed player and learned the Mitty way through her.
“Haley took her responsibility of being an upperclassman to heart and really did try to mentor all the youngsters, including Makayla,” Phillips said. “Show them the ropes, explain to them ‘What does our culture look like? This is how we work, these are the things we do.’”
Under the guidance of upperclassmen and the coaching staff, Moore improved from being a sophomore who averaged 2.8 points per game to a senior who helped lead the team to a state championship game while averaging 7.4 points per game on 51% from the field.
When Moore came to Mitty, Phillips saw her as quiet and reserved, but she knew that there was a leader with a great basketball IQ underneath the shell. Over the years, Phillips was able to help Moore break that shell while improving on the court.
“Makayla became more vocal, more assertive, more outgoing, became more aggressive as a player as well, trying to hunt her shots,” Phillips said. “Just being more assertive and confident on the court.”
When Moore became an upperclassman, it was time for her to embrace a leadership role and mentor the younger players, making sure the Mitty chemistry continued. Moore became especially close to the players in the year below her.
One of those players, Maya Hernandez, is now a sophomore forward at Loyola Marymount. She was teammates with Moore on the Cagers and saw her grow into a leader. They were friends, but Moore was able to become serious when she needed to be and set the tone for her teammates.
“She was able to kind of hold us accountable for things on and off the court,” Hernandez said. “She kind of just took a good job of creating a relationship with almost everybody on the team, where she was able to lead them and set the example for them as well.”
Moore saw it as the natural progression of things. She had once been the underclassman unsure what to do on varsity, but now she had the experience and confidence to assume the role of those who once helped her out.
“Coach Phillips threw you out there and expected you to just kind of do everything,” Moore said. “(The upperclassmen) being able to help me through certain drills, help me through game situations. … Now I get to develop the people below me. So it was just like giving back through the program, and I feel like that’s what Mitty is all about.”
Moore took Hernandez and her friends completely under her wing. Even off the court, the group stuck together. They ate lunch together, talked together and traveled to convenience stores to get pre-game snacks together.
“It was kind of comforting,” Moore said. “We’re going through the same life experiences, so we get to talk about it together, just having someone there with you.”
There’s no doubt that Mitty had talent during Moore’s years at the high school. Numerous players went through the program on their journey to play Division I basketball, but it takes more than talent to win. To win, you need to build positive relationships with your teammates.
It’s one thing to be the mentee in a relationship, but to be the mentor is something different. Moore excelled in her role, leading the team to prosperous outcomes.
“There was definitely tremendous synergy out on the court when they played together,” Phillips said. “There was an understanding of where each other would be and I don’t think that doesn’t happen without off-the-court chemistry as well. There’s a level of trust and confidence in each other that translates both on and off the court.”
Moore’s poise and leadership were tested in her junior year in 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the California Interscholastic Federation Open Division State Championship game two days before Mitty was supposed to play La Jolla Country Day School. The team found out in the middle of the school day and a meeting was called.
“The team meeting was kind of heartbreaking, honestly,” Hernandez said. “It just sucked to be that close. It made it worse being so close to everybody on the team and that being the last game to play (that season).”
When things are going well chemistry makes them even better, but it’s when things are going rough that chemistry helps everyone get through the issue.
“(The team) had a sleepover together (that night),” Moore said. “We just all relied on each other to pick each other up.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was a blow to the team’s morale, but it created the opportunity for Moore and other Monarchs to become leaders in a different way.
Phillips was searching for ideas on how the team could get through the pandemic when the players came up with the idea of putting on virtual Zoom clinics that current Cagers players could tune into. Mitty held camps for the Cagers in person over the years, Moore went to some growing up. This idea was similar but adapted for Zoom, allowing the Mitty and Cagers’ players to both be able to get work in, despite there being no physical practices or games to play.
“It just gave us something to do to make it feel like we were giving back as if it was camp,” Moore said. “Camp helped us realize, ‘Hey, we made it to this really high level of high school basketball and we’re giving back to these little girls.”
Moore led a yoga class aimed at recovery twice a week, teaching the Cagers’ players how to take care of their bodies while playing a physical sport like basketball. It was a bad situation, but Mitty was able to make the best of it.
After the anguish of her junior season’s state championship game getting canceled, Moore and the Monarchs fell short in the state championship game in her senior season. Moore scored 14 points in the loss to Sierra Canyon and had been the hero four games earlier, scoring 25 points, with 22 of them being second-half points, to defeat Pinewood for the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division Championship.
“I don’t remember her missing in the second half,” Phillips said. “That’s the funny part.”
Mitty wasn’t able to bring home a State Championship during Moore’s time at the school, but she was able to take advantage of Mitty to set herself up for success beyond.
“The fact that we were never able to bring in a state championship to Sue Phillips was kind of a sting, but playing in (the) NorCal championship every year, it was a great experience,” Moore said. “I got to play against a lot of close friends in state, I got to play against some of the best, Juju Watkins was my senior year. So, even though it was a hard sting, I would say it was definitely a learning experience. It shaped me as for who I am.”
During one open gym session in her senior year, Moore couldn’t miss. She hit threes and pull-up jumpers, impressing Seattle University enough to earn a scholarship offer on the spot.
Suzy Barcomb, Seattle University’s then-head coach, didn’t return for Moore’s second season in the Pacific Northwest. After that second season, Moore decided to enter the transfer portal and quickly committed to Arizona State.
Moore started her first season in Tempe as a bench player, but through circumstances and hard work, she’s established herself as not only an important “3-and-D” player for the Sun Devils but a starting-caliber player as well.
“The biggest piece of my character is being the hardest worker and seeing improvement,” Moore said. “I like to tell myself I want to get 1% better every day. … When I saw that I wasn’t playing, I didn’t do the same thing over and over again. Instead, I changed my practice habits, I worked better. I noticed that our team needed defense, we kept emphasizing that we’re letting teams score too much on us, so I decided to really lock in in practice and focus on defense and become the best defender on a team.”
The work ethic and will to improve is a byproduct of the culture and community of Mitty and a byproduct of Phillips pushing her players to their limits, ensuring the team’s chemistry keeps players from being left behind.
Phillips’s competitive spirit is contagious and infects her players. Her lessons impacted Moore not only on the basketball court – helping her reach the Division I level and now a Power Four school – but off the court as well. Moore wants to be a lawyer after her playing days are done. Phillips’s lessons will help her in that phase of life just as much as they are helping her currently.
“You don’t want to be going out there, a coach telling you (to do) something (different) and you do the exact same thing because that just makes you unplayable,” Moore said. “But in life, I also take that. … If you don’t show up to class, you can’t expect to not work hard or cheat on assignments and then expect a good grade, right? That’s just not how life works. You always have to be the hardest worker. Being coachable, understanding that you have to be the hardest worker, I think that’s exactly what Mitty taught me.”
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