The Dallas Morning News’ high school girls basketball expert Greg Riddle previews the Dallas area girls basketball season with these top storylines to know
Top storylinesTracking the top recruits
There are six Dallas-area girls basketball players ranked among the top 100 recruits in the nation in the Class of 2026. None of them will be playing for a UIL school this season.
Statewide, only two nationally ranked seniors attend a public school, with five-star Duke pledge Bella Flemings at San Antonio Brennan and four-star Texas Tech pledge Ambrosia Cole at defending Class 5A Division II state champion Lubbock Monterey.
That is the new look of Texas basketball, as the top players have flocked to prep schools and private schools in North Texas. Playing a national schedule and having a non-traditional school setup are big draws, and flexible academic schedules make it easier for elite recruits to take college visits.
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Legion Prep Academy might have the top team in North Texas, with a roster that is headlined by five-star Notre Dame pledge Jacy Abii, four-star North Carolina State pledge Kamora Pruitt and four-star Texas A&M pledge Rieyan DeSouze. All are ranked among the top 50 recruits in the country in the Class of 2026, and all starred at UIL schools early in their careers, with Abii leading Frisco Liberty to back-to-back 5A state titles her first two years of high school and Pruitt and DeSouze being a part of DeSoto’s Class 6A state runner-up team as freshmen in 2023.
Legion Prep also has five-star junior Jemini Mitchell, a former Cypress Springs standout who is the state’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2027.
Abii has recovered from a torn ACL that forced her to miss last season and is rated the ninth-best senior in the nation and the No. 1 recruit in Texas by ESPN’s HoopGurlz. Abii decided to stay at Legion Prep after head coach Taylor Johnston left over the summer to become the coach at iSchool of Lewisville.
Oak Cliff Faith Family left the UIL last November so it could play a national schedule and avoid coaching suspensions and a playoff ban that had been levied by the state’s governing body. The school had added at least 18 transfers for girls basketball, and their eligibility was in question before they made the move to the Texas Christian Athletic League (TCAL).
Four-star Washington pledge Amayah Garcia is still listed by ESPN as being at Faith Family, but four-star Notre Dame pledge Amari Byles and four-star Texas Tech pledge Gianna Jordan left the school and are now at Kingdom Collegiate Academy.
Key injury at Duncanville
Duncanville, a 12-time state champion, made a coaching change and lost its best player to injury during the offseason. Four-star junior guard Samari Holmen, rated the 26th-best player in the nation in the Class of 2027, announced in July that she tore her ACL.
Duncanville reached the Class 6A Division I Region II final last season as Holmen averaged 16.5 points, made 64 3-pointers and shot 38.3% from 3-point range. She was the District 11-6A MVP, a first-team all-area selection and earned all-state honors after scoring in double figures in 32 of her 36 games for a 29-7 team.
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Duncanville ISD announced in April that first assistant Robert Amboree was promoted to head coach, taking over for Neiman Ford. Ford was named the school’s boys head coach after amassing a record of 64-11 in two seasons as the girls coach.
Ford replaces David Peavy, who left for Florida’s Southeastern Prep Academy after leading the Duncanville boys to the 6A Division I state title last season. The Duncanville girls and boys have combined to win nine recognized state championships since 2012, including the girls winning in 2020 and 2024 and the boys winning in 2019, 2021 and 2025.
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