San Diego will host a two-game high school basketball showcase and a WNBA exhibition game on Saturday.
You can probably assume where one game will be played. The other two? Keep guessing.
The WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks open preseason play with a noon game against the Nigerian National Team at Viejas Arena.
And at 2 p.m., Sea World’s Nautilus Arena will host the first of two Ballislife x Sea World All-American Games. The high school showcase begins with a boys game at 2 p.m., with a girls game to follow at 4 p.m.
Saturday’s exhibition is the Sparks’ first at Viejas in nearly 16 years. Los Angeles beat the Chinese Women’s National Team 78-58 on May 1, 2010, in the first WNBA game ever played in San Diego.
This year’s Sparks are led by San Diego’s Kelsey Plum, a La Jolla Country Day graduate who is averaging 15.1 points and 4.3 assists per game during her eight-year WNBA career. The game marks a return to Viejas for forward Cameron Brink, who scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while playing the equivalent of 2½ quarters in Stanford’s 85-54 win over San Diego State in December 2023.
The Ballislife games feature some of the nation’s top high-schoolers. Six of the country’s top-15-ranked girls players have committed to the game, including the UConn-bound Olivia Vukosa. The boys’ game is highlighted by two top-10 players: the Missouri-bound Jason Crowe and Maryland commit Babatunde Oladotun. Also playing is Tahj Ariza, an Oregon commit and the son of former UCLA standout Trevor Ariza.
Tickets for the Sparks-Nigeria game start at $48.50. The Ballislife games are free with a Sea World ticket.