Hoopfest elite: Hub Northwest aims to extend record to seven consecutive titles
Hoopfest is open to everyone to experience the thrills of downtown Spokane streetball.
But for the best of the best, they play for the premier status of elite winners.
Those elite contests happen exclusively on elite courts with some – including the final games of each division – on Northern Quest Center Court inside of Riverfront Park.
More than 100 teams across the top elite adult divisions will take the court Saturday morning before the championship games on Sunday afternoon.
All four returning champions are back for more in 2025.
In the men’s 6-foot and over division, Hub Northwest – which won its sixth consecutive title last summer – is returning all four members of its squad. That win broke a Hoopfest record that the four shared with BAMM (coed elite in 2017-19 and 2022) and TBA (women’s elite between 2010-14).
A seventh consecutive title would extend the record.
The team consists of former Gonzaga player Mike Hart; former Eastern players Parker Kelly and Marc Axton; and Northwest Nazarene and Northwest Christian grad Robert Lippman.
Mammas Boys, which finished runner-up in 2024, returns with Austin Shelton, Aubrey Shelton, Ben Shelton and Kaleb Shelton-Johnson.
Big Juicy, which spent 2024 in the men’s 6-foot-and-under division, is back to try and knock off Hub Northwest. In 2022 and 2023, Big Juicy dropped the final game to the reigning champs.
Their squad is Dominick Oliveri, Ethan Boag, Matt Ellis and Jason Scully.
Oliveri played at Lewis and Clark High from 2014-2016 before heading to Western Washington and the University of Victoria. Scully also played at the University of Victoria.
Ellis went on to play professionally in Canada while Boag finished his college career at Victoria.
Men’s under 6-foot
The returning champs, BE BALL FOR LIFE, have three new faces for their title defense to join Maurice Thomas. He is flanked by Dominique McClendon, Markieth Brown and Michael Hannan.
McClendon is a familiar face for Hoopfest fans as his 2024 squad, BBFORLIFE AMOTKAN, folded. Brown played on that team a year ago.
McLendon was a former member of the BE BALL FOR LIFE team.
Hannan played at Simon Fraser and Pierce College. He graduated from Central Valley High.
Brown played at Shadle Park, before heading to Everett Community College, where as a sophomore, he averaged 26.2 points a game. He then went on to play at Montana Tech for the 2020-21 season, averaging almost 10 points per game.
The 2023 champs, NW Warriors Elite, will feature Aaron Antoine, Ahbrae Harvey, Ross Nakamura and Therone Tillett. It is the same team as the 2024 squad.
The first three all have ties to the Lilac City Legends, a fledgling pro team based in Spokane.
Nakamura spent time with Whitworth. As a senior, he led NCAA Division III in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Tillett played at Rogers High before a small stint on the San Diego Toreros for the 2013-14 season.
Another team to watch is ASAP.
ASAP is led by Preston Wynne, a Hoopfest multitime winner.
Wynne played at Spokane Colleges, becoming the second Sasquatch player to surpass 1,000 points, after his days at Wellpinit (Washington) High.
Also on the team are Dawson Youngblood, who graduated from Deer Park; Steven Burgess from Coeur d’Alene High; and David Kielian, another former Hoopfest elite winner.
Women’s elite
Empire Fitness, the 2024 champion, is attempting to go back-to-back without its prime competition from years past.
Tomato StreetBallers, which had multiple titles while led by Stacy Clinesmith, is not in the tournament this year.
Jazmine Redmon, Jessie Loera and Shannon Reader of Empire Fitness are former Gonzaga players, and Ciara Andrews played college ball at Saint Joseph’s.
Redmon is from Spokane, Loera from Moses Lake and Reader is from Lake Oswego, Oregon.
One challenger is Bucket Getters, headlined by four Washington athletes, including Erika Cliett, who played at Everett High and Northwest University. The other three on her team are Callie Lind, Sammamish and University of Washington; Ariel Miller, Maple Valley and Salt Lake Community College and Missouri Valley College; and Kyra Prause, Arlington and Utah Valley.
Another local team is captained by former East Valley basketball players Sorrel Aldendorf and her sister, Anasage. The other two on the team are Brooklyn Bailey from St. John-Endicott/Lacrosse and North Idaho Christian’s Yesenia Pilgrim.
Coed elite
Back with a new team name – and its third in three years – is Sibling Rivalry.
The team is headlined by Austin Bolt, the former Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year in basketball and football in 2020 at Borah High in Boise. His brother Aidan is on the team for the first time and also went to Borah. Alyssa and Alex Jimenez also played at Borah.
One of the challengers for the title is BBFORLIFE Aylon.
That team is led by William Dick, who starred at Wellpinit High before playing at Wenatchee Valley Community College.
Zalissa Finley, also on the team, was a star at Inchelium (Washington) High. She averaged 10 points a game at Whitworth before nearly averaging a double-double at Indiana State last season. Alonzo Adams and Tyler Jordan round out the four.