Three Arizona women’s basketball commits honored by WBCA All-America committee

The three domestic recruits set to join Arizona women’s basketball were honored by the WBCA high school coaches’ All-America committee on Tuesday. Forward Maya Nnaji was named to the 10-player high school All-America team. Guards Paris Clark and Kailyn Gilbert were both named honorable mention.

The trio of Americans will join Canadian Lemyah Hylton in the class of 2022 at Arizona within the next few months. Hylton is the second-ranked international prospect in the class.

The group makes up Arizona’s highest-ranked class ever, coming in at No. 8 according to the rankings issued by ESPN HoopGurlz last November. That ranking came before the commitment of Clark, who is ranked No. 21 overall and No. 5 at the guard position. Nnaji is ranked ninth overall and third at the forward position while Gilbert is No. 31 overall and ninth at the point guard position.

Arizona needs the high-level class to compete in a stacked Pac-12. Despite the class being ranked eighth, it is the fifth-ranked class in the league and the national rankings have six Pac-12 recruiting classes in the top 25. In addition to the Wildcats, they include UCLA at No. 1, Oregon at No. 2, Oregon State at No. 3, Stanford at No. 5, and Washington at No. 14.

The WBCA is high on the conference’s incoming freshmen, as well. Six of the 10-player WBCA All-America team consists of players headed to the Pac-12 with Stanford commit Lauren Betts getting the Player of the Year nod.

On the 20-player honorable mention list, Gilbert and Clark join six others who are headed to the Pac-12. That list includes USC recruit Aaliyah Gayles who was shot 10 times last month at a house party in her hometown of Las Vegas. The Women of Troy will honor her scholarship while she undergoes major rehabilitation.