Top girls' basketball player Juju Watkins leaves Windward for Sierra Canyon

Juju Watkins, considered the top girls' basketball player in the nation from the class of 2023, has checked out of Windward and enrolled at Sierra Canyon.

"It means we got a lot better," Sierra Canyon girls' basketball coach Alicia Komaki said Saturday.

Watkins makes the Trailblazers one of the top teams in Southern California for the 2021-22 season.

Komaki said Watkins had been looking at Sierra Canyon since sixth grade.

"In my opinion, Juju is the best player in the country," she said.

Watkins was The Times' player of the year two seasons ago as a freshman. She joins another former Windward player, Kijani Wright, who recently transferred to Sierra Canyon to play for the boys' basketball team.

Sierra Canyon is scheduled to move to the Mission League in 2022-23.

"There's no hard feelings," Windward coach Ebony Hoffman said. "We wish her the best. She's a great player and will continue to be a great player."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.