When the middle of July rolls around, that means that I get to make my annual road trip down to Louisville to spend time with family members in Kentucky while also watching high-level girls’ basketball.
As long as I can cover basketball, the Run 4 Roses Classic in Louisville will always be a permanent part of my summer itinerary. The Run 4 Roses is the biggest grassroots girls basketball in the country and there is no close contender.
The event, which is still held at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, fields more than 1,000 teams and it is played on 85 courts in the convention center. It has gotten so big that they also host games and several other locations around the city.
The Run 4 Roses has an amazing carnival-like atmosphere, which is ironic because you can walk right across the parking lot of the Fairgrounds and enter a large amusement park. Well, I’m a little too old to ride roller coasters and Ferris wheels, but what never gets old is being able to watch the best and brightest young girls’ basketball players in the country gather in the same facility to showcase their incredible talent.
There are tremendous players on hand from all age groups, ranging from seventh grade all the up to rising high school seniors. And those fans of college basketball also get a chance to get an up close and personal interaction with their favorite collegiate coach. Virtually every program in the country is present in Louisville, which includes all the big-name celebrity coaches that you see on television from Dawn Staley at South Carolina, Kim Mulkey at LSU and Geno Auriemma at UConn.
One of the main reasons I attend is because there are more than 60 teams from the state of Missouri in the event, which includes many from the St. Louis area. Most of the St. Louis kids play for Napheesa Collier Elite, Bradley Beal Elite and Missouri Phenom, which are all highly respected programs on the regional and national level.
Teams from the St. Louis are always good to bring home a few championship trophies from Louisville. That was the case with the Napheesa Collier Elite 17U team, coached by Webster University head coach Jordan Olufson. Phee Elite won a championship in the Gold Division of the 2025 Aqua Bracket against a talented Della Lamb team from Kansas City.
Phee Elite’s team is led by the dynamic duo of Navaeh Caffey and Peyton Hill of Incarnate Word Academy. They also have other excellent players from St. Louis including Kennedy Horton of Pattonville, Jairus Powers of Alton, Brooke Boyce and Aijah Jones of Cardinal Ritter and Ava McCulla of Parkway South.
The Lady Brad Beal Elite team also provided me with one of my biggest thrills of the weekend when they came back to defeat FDC Reign (GA) in an overtime thriller. Rising senior guard Hannah Fenton of Pattonville put on an offensive show in the second half to bring Lady BBE back from a second-half deficit. The rally was complete when Tayla Robinson of Columbia Battle banked in a 30-footer at the buzzer to force overtime, which touched off a wild celebration from the St. Louis contingent in attendance.
As great as the Run 4 Roses is every year, it was even better this year with the presence of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) as part of the event. The EYBL is the best grassroots league in the country, and it was a terrific opportunity to see future college stars and WNBA players in the building.
The main attraction of the weekend was Aaliyah Chavez, an ultra-talented 5’11” guard from Lubbock, TX. who is rated as the No. 1 player in the country. Every game she played attracted the biggest crowds of the weekend. Fans walled the court whenever she and her Cy Fair Elite team played.
On Saturday night, Chavez’ Cy Fair team matched up with the Missouri Phenom EYBL team in a game that was nationally televised on ESPNU. The Phenom team has several players from the state, with its coach being Travis Wallace, who is also the head boys’ coach at MICDS.
The game more than exceeded the hype as the Phenom pulled out a 72-67 win in an overtime thriller. Chavez put on a show for the national television audience as she scored a game-high 36 points. The Phenom was led by its dynamic inside duo of Jaliyah Davis and Jayda Porter (Columbia Rock Bridge), who is the younger sister of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter, Jr.
Once again, it was another enjoyable trip to the Bluegrass state to watch great basketball. As always, I would recommend it to anyone who likes good girls’ hoops. If you are a fan and have a few bucks to spend, it is worth your time.