Women’s basketball is here — and it’s here to stay.
With the momentum highlighted by Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, Overtime has further invested in the sport on a preps — or high school or prep school — level with the inaugural Overtime Select season. During this season some of the top high school girls basketball players from around the nation come to Atlanta’s OTE Arena to compete at the end of the summer. The period of the games comes after the AAU season in the summer and before the start of the high school academic year.
One of the top prospects featured at this year’s tournament is Jerzy Robinson, the No. 1 player in the class of 2026, according to ESPN’s HoopGurlz’s rankings.
Robinson, a six-foot guard hailing from Phoenix, possesses an unwavering confidence rarely seen in a high school basketball player. The Nike athlete wears her armband on her forearm like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Jayson Tatum, and shoots herself out of shooting slumps. She obsesses over the game to the point she even asked media members on Aug. 16 for advice on how to give better answers in press conferences.
“Michael Jordan said it, [and] Kobe said it: ‘Shoot ’till you make it,'” Robinson told rolling out. “So, I just have that confidence.”
The confidence shines through in her answers as well. After scoring 20 points on 7-of-21 shooting in Team Paige’s win over Team Flau’jae, Robinson boldly explained why her team won the matchup.
“We don’t lose when we play for Team Paige,” Robinson said in an on-court postgame interview.
For the past two summers, college basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Flau’jae Johnson have been coaches at the Overtime Takeover games. Bueckers has won both games over Johnson. Bueckers is currently projected to be the No. 1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft, and Johnson is projected to go No. 1 in 2026. However, Johnson has publicly expressed her thoughts of entering the 2025 draft and leaving LSU early.
Overtime has presented a different style of basketball to the preps scene. This year’s Team Paige victory can very well be attributed to the game’s rule to double the value of all of the points in the final minute of the game in addition to having 4-point range on the court. Despite Team Flau’jae having the lead for most of the second half, Team Paige took advantage of the doubled points and won the game.
“This is entertainment, too,” Stella Lockhart, a 2026 prospect from New Jersey, told rolling out. “We want to make sure people are having fun watching us. If we’re having fun, I think the people who are watching us are going to have fun, too.”
“As far as adapting to the different set of rules, it definitely took a little bit of time, but eventually we were good and we took advantage of that money minute,” Lockhart said.
The matchup also featured Kate Harping, Team Paige’s leading scorer with 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting and nine rebounds. Harping is an Atlanta native, the No. 18 prospect in the Class of 2026 and daughter of former NBA veteran Matt Harping.
Also participating in the events include USC superstar guard Juju Watkins and Arizona guard Jada Williams, who broadcasted at this year’s Takeover.
As Clark and Reese begin their professional careers bringing a heightened audience to women’s basketball, names like Bueckers, Johnson, Watkins and Robinson will continue to keep the game’s popularity at its new elevated normal.
