Tribune names SLO County Player of Year, all-stars in girls basketball
Bailey Hartford took her basketball game to the next level from her sophomore to her junior season and helped lead by example as San Luis Obispo High School posted one of its best seasons in decades.
The Tigers went 26-5 overall record and were undefeated in the Sunset League at 10-0.
As the team’s high-scorer, Hartford averaged nearly 18 points per game (17.9) on 41% field goal shooting. She also added 5.9 rebounds, 4.7 steals and 1.9 assists per game. During league play, Hartford averaged 20.2 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, 5.6 steals and 2.2 assists.
The 5-foot-9 junior guard is The Tribune’s Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season.
“Bailey’s athleticism was off the charts on both ends of the floor. ... Her speed and quickness and her ability to anticipate were exceptional,” said SLO Coach Dan Monroe. “On defense, Bailey gets her hands on a lot of balls and forces a lot of deflections. She was a catalyst at the top of our press and made our defense go because of that.”
Monroe said that he positioned Hartford on trap defense to secure steals and force turnovers, describing her as a “ball hawk” who could read other players’ eyes and anticipate their next move.
Along with 5-foot-11 senior Jennifer Stambaugh, who averaged 11.2 points and 9.2 rebounds, Hartford was a go-to offensive force and a defensive stopper.
Hartford, a three-sport star at SLO in volleyball, basketball and track, said that she worked heavily on her own on ball handling and shooting at a local park leading up to the season to see improvement in her game, striving to improve her outside jumper and her finishes with both hands around the basket.
“I worked on really keeping my elbow up high and snapping my wrist and putting spin on the ball (on jump shots),” Hartford said. “I still want to improve at ball handling and shooting, but I think that practice time helped a lot.”
Conditioning played a role as well.
“Our team practiced a lot of transition defense and offense,” Hartford said. “We did a lot of drills.”
Monroe said that because Hartford is a three-sport athlete, she wasn’t able to participate in as many off-season training sessions as other players on the team. But her leap as a player from sophomore to junior was remarkable nonetheless.
“We’ll get her a little bit in the summer, but then in the fall, she’s in volleyball, so she’s not on the court at all,” Monroe said. “When she came in from volleyball this season, the first game she played, you would have thought she’d been playing for the past two months. She didn’t miss a beat.”
As a first-team, all-league volleyball outside hitter, Hartford was a key player on SLO’s girls volleyball team that went 30-8 and posted a 10-0 Mountain League record for the league title, with Arroyo Grande finishing in second at 7-3. SLO was ranked 43rd in the state in girls volleyball, according to MaxPreps.
Hartford was named MVP of the Sunset League in basketball this season by vote of the coaches.
“She leads by example,” Monroe said. “She has the work ethic. She has a great attitude, and she’s a team player. Everybody loves her. She’s a joy to coach. As the kids say these days, she’s ‘low-key’ kind of goofy and the other girls kind of feed off that.”
Team bonds helped success
Hartford said that the team’s chemistry and close-knit nature helped make the Tigers successful, including Sunday night dinners.
“We’d get together for pasta dinners and play games,” Hartford said. “That helped keep us connected.”
The junior standout said a memorable night that really put an exclamation point on the season was beating Cabrillo (19-8, 8-2 Sunset) at home to secure the league title.
“Winning the league title, something we haven’t done as a school in over 20 years, and doing it on senior night with a lot of fans in attendance, that was unbelievable,” Hartford said. “I thought we were good enough to win league, but Cabrillo was our biggest challenge.”
In track, Hartford competes in the triple jump, long jump and 100-meter hurdles in the spring.
“I think she could compete in three different sports in college if she wanted to,” Monroe said. “It just depends on what direction she chooses.”
Hartford, who visited prospective colleges over spring break, said she plans to compete in NCAA track and field. She hasn’t ruled out playing basketball in college. But primarily she has been talking to collegiate coaches in track, and that’s her focus for the next level.
“I like the variety of the events in track,” Hartford said. “I recently took a visit to Concordia (in Orange County) and really like talking to their coaches and seeing their practices.”
In the meantime, she has another full year of high school ahead, and looks forward to facing more SLO County teams next year when the Tigers join the Mountain League, where they’ll face two top county teams in Arroyo Grande and Mission Prep.
“All those teams are really good,” Hartford said. “We’ll have to play our best. … I’m just enjoying the high school experience.”
Here are the other All-Tribune all-star honorees:
Offensive Player of the Year
KK Guy — Mission Prep
Defensive Player of the Year
Diana Sorrondo — Arroyo Grande
First Team
Violet Pace — Morro Bay
Belle Simonson — Nipomo
Kinzie Amer — Arroyo Grande
Maka Guy — Mission Prep
Jennifer Stambaugh — San Luis Obispo
Second Team
Kate Harrington — Paso Robles
Sophia Porter — Atascadero
Taylor Sutton — Templeton
Molly Sloan — Arroyo Grande
Gwen Nelson — Mission Prep
Honorable Mention
Taylen Robson, Morro Bay; Maddie Long, Nipomo; Mary Marsalek, Mission Prep; Lillie Parish, Mission Prep; Ali Abercromby, SLO; Sophia Robertson, Arroyo Grande; Kamaile Abac, SLO; Laney Arnold, Atascadero, McKenna Nichols, Atascadero; Zoe Fitzwater, Morro Bay; Mariah Valdivia, Nipomo, Jacey George, Atascadero; Gabby Barroso, Templeton; Whitney Jeckell, Atascadero; Ellie Sloan, Arroyo Grande.
This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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