Bella Hines grew up in Albuquerque, dreaming as a little girl of finding a way to play basketball at the highest level in college.
Saturday, one of the best prep basketball players in New Mexico in recent memory who is now playing power conference college basketball was back home running a camp of her own, sharing with the next wave of Duke City hooping hopefuls guidance on how she was able to get to the level she's at.
Hines, who will be playing this season for the Big 12's TCU after cutting her college teeth this past season for the SEC's LSU Tigers, hosted a youth basketball camp Saturday at the ABC Gym in Old Town — home to ABC Prep's basketball program where Hines graduated high school from in 2025 after playing her first three seasons at Eldorado High School.
The former consensus five-star recruit in the Class of 2025 averaged 4.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 33 games played this past season at LSU. The 5-foot-10 guard opted to enter the transfer portal after the season and chose to transfer to play for TCU, where the rising sophomore will play this season for head coach Matt Campbell.
Hines, a regular at ABC Gym for several years now, even when she was still attending Eldorado, attracted about 100 kids to Saturday's split camp — kids in grades K through 5 in the morning sessions, 6 through 12 in the afternoon.
Live Announcement Sunday!
Albuquerque native and Top 100 national boy's basketball recruit for the Class of 2027 Brandon Mason Jr., who helped his good friend and former Albuquerque Prep classmate Hines at Saturday's camp, plans to announce his college choice on a special live broadcast by the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday.
The webcast will be broadcast live on the Journal's YouTube page ( youtube.com/abqjournal ) and Journal Sports Editor Geoff Grammer's X account (@GeoffGrammer).
Mason Jr., the son of former New Mexico State Aggies star player and former UNM Lobos assistant coach Brandon Mason, who is now the director of ABC Prep, has had dozens of scholarship offers from programs across the country. Recently, he announced a final five list of potential schools, including the University of New Mexico, Grand Canyon University, Xavier University, Boise State and Ohio University.
The 6-foot-6 guard has played high school basketball until this season with Albuquerque Prep, but got accepted to play his final year before college with Link Academy in Missouri, one of the nation's elite high school basketball prep schools.
Geoff Grammer is the Sports Editor of the Journal and covers UNM Lobos basketball, among other things. Reach him at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.
