Tri-Eight Player of the Year moving back to Cali

According to a report by the Riverside Press-Enterprise (Calif.), Apex girls' basketball player and reigning 2008-09 Tri-Eight Player of the Year Chloe Wells will be moving back to California for her senior year.

She spent one season with the Cougars after leaving her hometown of Fontana, and excelled on the East Coast, averaging 19.1 points per game while being practically unguardable. The Cougars (25-1) finished the regular season undefeated at 21-0, but lost in the second round of the state playoffs to Broughton.

Wells' interest in returning home and dislike for the Cary area was one of the worst-kept secrets during the high school sports season. Moving away from friends and your mom to go 3,000 miles east isn't easy for any high schooler, and her frustration in some of the cultural changes was evident, sometimes slipping up and giving quotes much like the one her father gave when he said "the South is all biscuits and gravy and sweet tea ... they need to build some malls."

Her move to North Carolina was one part to work with her father John Wells — a local AAU coach — on developing her game and the other part to get exposure to women's basketball powerhouses Duke and North Carolina. Chloe said this summer that both the Blue Devis and Tar Heels were each interested in her.

The Cougars should still be the favorite to win the Tri-9 Conference next year, bringing back sophomores Cassandra Mitchell (11.2) and Bethany Collins (10.0) — the second and third leading scorers on the team.