Rocking a bright pink T-shirt with the words “Wanna Be Ballers” written in teal lettering for her team of the same name, Lexi Beckman is anything but a wannabe baller.
In the girls ninth and 10th grade category at the 2025 Capital City 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament in Tenino, most of the athletes are using the opportunity to develop their skills in hopes of earning more playing time, or even their first minutes on the court.
Beckman already has a season under her belt in which she was the starting center of the District 4 2B championship-winning Rainier Mountaineers.
She hasn’t even sat through one high school class yet.
Beckman is the lone returning full-time starter for the Mountaineers entering her freshman campaign, and she proved at times last winter that she can compete at a high, or even dominant, level. This summer, she is locked in on building upon her impressive debut season, knowing she will be leading a new era of Rainier basketball under first-year head coach Jordan Hunt.
Not only did Beckman suit up for the 3-on-3 tournament this weekend for the championship-winning Wanna Be Ballers, but she also competed in front of college coaches with her club team Hoopstars Family in Houston, Las Vegas and Chicago.
“I’m focusing on scoring for myself rather than having to kick out,” Beckman, a 6-foot-1 post, said after her “Wanna Be Ballers” team lost their first-round contest Saturday afternoon. “For the future, it’s probably more important to look to score for myself. I don’t have as much of that skill on my team. It’s important for me to learn how to handle the ball and be a guard and develop some of those other skills that I haven’t quite yet.”
In her first game in Tenino, Beckman quickly showed improved footwork, ball-handling and defensive rotation, albeit with four fewer players on the court than during the varsity season. She intimidated opposing slashers with her length and shot-blocking ability, and she showed no hesitation when she caught the ball on the block to attack the rim with her dominant left hand. This aggression wasn’t consistently there for Beckman as an eighth grader.
During her eighth grade season, Beckman started alongside and learned from four seniors — Brooklynn Swenson, Janess Blackburn, Angelica Askey, and her older sister Bryn Beckman. Lexi Beckman credited the departing quartet for preparing her, along with returning sophomore Kaysen Bravo, to lead the Mountaineers in the future.
“I looked up to them. They taught me how to be that leader and how to teach other girls,” Lexi Beckman said. “Now, there’s a lot of pressure, but I’ve played with this group of girls since I was little. There’s not too much stress, but it’s kind of my time to shine. It’s my and Kaysen’s team now. Now we’re the leaders.”
Beckman has played for Hunt before as he once coached her club team and coached the Mountaineers’ summer ball squad this summer, so she’ll have some familiarity on an otherwise brand new team environment.
“When he walks in the room, you know he’s there. He’s so excited. He daps everyone up with a big smile on his face. He has great energy,” Beckman said of Hunt.
While thinking about the next four years under her leadership, Beckman didn’t want to set any huge goals for herself or her team. She instead vowed to help the team grow as a family while maintaining the momentum created by her predecessors from the class of 2025.
“I just want to help our team be a good team, to work together as a family and develop our skills. It’s a fun group of girls, so we’ll be working our hardest to follow in [the seniors’] tracks,” she said.
The Wanna Be Ballers won all four games they played on Sunday to win the tournament. W.F. West graduate Seth Hoff won the 10-foot dunk contest Saturday.
