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ALL-AREA GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR BRANDY MONTGOMERY
All-Area First Team
LaSonja Edwards
Coach of the Year
Meredith Flynn
Rose Marie Julien
Mariah Newkirk
K.P. Pound
Yasmine Queen
Ashley Robinson
Tayler Smith
ROGER DORIO
Treasure Coast, third year This season: Led Treasure Coast to its first district championship in school history en route to a 21-5 record. That included a 50-29 win over Winter Park in a Region 2-8A quarterfinal, the first regional win in school history. Treasure Coast also won the St. Lucie County Championship and its division at the Queen of Palms Classic in Fort Myers. Quotable: “I was looking back over my records and this was the best season I ever had as a (head) coach. ... The thing I’m most proud of is coming from where we were three years ago when I took the job, right before the season started, and progressing the way we did and the kids getting better and having the first set of seniors that are getting scholarship offers. That means a great deal. ... At this stage in my career, I’m not going to get the Duke job, but it’s an honor to be coach of the year and I appreciate it for the kids, for what they did.”
LaSONJA EDWARDS
Fort Pierce Central junior guard/forward Stats: 13.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.2 steals per game
MEREDITH FLYNN
St. Lucie West Centennial senior power forward Stats: 17.0 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game
Honorable Mention
ROSE MARIE JULIEN
Treasure Coast senior wing/post Stats: 20.3 points per game, 12.7 rebounds per game
GIGI ALCINDOR John Carroll senior guard CASSIDY BELL Pine School senior guard
MARIAH NEWKIRK
Martin County senior guard Stats: 14.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 4.3 steals per game
KASEY COX Jensen Beach junior point guard VICTORIA CRAWFORD Morningside Academy eighth-grade forward
K.P. POUND
Sebastian River senior forward Stats: 24.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.7 blocks per game
ALEX BOERNER/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Lincoln Park Academy’s Brandy Montgomery is the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Veteran stepped up her game
YASMINE QUEEN
Martin County sophomore guard/forward Stats: 12.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists per game
Lincoln Park Academy’s Brandy Montgomery took the reins of the girls basketball team this season
ASHLEY ROBINSON
Jensen Beach senior guard Stats: 28.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 3.2 steals per game
TAYLER SMITH
Sebastian River sophomore forward/ center Stats: 11.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 2.9 steals per game
ALL-AREA TEAM The All-Area girls basketball team was compiled by Aimee Ford Foster.
By Aimee Ford Foster Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers
FORT PIERCE — Throughout her long, accomplished career at Lincoln Park Academy, Brandy Montgomery always was surrounded by older, talented teammates. That was no longer true this past season, when the senior guard stood as the lone returning starter, and, after Alexis Jean was lost to a knee injury in the preseason, the only player with varsity experience. What followed was a truly memorable season. Montgomery led with words and deeds, powering Lincoln Park to its fifth consecutive district championship and taking the team to the Region 3-4A semifinals. Along the way, she averaged 31 points a game — tied for 14th in the country according to MaxPreps. For that steady, outstanding performance throughout the season, Montgomery has been named the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year. “I knew what I had to do,” Montgomery said. “I knew even before Coach (Wendell) Adams told me. He said ‘B, you’re going to have to step it up even more.’
Player of the Year
BRANDY MONTGOMERY
Lincoln Park Academy senior guard Stats: 31.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 4.1 steals per game Coach Wendell Adams: “She carried the leadership role this year. She played all these years, but she was always one of the younger kids. She was our only returning starter this year, and she just set a good example. The other kids followed her this year.”
“I knew I had to step up more as far as leading them, not just in practice, but on the court during the games. It helped me become a better leader … for us to do as well as we did. It wasn’t just me. The girls really stepped up, and going into the playoffs, they weren’t freshmen anymore.” Montgomery always was a scorer, as her more than 3,000 career points showcases, but this year, she was much more. Adams estimated that she had the ball in her hands 80 to 85 percent of the time this year. In addition to that, she faced every defense imaginable — but never stopped scoring. “Before the season started, I told her that this year she would have to play more minutes, so we conditioned for her to play 32 minutes,” Adams said. “She was double- and
triple-teamed. She saw a different defense every night — doubles, boxes. She still managed to get her numbers. She averaged more points than any other year.” Montgomery was pleased with her performance this year — earning a second Player of the Year award, to go with the one she earned as a sophomore, was one of her goals. But she was more pleased with what the team accomplished. “They honestly shocked me,” she said of her young teammates. “They kept progressing and getting better. People didn’t expect us to be that good. But I couldn’t do it by myself. That’s what shocked me, how far we got. They really showed a lot of maturity.” So did Montgomery. “She brought such a positive attitude,” Adams said. “She was a coach on the floor.”
SHANA DeWITT Port St. Lucie junior guard AMI EDWARDS Okeechobee senior forward TIANNEA FRYSON South Fork freshman guard MEGAN GORMAN Vero Beach freshman forward TREASURE INGRAM John Carroll junior center NENE JOHNSON Martin County junior guard RONEISHA JORDAN Fort Pierce Central senior guard/forward EBONY JOSEPH Fort Pierce Central senior point guard JORDAN McHARDY Martin County junior guard CARLEY McCOIN Okeechobee sophomore point guard MARRIAH NUNNALLY Treasure Coast senior wing MIAH SHEPHARD Sebastian River senior guard CAITLYN SMITH Sebastian River freshman guard KATIE TAYLOR Sebastian River sophomore guard SYDNEY TOWNSEND Jensen Beach sophomore guard CHRISTINA WOODWARD Morningside senior forward KAYLA WOULARD Vero Beach sophomore guard
All-Area Schedule WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Girls Soccer
Boys Soccer
Wrestling
Girls Basketball
Boys Basketball
Girls Weightlifting