<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Who are the top players in the Daytona Beach area?</strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">By Michael Wholey 1/5/21 9:00 AM EST</span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><em>We are traveling up north this week to Daytona Beach to look at some of the area’s top players. </em></strong></span>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Last year the Daytona Beach and Volusia/Flagler county area was loaded with talent. A number of players from the class of 2021 went onto graduate and receive full scholarships to play college basketball including several going onto Division 1 programs: [player_tooltip player_id="91402" first="Peryonna" last="Sylvester"] from Spruce Creek (North Florida), [player_tooltip player_id="91396" first="Tiera" last="White"] from Father Lopez signed with Tulane, [player_tooltip player_id="145108" first="Khadija" last="Faye"] from Father Lopez signed with Texas Tech, [player_tooltip player_id="91404" first="Jay’lin" last="Hastings"] from DeLand signed with UNC Greensboro, [player_tooltip player_id="91405" first="Kaci" last="Helmick"] from Spruce Creek is at Army, [player_tooltip player_id="91463" first="Brianna" last="Ellis"] from Flagler Palm Coast is now at New Orleans, and [player_tooltip player_id="91454" first="Channing" last="Chappell"] from DME Academy is now at Wright State. </span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">With a number of the area’s top players graduating, look for several of the area’s players to make major jumps statistically and increase their roles with their respective teams. </span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><img class=" wp-image-242861 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/4-300x300.png" alt="" width="221" height="221" />2022 Kiki Bean (Atlantic)</strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The 2022 PG had a solid Sophomore campaign helping Atlantic reach the FHSAA Class 4A playoffs. As the team’s floor leader, she is an extension of Head Coach George Butts, she averaged 6.7 APG and 8.0 PPG. Coach Butts will look for her to take on a much larger offensive role with the team bumping up to a 15-20 point per game scorer consistently. </span>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>2021 Lily Dunaway (Flagler Palm Coast)</strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The common theme here is players who role will increase with the graduation of the team’s best player. The situation is exactly that for Dunaway, who will take over the PG position for graduating Senior [player_tooltip player_id="91463" first="Brianna" last="Ellis"], who is now at the University of New Orleans. Dunaway is a 5’7 guard who had multiple 20+ point games last season. Look for her role to increase and her points and minutes per game to bump up drastically. </span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><img class=" wp-image-242855 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/Taylor-Gardner-DME-284x300.jpg" alt="" width="231" height="244" />2021 [player_tooltip player_id="219957" first="Taylor" last="Gardner"] (DME Academy) – FLAGLER COLLEGE</strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Gardner is a scoring point guard who plays hard on both ends of the floor and does a great job finding ways to score while still running her team and setting her teammates up to score. She plays every possession extremely hard with a ton of energy and is extremely competitive. She had an excellent 2020 travel season with East Coast United North Florida emerging as one of the state’s top uncommitted prospects. Look for her to have a big Senior year at DME and be an impact player for Flagler. </span>
<h2><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><img class=" wp-image-242858 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/Isys-Grady-Mainland-crop-389x256-1609722090-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="389" height="256" />2021 [player_tooltip player_id="91505" first="Isys" last="Grady"] (Mainland) – UNC GREENSBORO </strong></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Grady is the area’s top returning player. She is a 5’11 Wing/Forward that is super athletic and a dynamic scorer. Grady was one of the most under rated players in the 2021 in my opinion and is capable of going off for 20+ points per game any night. Last season, Mainland played the role of spoiler coming into the FHSAA playoffs as a # 8 seed and knocking off # 1 Lincoln and then knocking off St. Johns Creekside earning themselves an appearance in the Elite 8. If Grady can consistently put-up numbers, look for Mainland to change roles from underdog to favorite and the team will go as far as Grady can carry them.</span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>2021 Jiya Hastings (DeLand)</strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Hastings is the younger sister of 2020 Jay’Lin who as mentioned above is headed to UNC Greensboro. Jiya was the DeLand’s 2<sup>nd</sup> leading scorer behind Jay’Lin averaging 10 PPG and leading team in assists (2.0 per game) and steals (2.5 per game). With older sister off to college, Jiya will assume a much larger role as the team’s leader and be looked upon to score 15+ points per game nightly. </span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><img class=" wp-image-208783 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2020/10/99-Chloe-Kitts-2-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="373" height="245" />2023 [player_tooltip player_id="91653" first="Chloe" last="Kitts"] (DME Academy)</strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The 6’3 wing transferred from Master’s Academy to DME Academy this year and is putting big numbers up after leading Master’s to an appearance in the FHSAA State Championship last season. Her length and wingspan impact the game dramatically on both ends of the floor. Offensively, she can shoot from the perimeter and score at the rim over defenders. While on the defensive end, Kitts has ability to block shots, deflect/tip passes, and just get her hands-on balls that many players do not. She is a big time prospect who continues to improve and get better every time I see her. </span>
<h2><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>2021 [player_tooltip player_id="151186" first="Kacie" last="Oelkers"] (Spruce Creek) 0 CHATHAM UNIVERSITY </strong></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The 5’8 sharpshooter is headed to Pittsburgh, PA next year where she will suit it up for NCAA Division III program Chatham University. She deadly three-point shooter knocked down 83 3-pointers last season, shooting 35% from 3, and averaged 12.5 PPG. She is one of the area’s top returning scorers and will be in running for Player of the Year honors. </span>
<h2><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><img class=" wp-image-242862 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/1-300x300.png" alt="" width="203" height="203" />2021 Emma Perna (Spruce Creek) – OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY </strong></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The 5’5 guard is headed to NCAA Division III Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA next season. Perna is a four-year starter and is expected to have a huge increase in her role based on graduation and her improvement from last season to this season. Spruce Creek is always in the mix come January/February playoff time. Perna will play a major role in how far the team goes after going 29-1 last season. </span>
<h2><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>2022 [player_tooltip player_id="151170" first="Lauren" last="Stewart"] (Flagler Palm Coast)</strong></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Stewart put up big numbers last season averaging 13 PPG and 8 RPG being named First Team All Conference for her performance. Head coach Javier Bevacqua will lean on Stewart heavily this season, looking for her to increase on those stats and help Flagler Palm Coast make a run to Lakeland. Stewart is being recruited by Hampton, North Florida, New Orleans, Yale and Columbia at this point. </span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><img class=" wp-image-242856 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/01/Bella-Weary-DME-251x300.jpg" alt="" width="201" height="240" />2021 [player_tooltip player_id="91487" first="Bella" last="Weary"] (DME Academy) – UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA </strong></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Weary was one of this springs/summers biggest stock risers. Her game is a great combination of skill and athleticism and she is as deadly as there is a scorer in the state. The 5’6 guard played her first two years at Bartram Trail where she reached 1,000 career points as a Sophomore. Her future head coach Jose Fernandez at USF has this to say about Weary <em>"Bella is a fierce competitor and plays extremely hard on both ends of the floor. We like her versatility in the backcourt, with the ball in her hands and off the ball."</em></span>
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