Recapping Polk County Hoopfest – Top Teams

Recapping Polk County Hoopfest – Top Teams By Michael Wholey 12/31/21 2:00 PM EST The Polk County Hoopfest was held in the AdventHealth Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL hosting 50+ teams at the Varsity and JV level in the two-day event. Presented by SUTS Report, the event featured some of the state’s top teams and players. In this article, we take a look at the some of the event’s best matchups, top teams, and highlight some of the top player performances.   Heritage Palm Bay had a big win over Jones HS on day one of the Polk County Hoopfest with a balanced scoring attack, having 8 players get in the box score, led by 5’10 Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="349281" first="Peyton" last="Smith"], who scored 10 points. Heritage ended up winning by 10, defeating Jones 39-29 in a defensive back and forth battle. The game was close until Heritage pulled away in the fourth quarter, after trailing 17-13 at half time. Game two was a bit more of a struggle for Heritage, going up against a tough Miami Country Day squad. Junior Zora Hardison led the team in scoring with 8 points. Hardison, is a 6’1 wing/forward who led the state in blocks last year. Her shot blocking ability was on display all weekend and she had close to double digit blocks in both games, including an impressive Lebron James type block where she chased down a player in transition, running the full length of the court, and swatting the ball into the bleachers!   Jones struggled to score all weekend and had to rely heavily on Juniors Shakerra Reddick and Keiona Lampkin for the bulk of their teams scoring. Reddick finished with 9 points, while Lampkin led the team with 11 points in their 39-29 loss to Heritage Palm Bay.   <img class="size-medium wp-image-370503 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/12/495A6038-scaled-e1640962160826-253x300.jpg" alt="" width="253" height="300" />King’s Academy rolled into Winter Haven with 7 players and had a well-balanced offensive attack. In their first game, they defeated Berkeley Prep 56-27 with 6 players scoring 4 points or more. [player_tooltip player_id="243926" first="Jordan" last="Race"] lead them in scoring with 13 points while [player_tooltip player_id="243896" first="Jade" last="Jones"] finished with 12, and Margot McFadden scored 10. Game 2 was a back-and-forth battle vs Timber Creek where they jumped out early to a 25-14 first half lead and pulled out the win defeating Timber Creek 46-35. This time it was [player_tooltip player_id="247134" first="Janessa" last="Williams"] who led the team in scoring, dropping 11 points, while [player_tooltip player_id="243896" first="Jade" last="Jones"] reached double digits for the second game in a row scoring 10, and [player_tooltip player_id="248417" first="Sophia" last="Kateris"] knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with 9 points.   <img class=" wp-image-331251 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/09/91-Mira-Hanna.jpg" alt="" width="215" height="144" />Berkeley Prep finished the weekend with a 1-2 record. [player_tooltip player_id="248864" first="Mira" last="Hanna"] and Layla Fleming led them in scoring throughout the weekend. Hanna finished with 10 and Fleming scored 8 vs King’s Academy. While in their win over Lakeland Christian, Lauren Mack led the team in scoring with 13 points, while Fleming finished with 12 and Hanna scored 8.   <img class="alignright wp-image-370499 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/12/495A6183-scaled-crop-2305x1513-1640961875-e1640961909278-300x276.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="276" />Miami Country Day was led in scoring throughout the weekend by [player_tooltip player_id="217667" first="Kayla" last="Nelms"] but has a deep roster and got scoring and contributions from the entire squad. [player_tooltip player_id="217665" first="Sofia" last="Mendez"] dropped 14 points v Heritage Palm Bay, while [player_tooltip player_id="91642" first="Kristina" last="Godfrey"] finished with 11 points, and [player_tooltip player_id="221703" first="Kaliyah" last="Morales"] scored 10. In game two, Miami Country Day defeated Colonial 54-49. Nelms finished with 16 points, while Godfrey matched her with 16 and Morales finished with 13. The Miami Country Day v Colonial game was definitely one of the events top games, as it was a competitive game that went back and forth and featured two very talented rosters.   Oasis Christian had a big win in the final game of the event, defeating Winter Haven Christian 27-26 on Saturday night. Oasis Christian got 20 of its 27 points from Senior Olivia Ayers (11 points) and younger sister Junior Kayla Ayers (9 points). While Winter Haven Christian relied heavily on Sophomore Autumn Brown, who scored 18 of her teams 26 points including 15 points in the second half. The young guard did all she could, scoring 75% of her teams point but ultimately it was not enough as her team came up one point short in the loss.   <img class=" wp-image-370501 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/12/495A6045-scaled-e1640962027232-249x300.jpg" alt="" width="172" height="206" />Doral Academy had a solid showing at the event. While 5’1 Freshman [player_tooltip player_id="221639" first="Gianna" last="Robles"] led Doral with 19 points vs COLCA, it was a balanced attack with 8 players scoring 2 points or more with Senior Yasmin Mercado scoring 14, Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="362096" first="Emrie" last="Pedraza"] dropping 12, and Junior Alexia Sanchez reaching double digits with 10 points. In game two, they fell to Central Pointe 62-54, with Sanchez scoring 15 points, including three 3-pointers and 2/2 from the free throw line while [player_tooltip player_id="221639" first="Gianna" last="Robles"] finished with 14 points including four 3-pointers in the 1st half.   Michael Wholey is the lead scout for Florida Prep Girls Hoop Florida and a former division one Assistant Coach at American University, University of Memphis, and Georgia Tech. He also serves as the Director of SUTS Report and was the host of the Polk County Hoopfest. In his role with SUTS Report and Prep Girls Hoop, Wholey covers girls’ basketball all across the state of Florida, providing in depth coverage of events, analysis and evaluations of individual players performance and seeks to bring exposure to girls basketball in Florida in hopes of creating opportunities for players to continue playing at the collegiate level. Our audience often supplies us with some of our best information. If you have any information on players, teams, or statewide news in the state of Florida, you can email Michael Wholey at <a href="mailto:WholeyPrepHoops@gmail.com">WholeyPrepHoops@gmail.com</a> or DM him through Twitter or Instagram @WholeyPrepHoops.