Palm Beach Counties Top Teams - Pre-Season Rankings

Palm Beach Counties Top Teams - Pre-Season Rankings By Michael Wholey 12/5/20 9:00 AM EST We are taking a look across the state at various counties and metro areas and how the squads line up. We take a look at Palm Beach county.   American Heritage Delray Going int the season, I would say American Heritage Delray is the team to beat in Palm Beach county and Head Coach Bret Studley is not shying away from the team’s goals. “We believe we can make a run at a state title,” said Studley. “Once you get to states, you have to win two games. That’s our goal.” The squad is led by one of the state’s top players, Jordan Codio. The 6’1 wing averaged an impressive stat line of 22 PPG, 6 RPG, 2 SPG, 2 APG, 1 BPG last season and was named the Palm Beach Post Best of Preps First Team for small schools based on her performance. Codio had a great summer with Essence travel team, showing an improved perimeter game and a more consistent overall offensive game. Her length combined with her effort, energy and improved floor game on the offensive end make her a nightmare to guard. The Stallions might have one of the best group of 4 as 2023 guard [player_tooltip player_id="151147" first="Taylor" last="Romano"] and 2023 forward [player_tooltip player_id="151282" first="Alancia" last="Ramsey"] are back. Romano can play both the 1 and 2 and is a consistent double digit scorer and can be a scoring threat as well as run the teams offense and be a distributor when called upon while Ramsey is a walking double double who sets the tone of the teams effort and energy and does all the dirty work. Adding into the mix is impactful 2024 PG [player_tooltip player_id="219924" first="Khadee" last="Hession"], who comes to Heritage from Miami Country Day. Palm Beach Lakes Year in and year out, Lakes is one of the counties top teams and always a threat to win the region, make it to Lakeland, and have a run at a championship and this year will be no different. Head Coach Cassandra Rahming lost four starters from Lakes from the Regional Championship squad that had an appearance in the Class 7A state semifinals. [player_tooltip player_id="91498" first="Zaida" last="Gonzalez"] is the teams star player. She is a super athletic, dynamic scorer who recently signed to play next season at Florida International University. With the graduation of 4 Seniors, look for Gonzalez’s role and stat line to make major leaps in her final season. Joining Gonzalez are two transfers from fellow Palm Beach county school The Benjamin School, 2021 Deborrah Redmon and 2022 Casey Lewis. Both averaged 10+ PPG last season and will assume a similar role with Lakes. Boca Raton Any rankings for Palm Beach county can not exclude Boca Raton. The Bobcats have been a staple for the past 5+ years. Boca Raton also lost quite a bit to graduation with [player_tooltip player_id="91475" first="Kelsi" last="Mingo"] heading off to Boston University and [player_tooltip player_id="91441" first="Grace" last="Alfieri"] heading off to Rollins College. Second year Head Coach Lawrence Hanna will lean on 2021 Wing Cassidy Lowe, who averaged 9 PPG and 8 RPG last season. 2021 Zoe Zeitlin was injured most of last season but should be an impact player and help Lowe with the scoring. Only one team can make it out of the region between Boca Raton and Palm Beach Lakes. Last year Lakes gave Boca Raton two losses, we will see if they can seek out revenge this season. Who else? Atlantic High School 5’9 guard [player_tooltip player_id="91548" first="Tamaya" last="Patterson"] will try and do it all for Atlantic and the team will go as far as she can carry them! Cardinal Newman New 1st year Head Coach Thomas Kohlwales welcomes 2023 5’9 Angelina Kohlwales and 5’8 2023 Forward [player_tooltip player_id="145087" first="Checorey" last="Bouie"]. Those two will join 2021 5’5 Christell Mentor and 2024 Katie McCabe and 2023 Jessie Joseph to make up what might be one of the counties most improved team. King’s Academy King’s Academy is one of the areas youngest teams that will be good for several years under Head Coach Chris Race. They are led by 2023 5’11 Jordan Race and 2025 5’10 Jade Jones who are both averaging double digits. The team’s offense is well rounded with balance scoring and look for 2021 Brianna McDaniel, 2022 Margot McFadden, and 2022 Mo’nique Joseph to all be capable of scoring 10+ PPG any given night. Saint Andrew’s Saint Andrews returns one of the county’s top scorers [player_tooltip player_id="91535" first="Kayla" last="DeHerrera"]. They will lean on DeHerrera along with [player_tooltip player_id="220029" first="Sophia" last="Federico"] and North Broward Prep transfer 2021 5’10 Wing [player_tooltip player_id="219964" first="Stephanie" last="Theodossakos"]. Seminole Ridge Ridge had one of the schools best seasons over last year going 19-6 and losing to powerhouse Dillard in the regional tournament. The team is only 8 deep but 2021s [player_tooltip player_id="91492" first="Jahnae" last="Midget"] and Lynie Smikle will look to throw the squad on their backs all season and carry them as far as they can! Spanish River The squad will go as far as 2022 guards Sophie Levine, Sydney Blue and [player_tooltip player_id="91586" first="Aly" last="Avrach"] can take them. The team went 14-9 last season falling to Park Vista to end the season. Look for all three guards to go for 10+ per night and make a further run into the playoffs this season.