Hawks Fly Over: Santa Fe Catholic Dominates at Brazz Sports Preseason Classic
Coach Kim Jones adds a lot of new faces to the Lady Hawks this year, and they also return two key players from last year’s 10-win season. Kassidy Jones led Santa Fe Catholic in scoring and assists last year as a Sophomore and Zaria Lawrence enters her final high school year as the primary big for the Hawks. They gave it to the Land O’ Lakes Gators with a 33-4 score at half, and the final ended up being 56-21.
Junior Kassidy Jones has a strong all-around game and shoots the ball extremely well at 5’10. She contributed three 3’s last night and 11 points. She’s a true leader, and this team already seems to mesh well from the get-go. The other key returner, Senior Zaria Lawrence, pulled down 13 rebounds and put up 5 points last night as the true post for Santa Fe Catholic. The new faces is what will really put this team over the top when added to the two aforementioned returnees.
One of those newcomers is 5-10 Junior Courtni Demorest who led the team last night with 14 points on four 3 pointers. She has a great looking shot, and this whole team can really shoot the ball from deep. Another new face is Junior guard Omega Payton who took home MVP for Santa Fe Catholic after putting up 10 points, 10 assists, and 6 steals. She is a high motor player that’s a joy to watch compete. Kirsten Grindel is another Junior guard that can shoot for the Lady Hawks. She is a smart player that adds a lot of value to this squad. Finally, the last notable newcomer is Freshman Halie Sanders who makes for a talented, young player off of the bench as well as Senior CiCi McDonald making a solid 7 for their upcoming year. It should be a very successful season for Coach Jones and the Lady Hawks.
Land O’ Lakes is a young team, but I was most impressed with Senior Natalie Rodriguez, Freshman Nina Santana (6 points, Team MVP), and Freshman Jakayla Lawson.