Prospect Spotlight: Chantal Moawad 2020
The Santa Monica High School Vikings are in the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA championship game, and a big part of their strong play this season has been the efforts of senior center Chantal Moawad. This is Mowad’s first full…
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Continue ReadingThe Santa Monica High School Vikings are in the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA championship game, and a big part of their strong play this season has been the efforts of senior center Chantal Moawad.
This is Mowad’s first full year with the Vikings after transferring last season from Beverly Hills High School. She didn’t set foot on the court with Santa Monica last year as she had to sit out per CIF transfer rules.
This season, however, she’s brought an interior toughness and post presence to a team that finished this season undefeated in Ocean League play. Following this season, she’ll be taking her talents to the Ivy League and Brown University.
For her, choosing Brown was an easy choice.
“I knew I always wanted to go to an Ivy League school. I’ve been playing club basketball since I was in seventh grade, and doing that helped me a lot,” Moawad told Prep Girls Hoops. “They reached out to me and I fell in love with the school early on.”
Moawad has provided the Vikings with a double-double threat on a daily basis. In a day and age where the game is shifting away from traditional post play, she is a bit of a throwback player. She is strong on the block and has good post footwork.
She can establish position well in the paint and she can finish strong at the rim with either hand. She crashes the glass well, especially on the offensive end for second shot opportunities. She sets good screens and she does well diving to the basket off the pick and roll.
It’s these attributes that she’s hoping can translate to the college level.
“I think I can bring my hard work and effort,” Moawad said. “My commitment to the game and the team as well as my post-game and my rebounding.”
During the offseason, most high school plays hone their craft while playing on an AAU circuit. This past summer, Moawad suited up for the prestigious Cal Storm organization on their Team Taurasi roster.
With Team Taurasi, Moawad played with quite a few other players who will also be playing at the next level such as Kaitlyn Chen (Princeton), Asia Avinger (San Diego State), Kimberly Villalobos (San Diego State), Vanessa De Jesus (Duke), Nicole Rodriguez (Loyola Marymount), Alexis Whitfield (Washington), and Cheyenne Forney (Denver).
Playing with other talented players can really help with a player’s development, and Moawad believes that it only strengthened her game.
“I love playing with Team Taurasi because I had great teammates who are also going on to play D1 basketball,” Moawad said. “When you surround yourself with great players, you become great yourself. On top of that, I had an amazing coach who taught me a lot.”
For most players, learning and development is never over. Just because a player is signed at a Division 1 college doesn’t mean they stop working on their game. Moawad is no different; there are parts of her game that she wants to improve upon before she goes off to Brown.
“I think I’m going to work more on running the court and getting to my lanes so that I can have more open layups and post moves,” Moawad said. “I also want to be more versatile on the court.”
With Santa Monica set to face off against Crean Lutheran in the Division 3AA title game, they’ll likely lean a lot on Moawad to help carry them across the finish line. It’s been 11 years since the Vikings have appeared in a championship game.
This season has been an important one for Moawad regardless of how it ends. One of her main goals was to show everyone that she’s capable of taking that leap and being a real contributor to a Division 1 team.
“I just want to finish off strong and show my development over my four years of high school,” Moawad said. “Show that I’m ready to play college basketball as well as help my team.”