Lake Highland Prep and Montverde Academy Ranked Nationally
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Lake Highland Prep and Montverde Academy Ranked Nationally
By Michael Wholey 11/19/20 9:00 AM EST
Maxpreps is one of the countries most trusted sources of information and rankings for prep hoops. Recently their pre-season rankings came out and two of Florida’s teams have been recognized nationally as one of the countries top 25 programs including Lake Highland Prep coming in at # 1.
# 1 Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, FL)
Many of the Lake Highland Preps players have been written about in previous articles as the program is loaded with talent. Led by Head Coach Al Honor (who is also the Director of Central Florida Elite), LHP has consistently been among the state’s top programs and competed for state championships. After going 29-2, winning the FHSAA 4A State Championship, and finishing # 15 in the MaxPreps final rankings for the 2019-20 season, they return 8 players and welcome one of the state’s top 2024 prospects. The squad is headlined by Alabama signee 2021 Kayla Blackshear Kayla Blackshear 6'1" | PF Lake Highland Prep | 2021 State #61 Nation FL and 2022 forward Nyla Harris Nyla Harris 6'2" | PF Lake Highland Prep | 2022 State #34 Nation FL (who recently released her top 5 schools – North Carolina, Georgia Tech, NC State, Louisville, and Florida State) and together they make up one of the countries most talented front courts. 2022s 5’8 Guard Stefanie Ingram Stefanie Ingram 5'7" | CG Lake Highland | 2022 State FL , 5’7 PG Sierra Godbolt Sierra Godbolt 5'7" | PG Lake Highland | 2022 State FL , 5’9 SG Priya Gupta, 2023s 5’8 guard Eleecia Carter Eleecia Carter 5'7" | CG Lake Highland Prep | 2023 State FL , 5’10 wing Pooja Gupta, and 2024s 6’0 wing Alexandra “Lexi” Blue and 5’7 Guard Bri Rivera make an extremely deep and versatile 9 man roster. Provided state and school rules allow it, LHP will take the show on the road competing against some of the countries top programs in SC at the United Bank Holiday She Got Game in Atlanta.
# 23 Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL)
Montverde Academy saw the loss of 6 Seniors and their Head Coach Laura Harper to take over D1 Coppin State in Maryland. But Montverde returns a talented group of core players including Florida State signee Mariana Valenzuela Mariana Valenzuela 6'2" | PF Montverde Academy | 2021 State FL , Furman signee Niveya Henley Niveya Henley 6'0" | SF Montverde Academy | 2021 State FL , 2022 sharp shooter Fernanda Ovalle Fernanda Ovalle 5'11" | SF Montverde Academy | 2022 State FL and forward Maria Myklebust as well as welcomes a host of transfers including a 2022 6’4 Fatimia Diakhate from Canada, 2023 Guard Mjracle Sheppard Mjracle Sheppard 5'8" | CG Montverde Academy | 2023 State FL from Washington, and 2023 Guard Rusne Augustinaite Rusne Augustinaite 5'10" | CG Montverde Academy | 2023 State FL from Lithuania and a new Head Coach in Special Jennings who comes to Montverde after serving as an Associate Head Coach at University of Illinois at Chicago.
The combination of the returning of so many talented players from last seasons roster, alongside a new head coach and a host of impactful transfers make them a team to be reckoned with this season. The Montverde Academy Boys program has long been one of the countries most elite programs and consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally. We will see if Coach Jennings and her talented roster can begin the process of being a national powerhouse on the girls side.
Preseason MaxPreps Top 25
1. Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, FL)
2. Bishop McNamara (Forestville, MD)
3. Duncanville (Duncanville, TX)
4. Hopkins (Minnetonka, MN)
5. Edison Academy (Detroit, MI)
6. Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA)
7. Westlake (Atlanta, GA)
8. St. John’s (Washington, DC)
9. Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis, MO)
10. St. John-Vianney (Holmdel, NJ)
11. DeSoto (Dallas, Texas)
12. Reynoldsburg (Reynoldsburg, OH)
13. Norman (Norman, OK)
14. New Hope Academy (Landover Hills, MD)
15. Sidwell Friends (Washington, DC)
16. Hoover (Hoover, AL)
17. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, CA)
18. Cypress Creek (Houston, TX)
19. Ensworth (Nashville, TN)
20. Rutgers Prep (Somerset, NJ)
21. Valley Vista (Surprise, AZ)
22. Archbishop Wood (Warminster, PA)
23. Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL)
24. Chiawana (Pasco, WA)
25. North Central (Indianapolis, IN)
For the full, MaxPreps article, you can click HERE.