AAU Girls Basketball: Haines City Thinks Big Despite Some Key Losses

Fri. July 13, 2012 at 10:27 p.m. | By Solange Reyner

By SOLANGE REYNER

THE LEDGER

KISSIMMEE | Haines City's girls' basketball team is anticipating another deep run into the playoffs next year.

 

The Hornets will have to do it without two key players who helped get them to the Class 7A state finals this past season, Briona Brown and LaDerricka Spillman, something they're figuring out how to do this summer.

 

It's still a work in progress, evident in the team's 48-40 loss Friday night to the Saratoga Sparks at the AAU Nationals, an event held at the ESPN Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

 

Haines City, competing as Florida's Finest, the name the team sports during summer ball, will play this morning in the consolation bracket and need to win in order to advance. The tournament goes through July 15.

 

Moving forward, there's that leadership issue that needs to be sorted out.

 

"Briona was big for us in that category," Brekia Henderson, a rising senior and starter last year, said.

 

And someone needs to step up as that go-to player.

 

"We have all the tools in the box and we know what it takes to get to states," Jone Akins, a guard said, jokingly slapping Henderson as the words came out of her mouth.

 

"We just have to put it all together."

 

Brown, who will play at Jacksonville University this season, was the PolkPreps.com player of the year in 2012, averaging 14 points per game in leading the Hornets (29-2) to the Class 7A, District 7 title.

 

Spillman averaged 8.8 points per game and led her team in steals with 79.