2013-14 Hernando Today Girls Basketball All-County Team
Player of the Year
Rita Jarque
Center
Nature Coast – Junior
COMMENTS: Repeat All-County selection . County’s leading scorer at 17.7 points per game . Second straight county rebounding crown pulling down 16.3 per contest, up from 13.6 as a sophomore . Third in the county in blocked shots averaging 0.9 . Also averaged 3.0 steals . Totaled 228 offensive rebounds, out of 407 total . Had only one game all season that was not a double-double, a 64-10 blowout of Weeki Wachee on Dec. 3 . Posted four games of 20 points and 20 rebounds, and six 20-rebound performances with a season high of 24 against Citrus on Jan. 3 in the Hernando Holiday Classic . Scored a season-best 31 points versus Central in Class 5A, District 7 Tournament semifinal on Jan. 29.
QUOTES: “I think coming off her sophomore season we knew she could be that player. . She’s an absolute beast in the paint. She was working extremely hard for every single rebound. She’s hard to stop, for sure. . She’s gotten stronger from the time she was a freshman. At a younger age she relied on the fact she was bigger than anyone else. This year I think she started to develop more as a basketball player. . Rita is one of those players, when she steps on the floor you know what you’re going to get from her. You know she’s going to get a double-double pretty much every game. That’s big for our team.”
– Nature Coast head coach Emily Gore
Evelyn Anderson
Small Forward
Central – Junior
COMMENTS: Second straight All-County nod . Ranked third in the county at 14.1 points per game . Knocked down a county-best 49 3-pointers . Averaged 3.0 steals, and tallied 10 to go with 25 points in a Dec. 3 win over Zephyrhills . Scored season-high 28 points in 5A-7 semifinal loss to Nature Coast.
QUOTES: “I knew she’d come out and be strong for us this year. She had a good 10th-grade year. I knew she was practicing hard in the offseason. . She was the best shooter I had. She ran the point for us in some games. She was definitely our go-to player. . She’s still not great at it, but she tried to attack the basket a lot more. That’s one of the areas she’s trying to work on, and to be able to see the court better. She’s still a little bit streaky, but when she starts to hit she’s on fire.”
– Central head coach Penny Gressick
Hailey Enjeneski
Shooting Guard
Springstead – Senior
COMMENTS: Repeat All-County pick . County’s second-leading scorer averaging 15.1 points . Set new school career scoring mark with 875 over three varsity seasons . Hit on 48 3-pointers, establishing a new single-season school record . Made a single-game school record seven 3-pointers Jan. 23 against Hernando . Also holds school’s career 3-point mark with 95, as well as career record in free throw percentage (74 percent) . As a junior, she set single-season school records for free throws made (104) and free throw percentage (80 percent).
QUOTES: “We knew she was getting the attention every night. Everyone knew it was Hailey. Even with all that, she still put up numbers. . Just a tremendously hard-working kid. There’s really nothing more you can say. She’s taken everything she’s been taught and now she’s taken herself to a point where she can play college basketball.”
– Springstead head coach George Bennett
Mary Jackson
Point Guard
HCA – Sophomore
COMMENTS: Paced the county in steals by a wide margin, totaling 163 and averaging 6.5 per game . Recorded a school record of 20 steals on Nov. 19 against Central Florida Christian . Reached double figures in steals four times . Fifth in county in assists at 2.3 . Led the Lady Lions in scoring at 7.2 points . Helped HCA finish as runner-up in 2A-8 and advance to regionals for only the third time ever.
QUOTES: “She was good at anticipating what those girls were going to do with the ball and has quick hands and a tenacity to stay with it. . When she wasn’t on the floor it was like an army losing its general. She’s not real vocal; she’s not a rah-rah type of girl. But she leads with her actions on the court. . She’s able to distribute the ball very well. She’s a very unselfish player, in fact sometimes too unselfish. But she’s definitely very good at setting up our offense and we rely on her.”
– HCA head coach Mike Drummond
Fatima Jones
Point Guard
Nature Coast – Junior
COMMENTS: First full season with Lady Sharks, having played only six games as a sophomore due to academic ineligibility . Second in county in assists dishing out 3.0 per game . Third in steals at 3.9 . Third on team in scoring at 11.5 points . Had lone double-double Dec. 10 in a 60-39 win over Zephyrhills, with 14 points and season-high 10 steals, plus six rebounds and six assists . Missed three games and parts of several others due to a concussion suffered Dec. 17 against Central.
QUOTES: “Coming off last season when she didn’t get to play until the last six games, we knew she’d come in and it’d be a huge difference to have a true point guard from Day 1. She can do a lot of different things. She can handle the ball and almost singlehandedly break a press. . She just loves to have the ball in her hands. On a lot of teams you’ll see a point guard who doesn’t look to score, looks to distribute the ball and run the offense, and she can do both. When your point guard is one of the top three scorers on the team, that’s a bonus.”
– Nature Coast head coach Emily Gore
Mirandas Jones
Guard
Nature Coast – Junior
COMMENTS: County’s fifth-leading scorer at 12.3 points per game . Third in assists at 2.4 . Fourth in steals at 3.4 . Also averaged 4.3 rebounds, and converted on team-best 28 3-point attempts . Topped 20 points twice, with season-high 27 on Jan. 3 against Citrus in Hernando Holiday Classic.
QUOTES: “She’s truly a feisty player and plays very hard consistently. She makes our team very aggressive. She can also knock down the 3 and even though she’s not big like a post (player), she can work around the rim and rebound. . She just loves the game of basketball and loves to win and wants to be the best. Some things you can tell she had a little bit of immaturity. There are definitely things to improve on but she has such a good foundation. . Mirandas has such a strong personality. She’s a lot different off the court than on the court. A lot of people don’t get to see that.”
– Nature Coast head coach Emily Gore
Arianna Tankersley
Forward
Hernando – Senior
COMMENTS: Repeat All-County selection . Third-year starter . Fourth in county and first on team in scoring putting up 12.5 points per contest . Also averaged 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 assists . Tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds in 5A-7 semifinal versus Pasco, one of three double-doubles on the season . Totaled season highs of 24 points and 13 boards in 54-46 win over Crystal River Dec. 19.
QUOTES: “She was our main offensive threat. Our offense kind of ran through her. We knew if she had a pretty good scoring night, she gave us a chance. . She just was a scorer. That’s what she wanted to do. She’s a leader. She’s a senior, a three-year starter. It was good for her at end of her career that we won a lot more games (16) than we have in the past. . A great kid. Her work ethic was tremendous and she’s the kind of kid who works on her basketball game year-round.”
– Hernando head coach Kevin Bittinger
Coach of the Year
Emily Gore
Nature Coast – 4th year
COMMENTS: Two-time selection, having also been named in 2011-12 . Guided Lady Sharks to 20-5 record and first Sweet 16 appearance since 2009 thanks to 58-55 5A-Region II quarterfinal victory at Gulf . Nature Coast finished as the 5A-7 runner-up to Pasco, improving from 11-15 the previous season . She has compiled a 60-38 record with one district title and two trips to regionals through her four seasons at the helm.
QUOTES: “I think obviously a lot of credit has to go to the kids. We do have fantastic players on our roster and fantastic girls in our program. . We had some good things happen for us this season. It was a strong group of girls. I’m sure every coach in Hernando County wants a roster like we have. I want to make sure I’m doing what I can to make sure we succeed. . This season we went in with a more relaxed attitude and that seemed to work for them. . It still hurts that we came up short (of the Final Four) this season, so next season I think we’ll be hungry. We know what our potential is and we’ll have to put the work into it so we can accomplish that.”
– Gore
