March 13, 2024
Eustis High Senior Alana Seward Named Lake & Sumter Style Girls Basketball Player of the Year
By Kyle Coppola
Eustis High Senior Alana Seward Named Lake & Sumter Style Girls Basketball Player of the Year
You voted, and we heard you! Eustis High School’s Alana Seward was named as Lake County’s top basketball player by a slim margin over East Ridge’s Hailey Hunt. Essiance Jasper of Wildwood came in third.
Seward had an absolutely tremendous season. She averaged 19 points per game, which was among the highest total in Lake County. She also had 4.2 rebounds per game with 4 steals per game on average. Seward passed 1,000 total points scored in her career earlier in the year, and she had 87 steals total on the season.
(Alana Seward was honored at Eustis High School earlier this year when she passed 1,000 points scored in her career.)
Seward signed her letter of commitment to play for Husson University in Maine later this year. She will be studying business and has big plans in her future to own her own business and fashion line. “Never give up, don’t get discouraged by the opportunities others receive. It’s all on God’s timing,” says Alana in a recent interview.
Seward is a model student. She is involved with the Black Student Union at Eustis High School and is also involved with activities outside of school. She was named as Miss Congeniality at the 2024 Silhouettes of Criterion Ball and also took part in the Eustis African-American Heritage Festival.
(Outside of basketball Alana Seward wound up being named as miss congeniality at the 2024 Silhouettes of Criterion Cotillion Ball.)
She is a committed and well-rounded young woman who is very deserving of the top female basketball player of the year. Seward is everything you would come to expect from a student-athlete and embodies the very foundation of what a student-athlete is built upon.
One of my favorite Alana Seward moments this year was during a district playoff game, which would be the final game of her career. Alana got into foul trouble early in the game with some questionable calls. You could see her passion for the game thrive after that. She not only nearly led Eustis back in that game but she did not commit a foul the remainder of the game. She played with 4 fouls the entire 2nd half, but she left a mark on people and her teammates due to the way she plays the game.
(Alana Seward will continue her academic and playing career with Husson University in Maine where she will study business and play for the Eagles in 2024.)
Alana not only plays the game the right way but has loving parents who have taught her those values along with countless others over the years, shaping her into the person and athlete we all know she can be. Congratulations to Alana Seward on this great honor, and congratulations to all the other girls who made the All-County Lake & Sumter Style team, who we have listed below.
All-County Lake & Sumter Style Team
Saige McCloud (SO) Leesburg High:
Averaging 20.2 points per game, led the team in rebounds.
Herva Brutus (SO) Umatilla High:
Averaged 14.6 points per game, 13.4 rebounds per game, led the team in assists with 83, blocks with 52, and steals with 145.
Zion McRae (JR) The Villages:
Averaged 23 points per game, led the team with 94 assists and 100 steals.
Patricia Casimir (JR) Lake Minneola:
Has scored 259 points this season, leading the team in rebounds with 265 total rebounds.
Hailey Hunt (SR) East Ridge:
Team leader in points scored, averages 12 points per game.
Mia Saunders (SR) Lake Minneola:
Averaging 14.8 points per game.
Evah Watterson (SR) The Villages
Averaged 10.8 points per game, led the team in 3 point shots made.
Ariyana Hester (JR) Leesburg High:
Leads the team in steals with 68, has 31 assists, and averaging 12 points per game.
Lauren Archer (SR) Umatilla High:
Averaged 8.8 points per game, has 113 rebounds and 56 assists this season.
Aliyah Perry (SR) Lake Minneola:
Averaged 14.8 points per game, 3 rebounds. Leads the team in assists with 76 and steals with 99.
Essiance Jasper (SR) Wildwood Middle High:
Averaging 9.4 points per game, leads the team in rebounds with a 6.6 average and 132 total on the year.
Aranya Alexander (FR) MDCA:
Averaging 8.3 points per game, 4.4 rebounds per game.
Aniya Hester (SO) Leesburg High:
Averaging 10.6 points per game, leads the team in assists.
Natalie Doan (JR) MDCA:
Leads the team in steals with 75 and assists with 124. Averaging 7 points per game.
Jazmine Monroe (SO) South Lake High:
Averaged 11.3 points per game.
Anyah Unelus (JR) South Lake High:
Averaged 8.1 points per game and led team with 9 rebounds per game.
Zoey Brown (8th Grade) Wildwood Middle High:
Averaging 8.7 points per game, leads the team in steals with 92 total, leads the team in assists with 85 total.
Dakeria Brown (SO) Eustis High:
Averaged 11 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Kaylin Cockefair – South Lake High:
Averaged 10 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Molly Beliveau (SR) First Academy-Leesburg
Averaged 6.6 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game.
Emalee Duncan (SR) Umatilla High
Averaged 8.8 points per game.”
Note from the Author – I want to personally thank everyone who voted. We did have some issues with some of the MDCA players with parents and locals not being able to vote for some of those players and I appologize about that. This was the first year we did something like this and we will learn from it and get better. I am just happy that Doug and Kendra Akers who own Lake & Sumter Style Magazine took a chance on local sports. I am so glad we get to provide something like this and I look forward to building upon all of this. The outpouring of support from the community since we decided to begin covering local sports has been trumendous. I could not do it without all of your support along with our partners. I intend on building our local sports coverage and continue to provide a much needed platform for our student athletes in Lake & Sumter county who deseve it. Thank you.
Kyle Coppola – Sports Writer
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
