ANDREW SALMI [email protected]
Following a historic 202324 season, the Taylor High School girls varsity basketball team announced the 4A-District 22 all-district awards.
Superlative player honors for the Lady Ducks included sophomore Madyson Mitchell as overall district Most Valuable Player and senior Asia Zachary as Offensive MVP.
“These two brought a new dynamic that we hadn’t had before on the girls’ side,” Taylor Head Coach Lawrence Bailey said. “Asia brought one of the best individual defenses I have ever seen out of a player. She could guard any position and leave them with nightmares that night.
Madyson’s offensive game was what we needed. She was a playmaker. She could see the floor for teammates, score, and rebound on both ends.
They did way more than we anticipated.”
For the second straight season, Bailey was named Coach of the Year after he guided the Lady Ducks to a 21-8 overall record and a perfect 12-0 mark in district play.
“It’s an award that is not possible without my girls and my coaching staff,” Bailey said of assistant coaches Jay Reed and Jeff Fisher. “We put in a lot of hours to be successful and it showed two years in a row. My wife allows me to spend as much time as I need to help our program be successful. She deserves to be a part of this award as well. It is an award that I am very grateful for.”
The three other starters for Taylor were honored as senior Ansley Reed, junior Kionayh Rivers and junior Sophia Fisher were all named firstteam all-district picks.
“Sophia was the glue and floor leader we needed to get the ball in the hands of the four other playmakers on the court,” Bailey said. “Ansley stepped her game up with her vision to find open teammates and she improved on defense as well. Kionayh was a rebounding machine but added blocking shots to her bag this year.”
All-district honorable mentions were sophomore Aubriana Alderete and freshman Tiana Candee. Academic all-district award winners were Ansley Reed, Sophia Fisher, junior Ursula Rydell and fellow junior Molli Kennick.
