By FRANCIS FEDOR
We’ve hit the time of the year where students and teachers take a holiday break to relax and refresh to get ready for the new year. This space is usually offering a hoops update for Boys Basketball, but the break is also a chance to highlight the other fall sports that are currently in action. And the Stingrays have continued a tradition of success in their athletic programs, a testament to the coaches and athletes participating to keep the programs at a high performing level.
Stingray senior ZyAira Holder battles for position with a Gaither defender for a rebound.
Sumner senior Briana Gill-Guyette launches a shot over a Gaither defender.
Varsity girls basketball is having another successful season under head coach Marika Starks, who has been leading the program since its inception in 2020. The Stingray girls have notched victories against each of their South Shore opponents and are currently 8-2. They opened their season on Nov. 19 with a home rout of Spoto, 69-14 and suffered their only loss the following night at Sickles, just getting edged out at 56-48. They hit the break with back-to-back blowout wins, first with a 51-5 rout of Gaither in the Tank. Two days later, they took a trip up to Brandon and left with a 70-27 win. Senior Briana Gill-Guyette leads the team at 15.6 points per game, and junior Mariah Farmer is scoring 12.7 points a game. Camryn Jeter is pulling down 8.9 rebounds per game. The girls look to keep the momentum going after the break, starting with Grant County to play in the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational tournament on Dec. 27. The tourney runs through Dec. 30 in Wesley Chapel.
Francis Fedor Photos
Stingray Camryn Jeter cruises in for a layup in a rout of Gaither.
Girls soccer, coached by Zoe Sanchez and ranked at #39 for all of Florida and the top seed in the Federal Division for the Western Conference, is off to an 8-1 start and is set to play in the Western Conference Semis on Jan. 16. The team holds a 2-1 district record in a three-way tie for first place with Durant and Newsome. The Stingrays opened the season with an eight-game winning streak before losing their first match at Durant. Durant continues to be a challenge and strong rivalry for Sumner since the inception of the school in 2020. The season started off with an impressive 11-0 rout of South Shore rival Spoto. The ‘Rays had a rare forfeit vs. East Bay, won a close 5-4 match vs. Riverview and routed Brandon (8-0) and Lennard (7-0) to round out action vs. the other close-to-home rivals. Sophomore Kynedi Richardson leads all Stingrays in goals with 11, followed by Ashlynn Knighten with seven. The goaltending has been split between Katie Bulso (Senior) and Lauren Williams (Soph) and have only allowed 14 goals in eight games.
Sumner Stingray soccer poses for a team photo after a game.
Boys soccer, led by Jake Van Der Luit, is 7-2 (3-0 and first place for the district) and opened its season on Nov. 5 with a 5-1 win over Spoto. The only losses coming to Riverview were a home 4-2 defeat, (8-1-1 for the season) and a tough 1-0 outcome at Bloomingdale (10-4). Senior Alexander Rodriguez leads with 16 goals and, like the girls, the goaltending has been shared between Carlos Villarreal with 20 saves and a 2.9 shots to goals ratio and senior Aidan Wheeler with 15 saves at 2.1 S/G.
Both squads return on Jan. 7 on the road against Tampa Bay Tech, and Jan. 10 at Robinson. They will close out the regular season at home vs. the Plant Panthers as they get ready for playoff action.
For more South Shore action, look for Stephen Jackson’s writeup covering the other South Shore HS games.
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