Orlando Comets

First off, congratulations to all the Comets girls who played so well in the high school season. Krystal Thomas, Lauren Thomas, Alexa Deluzio, Tierra Brown, Jamie Givens, Gabby Claxton, Asia Wilson, Jordan Coleman and Laquita Curry all won high school divisional championships this year!!!! Krystal, Laquita and Jordan all won MVP honors as they led their respective teams to state championships in the 2A, 4A and 6A categories.

Virtually all the Comets girls led their teams deep into the playoffs this year. Briyanna Blair led her Boone Braves to the Final Four. Brooke Thomas and Brittany Waters led the Edgewater Eagles to the Region 1 championship game against eventual 6A champion Lake Mary. Sthefany Thomas led Wesley Chapel (5A) to a district championship and a 21-3 record. Jelana Childs teamed with ex-Comets Denisse Marquez and Michelle Troche to lead Timber Creek to second place in their district.

We applaud all these girls!!!

But now it's time to get down to the training that created all these players. Yes, once again the AAU season is upon us. And a very critical AAU season it will be. This is potentially the last AAU season for a number of Comets. After competing at the very apex of girls basketball for the past 7 seasons, it's time for several of our girls to move up to the college ranks. The 2006 season will be the last season for them to be seen by college recruiters.

Gabby Claxton, Sharece Taft and Desiree Diaz "retired" from AAU play after last season. All three girls will graduate and move on to college in 2006.

2006 will be the final AAU season for Krystal Thomas, Jamie Givens, Sthefany Thomas, Tierra Brown, Briyanna Blair, Laquita Curry and Brittany Waters. All these girls are juniors and should sign with some college early in their senior season. Additionally, the Comets Red team signed Samantha Shields, a junior from Trinity Prep.

Who will replace these girls?

First of all, the Comets have a number of talented sophomores on the team already. Alexa Deluzio, Brooke Thomas, Jordan Coleman, Asia Wilson, Jelana Childs and Tiara Jackson are sophomores with one more season of AAU eligibility. The Comets Blue have signed sophomore Brittany Hardy, who should help with that team's depth.

Second of all, the Comets are expanding. In addition to the Comets Red and Blue 16U teams, the Comets have added a 15U team and a 14U team for 2006.

The Comets 15U are coached by Faye Robinson and Kim Bivins. They are composed largely of ex-FBVA Miracle players. Jessica Bivins, Ayiesha Vickers, Christeena Bryant, Bianca Lutley and Erin Knight are all on that team. The Comets 15U also picked up Kourtney Berry and Tamara Newell from DEBO and Katie Gordon from the Lady Wildcats.

The Comets 14U are coached by Harry Montalvo. For the past four years Harry has been the coach of the Dynasty. This year, he brings most of the Dynasty players under the Comets umbrella. The team consists of Leo Montalvo, Deaundre Young, Jennifer Knurek, Melanie Itajahy, Lianni Itajahy, Isabel Ehrli, Kasie Berry, Asia Dacosta, Terra McDaniel and Jasmine Whitting.

(If I've missed anybody's name I'll be sure to rectify it in later issues of Inside Stuff!!)

Additionally, the Comets Blue team returns just about all their players (except Laquita Curry, who has moved over to play with DEBO). Still coached by Dino George, the Blue team consists of Asia Wilson, Tiara Jackson, Brittany Waters, Brittany Hardy, Jelana Childs, Lallique Roman, Jessica George, Candace Thompson and Alma Rios-Cotto. The Blue team is also looking at Ariel Maxwell and Shekeyia Colyer.

All four teams will follow the Nike circuit before dividing up to play at AAU Nationals in mid-July. Then all four teams will come together to play at Nike Nationals in late July.

The Comets will hold a practice for all four teams at the Champions Center in South Orlando on Wednesday, March 1 at 6 p.m. Interested players are welcome to attend!!