Spartan finds a following after all-star performance

By BOB PUTNAM
Published March 13, 2007

Many of the players at the Florida Athletic Coaches Association all-star girls basketball game had been on the recruiting radar for years.

Some had committed to big-time programs: Orlando First Academy's Krystal Thomas to Duke, Wesley Chapel's Sthefany Thomas to Clemson, Winter Haven's Amber Smith to Kentucky.

But as the game dragged on, the unheralded and unsigned Kquanise Byrd was making her high-profile opponents look stone tired.

Lakewood's Byrd, the county's lone representative at the game, scored a game-high 21 points.

"I needed that kind of performance," said Byrd, who averaged 22 points, five rebounds, five steals and five rebounds per game this season. "It was hard to get off the court after the game. So many coaches were wanting to hand out business cards."

Byrd has a 3.2 grade point average and qualifying ACT score. Her college choices include Florida Southern, West Florida, North Florida and Eckerd.

Lakewood senior guard Ed Nixon, a candidate for Mr. Basketball, played in the boys FACA game. He scored 18 to lead the South to a 134-130 victory in overtime.

"It was pretty fun - kind of like a reunion," Nixon said. "A lot of the guys I used to play with (in AAU)."

Nixon's team also got the better of one led by Lake Howell's Joey Rodriguez; Lake Howell beat Lakewood 85-42 in the Class 5A state title game March 2. Nixon said the Virginia Commonwealth-bound Rodriguez "tried to talk me into following him to VCU."

Nixon recently received scholarship offers from VCU, Virginia Tech and Georgia to go along with ones from UCF, Tennessee Tech and Saint Louis.

SPEEDY SPARTANS: Lakewood's Ali Crabb and Jazmyn Shorter each had top-10 finishes at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in New York City.

Crabb ran the 5,000 meters in 18 minutes, 5.49 seconds to place seventh. Shorter was ninth in the 400 meters (56.93).

WISCONSIN OFFERS CLEARWATER LINEMAN: Clearwater junior defensive tackle Joe Marshall received a scholarship offer from the University of Wisconsin, his father Joe Sr., confirmed.

Marshall has posted a qualifying SAT score of 820 and received interest from Auburn, Georgia Tech, UCF and Marshall, among others.

Times Staff Writer Joe Smith contributed to this report.

[Last modified March 13, 2007, 00:19:22]