Wings Academy is set to fly.
Coach Juan Gonzalez feels that his team is a legitimate contender for the PSAL Class A girls basketball title. The Wings showed why in a 132-11 romp over Jane Addams in Bronx A action Tuesday night.
“They want the chip bad,” Gonzalez said.
Wings is deep at every position, has a few Division I prospects and, after last season’s third-place finish in the division, the players are very motivated to come back strong. The Wings hung with perennial ‘AA’ powerhouse Manhattan Center in a preseason scrimmage.
“I’m ecstatic with these young ladies,” Gonzalez said.
Leading the way will be senior shooting guard Latasia Ward, a pure scorer who has improved since last season. She’s getting interest from Iona College, among other Division I schools.
“She has her left hand now,” Gonzalez said. “She lacked that in the past.”
Wings’ gem, though, could be junior Aquillin Hayes, a long, versatile 5-foot-9 point guard. She didn’t play last year after transferring from Norman Thomas in Manhattan, but made the Metro Classic all-star game in open tryouts. Gonzalez thinks Hayes projects as a high Division I player. She has flown under the radar, though, because she didn’t play last year.
“She’s a special player,” the coach said. “She’ll probably be able to play the wing in college. And when it comes down to it, she wants the ball in her hands.”
Wings also had Monique Samuel, a 6-foot-1 senior transfer from New Jersey. Gonzalez said there was a player at Evander Childs with the same name last year, but this is not the same girl. Junior Rykema Stone, a 6-foot-1 forward, is nursing an injury, but she should also be in the starting lineup along with senior small forward Riana Ward (no relation to Latasia). The latter, Gonzalez said, can really fill it up.
“Last week in a scrimmage, that rim became 40 inches in diameter,” the coach said of Ward. “Everything was going in. Everything dropped for her.”
Gonzalez really likes his bench this year, too – a vast difference from 2008-09. Sophomore Tyler Moses (5-9) reminds him of Charles Oakley, junior Ashley Goodlow (6-1) is a bruiser down low and freshman Anisa Pagan (5-0) is a tiny sparkplug who will back up Hayes.
Wings’ sixth man could be another freshman: Karen Bellamy. The 5-foot-9 wing is long, can do a lot of different things and attacks the basket well.
“By the time she’s a senior, she’ll have raised everybody’s eyebrows,” Gonzalez said.
That’s also the plan for Wings this year.