All-State Honors Awarded to Amelia Academy Lady Patriots
By Malinda Z. Shanaberger
Even after the games have been played and the gym quieted, the Lady Patriots and their coaches have more to celebrate. Coach Frank Shanaberger has been named VISAA “Coach of the Year” for all Division III schools across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Last week, when the VISAA Division III All State announcements were made, two of the Lady Patriots also made that short list of ten total names. Amara Ezell was named to the All State 1st Team, and Lauren Vugteveen was named to the All State Honorable Mention list.
Coach Shanaberger led his varsity team to their VCC undefeated regular season title going 25-0 and went on to win the VCC Tournament. “This has been a fantastic season, and it has been so rewarding to see these young ladies’ commitment pay off in a big way. While I am honored to receive this award, it is truly the players who made it all possible. They worked hard, they learned the plays, they scored all the points, and they deserve the title.”
This is Coach Shanaberger’s tenth year coaching high school basketball and third year coaching at Amelia Academy. Coach Shanaberger is also the assistant coach for the junior varsity and middle school girls’ basketball teams and the junior varsity softball team at Amelia Academy.
Miss Ezell finished her season as the VCC All Tournament Team MVP, VCC All Conference 1st Team, and VISAA All-State Tournament Team member and now can add the All State 1st Team title as well. During the season, Miss Ezell scored 406 total points, pulled down 346 rebounds, and averaged a double double with 15 points per game and 12.8 rebounds per game. She also averaged 4.4 steals per game. For the season, Miss Ezell shot 41 percent from three-point range and 75 percent from the free throw line.
Miss Vugteveen finished this season with 416 points, shooting 54 percent from the field, and captured 260 rebounds while averaging 15.4 points per game and 9.6 rebounds per game. She also stole the ball 36 times and blocked the opponents’ shots 67 times. Miss Vugteveen was named to this year’s VCC All Conference 1st Team and also to the VCC All Tournament team.
“When I saw the announcement that Amara and Lauren had made the All State list, I wasn’t too surprised because I felt like they deserved to be there. But, when you see that they were two of the ten total names on the list, it really speaks highly of these young ladies and their effort this season. They have been recognized by the state voting committee as two of the top players in all of Division III, in the entire state of Virginia. We couldn’t be more proud and happy for them. They certainly worked hard for it,” said Coach Shanaberger.
Miss Ezell and Miss Vugteveen join two other Lady Patriot alumni as All State honorees. Brittany Clark ‘08 and Jasmine Spence ‘09 both made the list and went on to receive college scholarships to play basketball at the next level.
2011, March 21