Shooting proves easy as 3-3-3 for Lake Mary Prep’s Rudow
Katie Rudow, a ninthgrade newcomer to Lake Mary Prep, had proved herself to be a sharpshooter for the Griffins girls basketball team by making 14 3-point shots in its first six varsity games in Florida.
But she lifted that reputation into a whole new stratosphere — the national record-book level — Monday when she knocked down 14 3s in a single game.
Rudow launched 26 shots from beyond the arc, which is 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket. She made 54 percent of those attempts, nine in the first half, to lead LMP to a 61-24 victory over Central Florida Christian Academy.
“She was guarded — it wasn’t like she was wide open for the shots,” Lake Mary Prep coach Brittainy Daiger said Wednesday. “I’ve never seen anything like that, even at the college level.”
Daiger formerly was an all-conference post player for Rollins College.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations record book, Rudow tied for eighth all-time on its list of 3-pointers made in a game by a girls player. The national record is 17.
Daiger said when Rudow heard that, her response was, “Aww, man, I could have made three more.”
No Florida girls are listed as having made 13 or more, but it is known that Jaden Newman of east Orlando’s Downey Christian, which plays outside the Florida High School Athletic Association and national federation, made 16 3-point shots in varsity game as a sixthgrader against Victory Christian Academy of Orlando two years ago. She made 17 3s against Discovery Charter School of Lake Alfred last season, but it was later reported that Discovery fielded a JV team in that game.
Rudow, a 5-foot-9 combo guard, played on the varsity team at Gaston Day School in North Carolina as an eighth-grader before her dad’s work brought the family to Lake Mary. She now tunes up her game while playing against boys on Saturday mornings in The National Basketball Academy league.
“I like to shoot from everywhere,” Rudow said. “I like to dribble too. I like to do everything.”
Her 42 points scored on 3-pointers, coupled with one made free throw, left Rudow just one point away from the single-game school record of 44 points set by former Griffins great Toni Pratsch, who totaled more than 2,200 career points.
Rudow said she’s ready to take some more shots at breaking records.
“I’m not going to tell her to stop shooting,” Daiger said with a chuckle. “You drain nine 3s in the first half, you can keep firing.”
Rudow’s next chance will be Friday, when Lake Mary Prep (4-3) plays a home game against St. Johns Country Day of Orange Park at 4:30 p.m.
“It’s been a couple of years building the program and it’s exciting to see our progression,” said Daiger, who is in her third season as head coach. “We’re glad to have Katie.”
Darlington to make $115,000: AL.com, the online newspaper group that includes the Birmingham News, reported that former Apopka football coach Rick Darlington will earn $115,000 per year to coach at Enterprise High School in Alabama.
That breaks down to just over $64,000 for teaching salary and $50,811 for coaching.
Darlington accepted the Enterprise job last week, ending an era in which he led Apopka to a 167-47 record and three state championships.
He will join at least a handful of Alabama football coaches making six-figure salaries, according to AL.com’s reporting. Insiders have told the Sentinel that no public school coach in Florida has made that kind of money.
The Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel reported that former Edgewater coach Jed Kennedy resigned from his job as a successful head coach at Brookfield Central in Wisconsin to become Darlington’s defensive coordinator at Enterprise. The two coaches are longtime friends.
Kennedy had a 49-12 record and two state runner-up finishes in five years at Brookfield Central. He won a Wisconsin state championship in an earlier stint at Kenosha Bradford.
Kennedy came to Orlando to take the Edgewater head coaching job in 2013. He stepped down to return to Wisconsin following a 1-9 season with an Eagles team that started 18 underclassmen.
Julie Weber Scholarship game: Saturday’s 2018 Julie Weber “Give Hope” Scholarship girls soccer game will pit host Lake Mary (5-1) against Ponte Vedra (6-2-1) in a 1 p..m. game that showcases two programs that have won a combined five state championships.
It’s also for a good cause. Proceeds and donations from the event fund scholarships that are awarded each year to Lake Mary soccer seniors. Recipients receive $1,000 for college, and with multiple winners chosen in most years the total awarded since 2008 from game proceeds and donations is up to $21,000.
Weber, a former Lake Mary soccer standout who played college soccer at UNF, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2007 and died April 22, 2008.
The event is played in memory of her courage and desire to achieve.