SARASOTA — Beonca Godfrey felt the Avon Park girls basketball team had the momentum and a big enough lead heading into the fourth quarter against DeSoto on Tuesday during the opening round of the Class 4A-District 10 tournament. "I really thought we were controlling the tempo and had everything working going into the fourth," Godfrey said. "[DeSoto] just never quit." ...more

January 31, 2008

Beonca Godfrey scored a team-high 15 points and hit a key free throw down the stretch to lead Avon Park to a 49-44 win over the DeSoto Bulldogs in the opening round of the Class 4A-District 10 tournament on Tuesday. ...more

January 29, 2008

AVON PARK — For one of the few times this season, the Avon Park girls basketball team got off to a good start in Friday night's Class 4A-District 10 game against DeSoto. That spelled trouble for the visiting Bulldogs, as freshman point guard Markida Hawthorne scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Red Devils to a 63-47 win. ...more

January 20, 2008

AVON PARK — Three weeks after the Boys and Girls Club's Avon Park branch opened at Memorial Field, the club is still getting a second portable ready, and is working on a deck to connect its two trailers. But membership has already shot up well beyond what Executive Director Wally Randall predicted. The branch's new location has 74 members, and 65 children can be found either studying or screaming, racing and playing around the two portables on any given weekday after school. That's slightly more than the number of kids at the club's main branch in Sebring. "We were expecting 40. On the first day, close to 60 showed up," Randall said. ...more

December 8, 2007

AVON PARK –– It's a family affair when Jamee and Markida Hawthorne step on the court for the Avon Park Red Devils girls basketball team. A chemistry can be seen when a laser pass from Markida finds Jamee cutting to the basket for the score –– a family bond that is bonding the Red Devils this season. Junior shooting guard Jamee and Markida, a freshman point guard, are cousins that have become an exciting combination to watch this season. "Those girls have really added another dimension to this team," AP head coach Paulette Daley said. "They work so well together on the court when they're on the floor together. They're both so unselfish and have really given us a spark early on." Jamee has become known as the defensive stopper for the Red Devils and usually has the job of guarding the opposing team's best player night in and night out. That responsibility is one that Daley feels Jamee can handle. ...more

December 4, 2007

AVON PARK — Size is going to be a key factor for both Lake Placid and Avon Park girls basketball teams this season, but in different ways altogether. While the Red Devils have plenty of size in the post, the Green Dragons are lacking presence in the middle, a trend that was on full display during Avon Park's 40-18 win over Lake Placid on Tuesday at APHS. The Red Devils got good production inside from forwards Breanna Tate and Daija Barrett, who hauled in countless rebounds, while Avon Park's defense held the visiting Green Dragons to four points in a second quarter that saw the Red Devils build a 14-point lead at half time. ...more

November 29, 2007

AVON PARK –– Impact freshmen are hard to come by in sports. Freshmen normally take time to mature, as they take their lumps at the junior varsity level. But occasionally, you'll find exceptions to the rule. Freshman point guard Markida Hawthorne played with the poise and confidence of a senior, scoring 12 points and dishing out countless assists, as the Avon Park Red Devils pummelled the Braden River Pirates 69-46 in a Class 4A-District 10 match-up in the season opener on Tuesday. "She [Markida] really sparked our offense off the bench," AP head coach Paulette Daley said. "She has great ball handling and I like her aggressiveness. Her play enables me to use girls in different spots." Jamee Hawthorne, sister of Markida, was the beneficiary of numerous passes from her sibling, scoring a team-high 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers against the Pirates. ...more

November 15, 2007

Less than 18 months after Frenchman's Market lost two-thirds of its space to the Church of Scientology, the downtown historical district flea market is on the move and on the rise. ...more

November 3, 2007

Less than 18 months after Frenchman's Market lost two-thirds of its space to the Church of Scientology, the downtown historical district's premiere flea market is on the move and on the rise. ...more

October 29, 2007