Girls hoops: Riverview preparing to avenge last season’s playoff loss

Posted Oct 31, 2011 by Katherine Smith

Updated Oct 31, 2011 at 01:09 PM

If you happened to be driving by Riverview High School last week and saw several girls basketball players running around the campus in a mad scurry, that was by design.

In an effort to lighten things up and add some fun to their workouts, Sharks coach Lelani Gordon devised an intricate scavenger hunt that took the girls all over the Riverview campus. With some new additions to the squad, Gordan hoped the venture would be a good bonding experience.

The departure of captain Ashley Favors, to graduation, and two post players, Jessica Causey and Justina James, who transferred out, leaves the Sharks with only two starters from last year’s Class 5A regional finalists squad. But junior forward Faith Woodard, the 2010-11 Tampa Tribune’s Girls Athlete of the Year, and junior guard Monet Williams are joined by the county’s reigning leading scorer Tesha Hanson, who will more than help offset the losses. Hanson’s transfer from Seffner Christian at the start of the school year was first reported by the Tribune.

The girls share a similar motivation – avenging last year’s loss in the playoffs. Hanson helped lead the Crusaders to the state Final Four, but lost in the semifinals, while Riverview’s two-point loss to Winter Haven cost them a trip to the Final Four.

“That loss burns in me, so I hope it burns in them,’’ Gordon said. “I hope it burns greatly.’‘

Riverview opens the regular season on Nov. 15 against Middleton.