Dr. Phillips leading trio of girls hoopers transfer to Montverde

Following the exit of Dr. Phillips High’s legendary girls basketball coach Anthony Jones for national powerhouse Monteverde Academy, a trio of the Lady Panthers’ top players from the 2024-25 season announced they will head with Jones to the Lake County private school.

Rising seniors Kendall Perry, Jamila Ray and rising junior Ciara Hayes will join the Eagles after playing critical roles in Dr. Phillips’ success last season — helping the Southwest Orange power finish the season with a 20-10 record and reach the state title game for a fourth consecutive year, falling to Winter Haven High by three points.

Perry, a lanky do-it-all guard, led DP in scoring last season by averaging 13.6 points per game while adding 5.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Ray, an off-ball guard who is coming off her first season as a starter at DP, was the Panthers’ second leading scorer, averaging 12.7 points and contributing 6.3 rebounds per game. The two were both members of state championship-winning teams at Dr. Phillips, with Perry serving as a starter on the 2022-23 and 2023-24 title teams and Ray as a backup on the 2023-24 squad.

Hayes, who played only 11 games for DP after transferring midseason from Hagerty High, is a 5-foot-9 combo guard who led the Lady Panthers in assists with an average of 4.7 per game, while adding 7.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. 

The three will join Jones and a Montverde program that has appeared in four consecutive Chipotle High School National Championship games, bringing home trophies for three consecutive seasons before losing in the finals to IMG Academy by two points last season. The Eagles finished the 2024-25 season with a 26-2 record and were led by All-Americans Aaliyah Crump, who is now a member of the Texas Longhorns, and current South Carolina Gamecocks player Agot Makeer and rising senior Saniyah Hall. 

Hall — who was not only named MaxPreps’ National Junior Player of the Year, named a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year award and led the Eagles with 20.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and blocks 1.4 blocks per game; while also contributing 3.9 assists and 2.8 steals a game, but is also the No. 1 ranked recruit in the country — is slated to return to MVA for her senior season before teaming up with superstar college hooper JuJu Watkins as a USC Trojan.