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Fair Leaps and ‘bounds
BHS grads grab accolades at college level
A trio of Baldwin Senior High School class of 2012 basketball players are continuing to collect accolades at the collegiate level. Ayanna Hudson and Alex Hampton, lady Bruins who helped their team to three county championships, are making names for themselves at Hunter and Molloy colleges, and Brandon Williams, point guard for the Bruin team that won a Long Island Championship in 2011-12, is rapidly becoming the face of the Molloy men’s club.
Lion’s share
Hampton and Williams, both currently Baldwin-bred freshman point guards for Molloy, were featured together on a promotional piece for a Lions doubleheader in mid-January. (Above.) The duo was previously united on the public stage when they were spotlighted as the male and female Nassau County players of the year in 2011-12.
Hampton, who is studying nursing and was a two-time Nassau County championship MVP for Baldwin, is averaging 9.2 points per game for Molloy, and has remained friends with Williams, an accounting major. For his part, Williams has been selected as the East Coast Conference (ECC) rookie of the week an impressive four times, and is averaging 8.6 points as Molloy’s fourth leading scorer. Williams also ranks third in the ECC in steals with 2.38 per game.
Hudson’s Hawks
Not far away at Hunter College, another freshman from Baldwin is grabbing attention as ferociously as she grabs rebounds. Ayanna Hudson, a 5’ 8” forward for the Hawks, secured an astonishing 23 rebounds and scored 12 points on five for 11 shooting in a 67-58 win over the City College of New York. The performance, combined with Hudson’s season averages of nine points, 16 rebounds, 1.3 assists, one block and two steals, cemented her selection as CUNYAC/Con Edison Women’s Basketball Rookie Player of the Week from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3.
Hudson, whose Hawks have played to an 8-5 conference record, was an active member of BHS’s Athletes Helping Athletes student leadership team and has maintained her commitment to assisting others at Hunter. She frequently signs autographs after games and actively promotes academics and athletics to elementary school children.
