Watford, Broughton named Alabama’s top prep hoops players

Mountain Brook High School’s Trendon Watford and Lee-Montgomery’s Zippy Broughton are the state’s basketball players of the year.

Watford was named Mr. Basketball Tuesday by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Broughton is the state’s Miss Basketball.

Watford is one of the nation’s top junior prospects, ranked ninth in the Class of 2019 by 247Sports. He led Mountain Brook to a second straight Class 7A state championship and fourth in six years. Watford averaged 23.3 points and 12.3 rebounds while shooting 63 percent from the field.

He hasn’t narrowed his list of potential college choices much yet, but says he might cut it down “soon.”

“Not everybody’s able to be in my position so I just thank God for it,” Watford said.

Mountain Brook coach Bucky McMillan said his star player is keeping a level head amid all the recruiting attention.

“We talk about the things he can get even better at, and that’s what keeps him grounded,” McMillan said. “His end game, with his potential, could be way up there. Basketball could take him a long way. I think he knows that. When he compares himself to other people that basketball has taken a long way, he knows that, ‘Hey, there’s things I could keep getting better at.'”

Alabama signee Diante Wood of Sacred Heart finished second in the Mr. Basketball voting, followed by Hazel Green’s Kira Lewis.

Unlike Watford, Broughton has already picked her college destination. The Rutgers signee led Lee to its first 7A state semifinals. She averaged 23.6 points per game as a senior and scored 2,419 career points.

Broughton is the third straight Miss Basketball from Montgomery.

“I knew that my work on the court spoke for itself so it wasn’t much of a surprise but it still was a great honor,” she said.

Charles Henderson’s Maori Davenport was second in the Miss Basketball voting and Hazel Green’s Caitlin Hose was third.

The award and luncheon are sponsored by Alfa Insurance.

(Associated Press, copyright 2018)