All-First Coast girls basketball: St. Johns' Taliah Scott hits huge numbers, eyes goals

Gatorade Player of the Year for Florida. Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball. McDonald's All-American. Two-time state scoring champion.

As the trophies roll in and the new banners rise, sometimes it feels like Taliah Scott has won almost every individual honor on the menu for high school basketball.

The St. Johns Country Day senior's message, though: She isn't finished. Her basketball dreams are just getting started.

"I'm like four years away from being a pro," she said, "and it feels crazy."

Meet the girls team: All-First Coast girls basketball for 2023 in Northeast Florida

Capping the senior year of a high school career to rank among the most productive in Northeast Florida history, Scott repeats as the Times-Union's All-First Coast player of the year in girls basketball.

She lit up the scoreboard — 36.2 points per game, including a season-high 53 against Orlando First Academy — and spurred the Spartans to new heights.

For the first time since 1987, St. Johns Country Day took the floor for final four basketball, stepping into the RP Funding Center in Lakeland for the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2A semifinals.

Along the way, the awards mounted both locally and beyond, most recently the Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball award. She received that trophy inside the school auditorium Wednesday, with a glass of milk and a giant cow included in the pageantry.

It's a future that St. Johns coach Yolanda Bronston didn't envision, until Scott arrived at the Clay County school two years ago.

"She led us to a place where we never thought we could go," Bronston said.

Miss Basketball: St. Johns Country Day's Taliah Scott wins Florida girls hoops award

St. Johns Country Day senior Taliah Scott wins Gatorade Player of the Year

Taliah Scott's historic club: Northeast Florida girls basketball McDonald's All-Americans

A SENSATIONAL SENIOR

The scoring gets the attention. But Scott likes to emphasize that it's just one aspect of her game, particularly during her time at St. Johns.

"Here, defensively, I feel like I was the best I've ever been," Scott said. "Rebounding and other parts of my game just rose exponentially."

She said she draws hoops inspiration from seven-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, as well as Arike Ogunbowale — "so tough," Scott says about the Dallas Wings WNBA guard who won the NCAA title at Notre Dame in 2018.

Going by the numbers, further improvement from 2022 seemed hard to imagine.

After all, Scott had racked up points at a 31.2-per-game clip as a junior, enough to race away with Florida's scoring title.

In her senior year, she found a way. A scoring average that somehow jumped five more points. Rebounds rising to 9.2 per game. Assists flying to 4.7 per game, many of them to 3-point ace Mary Kate Kent on the perimeter.

"Just when I thought she couldn't get any better," Bronston said, "she'd turn it up even more."

Scott's career total of 2,735, including numbers from the start of her FHSAA career at Bolles and Oakleaf, will place her third-highest on record among Northeast Florida players at FHSAA-affiliated schools.

Her influence on her team grew, too, in her second year at St. Johns following her transfer. She helped take the lead as one of three senior regulars on a roster with numerous freshmen and middle schoolers.

"The biggest area I've seen her grow from last year, I go back to the leadership and reinforcing the culture we're building here at St. Johns," Bronston said.

MCDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Destination No. 1: Houston.

On March 28, Scott stepped onto the floor of Houston's Toyota Center as only the fourth Northeast Florida girls basketball McDonald's All-American in history. The previous three all came from Ribault: Dorian Williams (2003), Erica White (2004) and Rennia Davis (2017).

Twenty-four of the nation's most coveted senior recruits were there, and the former gymnast who turned to basketball full-time at age 9 was one of them.

Big stage — but no stage fright.

"It doesn't really come off as intimidating," she said. "It's just being excited to learn and grow with other people who are just like me."

A weeklong stay in the Lone Star State meant soaking in the big-time atmosphere — the ESPN interviews, the card designs, plus the fun parts like video games in the players' lounge and making cupcakes on a visit to the Ronald McDonald House.

Along the way, she got a chance to hone her skills against other elite prospects like Juju Watkins (signed with Southern California), Milaysia Fulwiley (South Carolina) and McDonald's All-American record scorer Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame).

"I feel like I made lifelong friendships just from being there," she said.

And Scott got an advance taste of the kind of atmosphere later on in her basketball journey. Next fall, that future becomes reality.

"We played in the Rockets' facility, and so looking out and seeing all the people there in the seats filled up and stuff, it was just crazy," she said. "It was like, I'm really ready for college, because college is about to be the same thing. It just got me hyped up."

RAZORBACK READY

Still, she's not resting. That's because of destination number two: Fayetteville, Arkansas.

She's used to hitting the gym for hoops. Between now and day one inside the Bud Walton Arena, it's time to hit the weights.

"My Arkansas coaches have been talking about getting on a weightlifting plan. They want me to come in stronger than I am right now, so I feel like that's going to be the big factor," she said. "Skill-wise, I think I'm ready to compete."

At Arkansas, she instantly becomes a centerpiece recruit at a school hungry to compete against the traditional powers of the SEC.

The Razorbacks completed the 2022-23 season at 24-13, qualifying for the last eight of the Women's NIT. In the previous two seasons under head coach Mike Neighbors, Arkansas reached the NCAA Tournament, although they haven't advanced as far as the NCAA Sweet 16 since 1998. In a talent-laden conference, the pressure is high, and so is the challenge.

"What they're expecting of me is to be a lead guard, being able to be vocal and have that leadership to be able to lead a team, especially with people that might be three, four, five years older than me," she said.

The Razorbacks' 2023-24 schedule isn't yet set, but once she arrives in Fayetteville to hear the traditional rallying cry of "Wooo Pig Sooie," she's certain to encounter giants of the sport.

Arkansas will play a national champion LSU team led by Angel Reese twice next season, and could encounter traditional powers like South Carolina and Tennessee in the SEC Tournament.

And then there's Gainesville: At some point, Arkansas is due to pay a visit to the University of Florida, and when that happens, Bronston is already expecting a large First Coast contingent to make the trip to the Gators' O'Connell Center to see their hometown star.

From SJCD to SEC. After four years to remember in high school hoops, Scott is already circling that first meeting with LSU in her mind.

"I'm excited to play against them," she said. "They've got a lot of hype, I have a lot of hype and I want to see how it pans out."

Taliah Scott

Senior, St. Johns Country Day

Age: 18

Resume: Won Florida scoring title for second consecutive year, averaging 36.2 points per game. … Also averaged 9.2 points and 4.7 assists. … Became Northeast Florida's fourth McDonald's All-American. … Won Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year awards. … Helped Spartans to Class 2A final four for first time in 36 years. … Scored 2,735 career points, third on record for the area. … Five-star recruit ranked No. 11 in ESPN/HoopGurlz Class of 2023. ... Signed with Arkansas.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school girls basketball 2023: All-First Coast, Taliah Scott