Lady Saint Basketball Player Selected to Summer All Star Game

While it is tough to see the Seward County Lady Saints
Fabiana Monte without a smile on her face, that smile was even larger on
Thursday as she was informed that she was one of 40 NJCAA basketball
players from throughout the country that has been selected to
participate in the NJCAA All-Star Weekend July 25-28 in Niceville,
Florida.

Monte and Butler’s Ashlee Ivy were the only two players
from the Jayhawk Conference to accept their bids to the event. Over 100
players from across NJCAA Division I, II, and III were nominated for the
event and the group of 40 was chosen by a committee of coaches spread
out between those three levels.

Monte will not be the only Lady Saint participating in
the weekend’s events, however she will be the only Seward player on the
court during her stay. Former Seward All-American and Saints Athletics
Hall of Fame member Kim Ortega will be inducted into the NJCAA Women’s
Basketball Hall of Fame on the second night of the event, joining
Alfreda Harris, Susan Summons, and Gwyn Young as the Class of 2013.

On July 27th and 28th, the 40 players will be broken
down into teams and will compete in a number of games against one
another with a heavy dose of four year coaches expected to be in
attendance.

Monte was a key part of the Lady Saints 20 win season in
2012-2013, averaging 10 points and 3 rebounds per game for Seward. The
freshman from Diadema, Sao Paulo, Brasil played in all 31 games for the
gals in green, starting 19 as a rookie. An extremely gifted athlete,
Monte was second on the team in steals with 47 and assists with 68 for
the Lady Saints.

When asked about her feelings of getting chosen for the
event Monte said "I was so surprised. I am very excited for the
opportunity to play against some of the best players in the country."
She went on to say "I just want to thank my teammates and the other
people here at Seward so much for helping me get here. They have been
my family here when things have been tough on and off the court."

Roy Allen