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2020 Pirate Player Preview: Britany Range

Date: August 5, 2020

By: Wilnir Louis

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@britany_range via Twitter

The backcourt of Seton Hall women’s basketball team will be rather young in the 2020-21 season, with seven of the 11 guards listed on the Pirates’ roster being either freshman or sophomores. With a rather inexperienced backcourt, that opens the door for Britany Range to come in and make an instant splash for Seton Hall.

Range is listened as a 5-foot-10 guard on Seton Hall’s athletic website coming out of Middleburg, Fla. As a talented multi-sport athlete, Range showed that she can do it all on both the volleyball court as well as the basketball court.

Quickly touching on Range as a volleyball player, she played three years at Middleburg High School where she was on the All-Conference team two of those years. One of those years included her senior year, where she was on the All-First Coast volleyball third team, earning 251 kills and 109 blocks as a middle blocker. While she did have success as a volleyball player, Range wanted to play basketball when she got to college and that’s the sport that she absolutely excelled in.

One of biggest upsides of Range’s game is her versatility on the court. While playing in Florida, she showed that she can do everything on the court. In her junior campaign at Middleburg High, she helped lead the Lady Broncos to a 21-7 record, while averaging 18.6 points, four assists, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks-per-game. Range only improved the year after in her senior season, upping her previous scoring average to 19.9 points-per-game while getting 8.6 rebounds-per-game.

She has shown that she can make shots from anywhere on the court, from midrange to behind the arc, that she can make tough layups, and can also play stout defense. Her athleticism along with her size allows her to potential play and guard 1-4 and even the 5-position on the floor depending on the lineup out on the court.

What could potentially be more important to note about Range outside of her statistics is her mentality as a player. Michael Hayward, the head coach of Middleburg women’s basketball had nothing but high praises when talking about Range’s character.

“She’s one of those players that takes direction really well,” Hayward stated in January after a 62-49 victory against Sandalwood. “She not only leads, but she leads by example. A lot of times, she’s instructing girls to do certain things that she’s doing herself -- diving for loose balls, guarding the best person on the floor.”

Two games that show what Range can bring to South Orange are Middleburg’s loss vs. Nease in 2019 and the Lady Broncos victory against Sandalwood in 2020. In the Nease game, Range willed her team back from a double-digit deficit against a 18-1 rival on the road. While it did finish in an unfavorable outcome, as a junior, Range was able to outscore Nease by herself in the third quarter and scored all of Middleburg’s point in the fourth quarter to bring the team within one point before losing 52-47.

Range finished the game with 35 points. It’s important to note that Nease had players that committed to North Carolina State, Davidson, and Texas A&M, showing that she was able to mount that comeback against good competition. Meanwhile, in her matchup against Sandalwood in her senior year, it was the battle of Seton Hall commits, as Range faced Amari Wright. Range got the better of that matchup, scoring 38 in a 62-49 victory.

Range’s exceptional play on the court as well as in the classroom allowed her to be in the history books at Middleburg High, as she became the first player in program history to be a D-1 signee. Range had offers to Florida A&M, University of North Florida, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Arkansas State, St. Bonaventure, and others before deciding to go north to play for the Pirates.

For head coach Tony Bozzella and the rest of the coaching staff, Range could potentially become a great piece for the Pirates. As stated before, her versatility and her willingness learn and to give 100 percent on the floor is going to be great even potentially for this season.

She can handle the ball and sees the court as a point or shooting guard, but size allows her to play either the small or potentially the power forward position depending on the game. What role she’ll play on the team all depends on the coaching staff, and it can be expected that Range will make the most out of whatever role she is given.

A three-year captain for Middleburg High School, Range has consistently been an electric shooting and good facilitator. She has proven that she can perform well in the Big East and has also shown that she has the intangibles to be a good piece of Seton Hall on and off the court.

Wilnir Louis is the Sports Director for 89.5 FM WSOU, and can be reached at wsou.sports@gmail.com.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Women's Basketball

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