FORT WHITE — Zuri Hollie has an alter ego. She acknowledges as much.
The Indians’ hooper is mild-mannered off the court: shy, reserved and unassuming. She’s the kind of student who gets her work done without any fuss and tries not to stand out.
But on the court, the sophomore shines brightly. She’s unafraid, aggressive and dominant. She knows how and when to flip that switch.
She proved it time and again in her inaugural season with Fort White, serving as the team’s leading scorer while nearly leading the Indians to their first ever state championship semifinal.
Hollie’s efforts often land her the praise of head coach Bregay Harris. They’ve also gone a step further in securing her spot as the LCR’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
“It means a lot to me,” Hollie said. “I’ve grown over the years. I started playing basketball in third grade, and I’ve just achieved more and got better. I’ve got a lot of learning and experience. It feels great to me.”
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Hollie started at Columbia as a freshman, putting up 9.8 points per game for the Tigers while coming away with 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game in the 2023 season.
Harris said Hollie is the prototypical player that “any coach would want.”
“She’s a kid that won’t shy away from a challenge,” Harris said. “There hasn’t been a shot that I needed her to take that she hasn’t been able to take and make. She’s just an all-around player. Teams have tried to play her in a box. She’s just one of those players teams can’t figure out how to guard.”
Between seasons, Hollie made the move to Fort White, along with fellow guard Erickah Roberson. Harris credited the move to Roberson’s father, who ended up joining the FWHS coaching staff, as well as Hollie’s mother, who wound up as the Fort White Middle School coach.
“Coach Roberson was looking to get on a coaching staff at the high-school level,” Harris said. “This was a prime spot for him, so we gave him the opportunity here, especially with all the success he’s had at Lake City Middle School.
“They (Hollie and Roberson) were the residual of that. We added some good coaches along with the coaches that we already have, and then just to get them, they were the bonus added to it for their parents coming over to join the staff.”
Hollie’s offensive game took a massive leap forward after transferring to Fort White, where she put up an area-best 21.6 points per game while mostly maintaining her other stats. While her 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game were a bit of a dip, Hollie more than made up for it with clutch shot after clutch shot in big games.
Perhaps the biggest of those games was a first for the school. Fort White’s first ever playoff win came during this year’s Region 3-R semifinals against Trenton, a team the Indians had downed three times before.
Hollie and the Indians got there by beating those same Tigers in the District 6-R title game where she scored a game-high 23 points, including her team’s first 10 points en route to a comfortable 58-47 win. Four days later, she one-upped herself, scoring 24 against Trenton to secure a spot in the Regional finals.
It wasn’t even the most memorable moment of the year for Hollie though. That came much earlier in the regular season when Fort White traveled to Newberry on Dec. 13.
The Indians eked out a 60-58 win that night with just three players scoring. Hollie led that effort as well, scoring a season-high 41 points while grabbing seven rebounds and a pair of blocks. She put the finishing touches on that game with the game-winning layup to put her team over the top.
Harris’ favorite moment brings her back to the very beginning of Hollie’s time in Fort White. Those first few days spoke to how much different Hollie is off the court.
“Talking to her mom and talking to coach Roberson, our other coaches and her other teammates that transferred in with her, she was quiet,” Harris said. “She was quiet. And just to see her personality develop and really get to know her as a person? I remember the first day she came and practiced and was actually loud in practice. For me, those are my favorite moments, where there’s just the stuff that not many other people see.”
For Hollie, the transition was easier with so many familiar faces on the practice court.
“I got settled in because they came and played with us during the summer travel team,” she said. “I got used to playing with them, so I was looking forward to transferring so I could have a better experience than I had at CHS, and I liked it.”
Those moments snowballed into Hollie’s outstanding season. Hollie only managed one single-digit point output all season, a four-point outing in a 70-19 blowout over Branford. It was one of nine games in which Hollie didn’t eclipse at least 20 points in the Indians’ 24 games.
The flurry of offense made Harris’ job all that much easier.
“With a player like her, it’s definitely made me develop 10 times better as a coach,” Harris said. “Just finding ways to keep her challenged on a daily basis and getting somebody a different level of challenge. There’s not very many kids and players that you get to coach throughout your coaching career that you truly, really can look them dead in the face, challenge them and coach them at a different level.
“She’s one of those kids you can look dead in the eye and tell her, ‘Hey, I need a 3-pointer right now.’ She’ll just go and make it.”
That certainly seemed to be the case in the last game of the season, though it came in heartbreaking fashion. After fellow star guard Isreal Hart was assessed her second technical foul in the Region 3-R final against Hilliard midway through the third quarter, Hollie was tasked with keeping her team’s five-point advantage after battling back from an early deficit.
With Hart departing with nearly half of her team’s 29 points at the time, it was no easy task. Still, Hollie delivered big buckets down the stretch, hitting a 3-pointer with time winding down in the third quarter to bring her team’s deficit down to one.
She hit another in the fourth to tie that game at 57 apiece with 2:07 remaining then converted an and-1 call to take a 60-59 lead with 1:52 left. Hollie hit yet another long 3-ball from the wing to tie the game again before her buzzer-beating attempt from inside the arc rimmed out, forcing an overtime period in which the Indians could only manage a single point.
Hollie finished with 38 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks in the 67-64 overtime loss. Despite the heartbreaking ending, Hollie looks back on that game as a pivotal moment in her on-court leadership.
“I had to tell the team that we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” Hollie said. “I had to step up. I had to lead the team.”
Hollie isn’t resting on her laurels. In fact, she’s hardly resting at all. She took a roughly two-week break after the season before starting her offseason training regimen with Harris. She’ll be playing AAU ball for the Lake City Heat. Even at school, Hollie finds herself in Harris’ office, reviewing game film and discussing the finer points of basketball.
For Harris, the fact that Hollie is now the LCR Girls Basketball Player of the Year is simply one more piece of validation.
“She’s starting to get the recognition that she really deserves,” Harris said. “They don’t make many of her anymore. She’s just that kid that you can challenge with anything, both on the court and off the court.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
G: Zuri Hollie
Fort White, sophomore
The LCR’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year averaged an area-best 21.6 points per game to go with 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks to lead the 16-8 Indians to their first playoff win and first regional final.
G: Ayesha Broxey
Columbia, senior
Led the Tigers with 13.2 points per game while also averaging 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 steals.
G: Erickah Roberson
Fort White, sophomore
Averaged 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
G/F: Isreal Hart
Fort White, senior
Averaged 16.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, an area-best 3.7 steals and 1.9 blocks per game.
F: Jolena Gardner
Columbia, senior
Averaged 12.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocks.
F: Dariyan Williams
Columbia, junior
Led the area with 11.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game while also averaging 6.8 points.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Bregay Harris, Fort White
Harris led the Indians to a 16-8 record and only their third playoff berth in what turned out to be their best season in program history. Fort White defeated Trenton to win its second district title ever and then beat Trenton again a week later in the Region 3-R semifinals to win its first playoff game ever. The Indians ultimately fell to Hilliard 67-64 in overtime in the regional championship despite a 38-point effort by Zuri Hollie.