Madison Slayton, along with her Damascus teammates, had a season to remember.
The junior guard finished the team’s 18-2 season averaging a double-double, posting over 13 points and 12 rebounds per game.
Slayton is this week’s Montgomery County High School Athlete of the Week.
Each week throughout the school year, the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame is partnering with Montgomery Community Media to honor an Athlete of the Week from the county’s more than 40 public and private high schools.
We struggled offensively for the majority of last night’s win, but @madison25s once again carried us through it with a double double. 23 points, 14 boards, just another monster performance by Madison
Other key stats:
CC 8 pts
Megan 7 boards@cgottesman2024 5 pts 6 assists— Damascus Girls Varsity Basketball 🐝🏀 (@DHSGirls_Hoops) February 17, 2024
“If you take the 10 players on the court, she’s probably the best athlete,” head coach Ryan Hudy told MCM. “When she gets into open court, no one’s gonna catch her.”
Slayton is also an All-County lacrosse midfielder, committed to play Division II at Wingate University in North Carolina.
The Swarmin’ Hornets dropped their last game of the season Tuesday night against Whitman, their only loss besides a December meeting with Clarksburg.
In the 13 games between, Damascus outscored their opponents 687-335. Slayton averaged 16.9 points during the stretch and notched a season-high 25 against Blake Feb. 2.
“Without our team dynamic, we wouldn’t be winning as much as we do,” Slayton told MCM. “We could go really far this year.”
Last year, Damascus won two state playoff games before Oxon Hill stifled them in the quarterfinals. Hudy thinks Slayton will seize control of the high-pressure moments this time around.
“It was a punch in the throat, are we going to get back up? We didn’t and [Oxon Hill] ran away from us,” Hudy said. “A year older, more experienced, I would expect [Slayton] to be the one that we go to down the stretch.”
With the regular season under their belt, the Swarmin’ Hornets figure to be seeded highly in the Class 3A Regional tournament, set to begin Feb. 27.
Featured photo taken by Erich Jankowski, courtesy of Slayton.
