On Jan. 23, Coral Shores senior basketball star Brooke Mandozzi joined an elite group of just four other female athletes to score 1,000 career points. The unassuming hoopster has been a staple on the Hurricane hardwood for four seasons, and scored her 1,000th point in typical Mandozzi style – she was completely unaware it had occurred until it was announced at halftime during the team’s final regular-season home game against LaSalle. The Hurricanes would lose the game, but Mandozzi still managed to score half of the team’s total points and grab 10 rebounds for a double-double on the same night as her historic achievement.
“Brooke and the team had no idea she was close,” said head coach Jarrod Mandozzi. “She’s pretty no-nonsense and isn’t big about individual goals and would never want to have it be about her, which I love as a coach.”
Another reason for the ’Canes’ coach to love his superstar scorer is the fact that he is her father.
“I’m obviously happy for her and so proud of her for all of her accomplishments,” he said. “I know it was hard on her in her freshman year particularly, and even a little into her sophomore year, because she felt like she was looked at as ‘Coach Mandozzi’s daughter.’ I know it bothered her, and in some ways probably pushed her.
“I told her midway through her sophomore season that she needed to forget that, because she was showing who she was as an athlete. … She was turning the table and making people say that I was Brooke Mandozzi’s father.”
A tenacious player, Brooke has endured more than her share of bumps and bruises on the court in her tenure with the ’Canes. “I’ve said before she’s certainly among the toughest kids I’ve coached, girls or boys,” said coach Mandozzi. “As her coach, I love and appreciate that. As her dad, I often wish she’d take it a little easier on herself, and I tell her that all the time.”
Leading up to her junior campaign, Brooke suffered a cut above her eye which required eight stitches to close. She managed to get cleared by her doctor and worked to convince her coach to let her play despite the risk of opening the cut again and making it far worse. Going into her final home game, she was under the weather for several weeks, yet played through it to break the historic barrier.
The Hurricanes finish out their regular season Feb. 2 in Miami before doing everything in their power to make a run at the FHSAA 3A postseason.
