Ridaught: Newberry backcourt duo join 1,000-point club

Newberry's Sarah Beaulieu (left) and Brandy Whitfield. Photo by C.J. Gish
Newberry's Sarah Beaulieu (left) and Brandy Whitfield have both reached 1,000 career points during the 2024-25 season.
Photos by C.J. Gish

The month of January has been memorable for several girls and boys basketball players in the area who have hit 1,000 points scored in their careers.

Audrey Hubbard of The Rock was honored for her milestone in a win against Countryside Christian on January 17, while junior Ar’Nayshia Griffin of Bradford (Starke) and senior Gavin Jenkins of Union County (Lake Butler) have also accomplished the feat this month too.

The Newberry girls have celebrated two 1,000-point scorers in junior point guard Brandy Whitfield and senior point guard/shooting guard Sarah Beaulieu during the 2024-25 season.

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“As many teams that have ever done that, I think it’s a great thing to have two players do the same identical thing, and not only that, those two feed off each other,” said Newberry girls basketball coach Dameon Hughes. “Like I always say, I’m just happy that they’re on my team. That’s a great honor for them.”

Whitfield scored her 1,000th point against Santa Fe (Alachua) on Thursday, Dec. 12.

“It was fun scoring 1,000 points but I haven’t really seen nobody score 2,000, so that’s what I’m hungry for,” she said. “I want to go for 2,000. I ain’t satisfied yet.”

Hughes calls Whitfield an all-around player.

“She can shoot, she can defend, she can drive, she is everything,” he said. “She’s a coach’s dream.”

Beaulieu joined the club on Jan. 15 in a 58-52 win at home against two-time defending 1A state champion Hawthorne.

“I feel like it’s a great goal,” Beaulieu said. “At first, I wasn’t looking to reach it but since it came up, I was very excited. But I really just want to win a district championship.”

That’s something the Lady Panthers haven’t done since 2012, but they will be the top seed in next week’s 3A-District 3 tournament.

Bradford (Starke) is the No. 2 seed and Newberry has already defeated the Tornadoes twice this season, including a 65-52 win this past Monday night.

Hughes said Beaulieu is “like the magician.”

“Or she’s kind of like the leader where she facilitates and tells everybody what to do, ‘hey, you go here, you go there,’ if they’re not doing it then she’ll take the spot and she’ll take that shot but she’ll drive or she’ll defend. Like I said, those two feed off of each other, and they’re just great phenomenal players.”

The backcourt duo complements each other very well.

“Man, it means a lot for somebody to help me with the ball, that can score, and move off the ball,” Whitfield said. “She’s like my twin so I know what she’s doing, our momentum we play off each other. It’s going to be a lot to lose her since she’s a senior.”

Whitfield, who scored a career-high 41 points in a 95-70 win at Palatka on Jan. 16, is averaging nearly 23 points per game.

“It’s good to have two people that you know can score no matter what,” Beaulieu said. “If I’m in trouble, or she’s in trouble, we can go back and forth. We also have another key player, Jada Brown, she’s a dog too.”

Beaulieu, who is second on the team with an average of 15.3 ppg, had 28 in that game.

“Sarah’s shifty,” Whitfield said. “I’ll give her like Kyrie (Irving). She likes to dribble, she likes to shake people, she likes the ‘ooh the ahh.’ She loves the moves. That’s Sarah. I’ll give her Kyrie.”

Last night Newberry had an eight-game winning streak snapped with a 64-54 loss at home to Class 6A Buchholz. Whitfield had a team-high 20 points, while Beaulieu scored 10.

The Panthers (14-5), who are ranked 12th in Class 3A, get another tough test tonight at 6 p.m. when they host Class 5A No. 5 Gainesville.

Following the regular season finale, Newberry will turn its attention to the postseason, which begins next Thursday at home against either No. 4 seed Baldwin or No. 5 seed Keystone Heights in the district semifinals.

If they win, Newberry will also host the district championship game next Saturday night.

“I feel like we can go very far since we have a good bond,” Beaulieu said. “We play together, we have team chemistry, so I can see us going very far in the future.”

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