UT’s freshman guard is determined not to let her years at Tampa go by unnoticed.
Hailing from Orlando, Angela Guiu adopted a passion for the game of basketball at the early age of eight.
“I started playing in leagues – AAU, YBOA – between the ages of eight and 16. I got to travel a lot playing in North Carolina and Chicago and making it to the nationals,” said Guiu.
In her last year of high school, Guiu stepped away from the leagues due to the extensive travel requirements and committed herself to exposure camps for the sole purpose of gaining exposure.
“With the exposure camps you’re placed on a team with a bunch of different girls and college coaches come out to see you play,” said Guiu. “In between camps I just worked on strengthening my weaknesses.”
Guiu speaks highly of her father giving him the recognition of being the influence behind her drive to play.
At their old house, her father paved out a half-court where they would go outside and practice until she couldn’t practice anymore.
Guiu attended Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park from seventh through tenth grades.
“My tenth grade year we went to state and a lot of seniors had graduated and I knew that there wasn’t going to be much attention focused on our program anymore,” said Guiu.
That issue prompted her to think about finding another basketball home that would be beneficial to her career, which led Guiu to transfer to Lake Mary High School in Orlando.
“I was zoned for Lake Mary’s school district and I knew they had a good program, and coach Carl Brown is amazing,” said Guiu. “Lake Mary has always been one of the top schools to beat, and I wanted exposure.”
At the time of her arrival to Lake Mary, another familiar Spartan by the name of Alexa Kane was already a key player of their team. Guiu never got the chance to play high school basketball with her. As she was coming in, Kane was graduating.
“I knew of Alexa through AAU and watching her play. I would go to Lake Mary’s games because they have always been really good,” said Guiu.
Guiu acknowledges that her transition to Lake Mary took her game to an entirely different level. She noticed a huge leap in the level of competition after leaving a Division 2A program and entering into a Division 6A.
“Basketball at Trinity wasn’t a huge deal and coach Brown was really strict in order to keep the name of the school’s program up. I love him,” said Guiu.
Guiu started both years at Lake Mary as a guard, averaging 10 points per game.
Around her senior year, letters from different colleges promoting their programs started to come in, and playing out of state was not something Guiu wanted.
Shortly after the letters started rolling in, Guiu received a phone call from Spartans head coach Tom Jessee. Knowing that Kane had made a good transition to UT from Lake Mary and was surviving college ball, Guiu felt more comfortable considering playing for the Spartans.
“The girls were all very nice and I loved the UT campus. We played a couple of scrimmage games,” said Guiu. “After my visit I said, ‘Coach, sign me up!'”
Guiu deems the beginning of her season as a rocky one. Having been used to the starting guard position, she was now placed as a back-up guard.
“I knew that I need to work harder and soon everything turned out well. I’ve started four games so far this season,” said Guiu. “Coach Jessee put me at shooting guard for a moment in the Lynn game to give DeShaydia Mackey a rest. Other than that, I play guard and I wouldn’t mind playing the two-guard.”
It was the first game against Lynn in January where Guiu finally started to feel that she was accomplishing things for her team. She ended that game with 16 points and six rebounds.
As for playing for coach Jessee, Guiu mentioned that she couldn’t be happier.
“He’s a great coach. He’s helped me out a lot and been patient with me, considering that I am a freshman point guard and still learning the team’s system,” said Guiu.
She holds high regards for coach Jessee’s patience. There are two new point guards to the team this year, junior transfer Brittany Ridley and Guiu. Jessee has taken special time to make sure that they both feel comfortable on the court.
“Of course I want to win a national championship here at UT, but I’m more concerned with being a main leader on the court as a point guard,” said Guiu. “I want to feel at the end of the day that I’ve helped my team as much as possible.”