The Knox County Basketball League held its inaugural tournament last weekend and the Mount Vernon Junior Jackets girls team came away with the championship.
The league, in its initial year, serves as a feeder program for boys and girls in grades three through six to develop their skills to graduate into local high school programs. Teams from Centerburg, Danville, East Knox, Fredericktown and Mount Vernon school districts were represented in the competition.
The sixth-grade Mount Vernon Junior Jacket girls, nicknamed, “The Fab 4” and going with the slogan “Jr. Jacket Pride,” played the tournament shorthanded with only four available players as one team member was out with a concussion. To allow the girls an opportunity to play, the fifth-grade team stepped in throughout the season to field a full squad. During the regular season, the Junior Jackets won five and lost three. In the tournament, the Junior Jackets fielded a team of four, and in the opening game against Centerburg, who had six players, the players on the court were five from Centerburg and four from Mount Vernon, but the Jackets won, 27-2, to advance to the championship game against Fredericktown. The Junior Freddies had 10 players and were No. 1 ranked in the competition, going undefeated during the season. Fredericktown had beaten Mount Vernon in both regular season games. In the finals, despite again playing with only four girls on the court, the Junior Jackets prevailed, 19-14.
The winning squad consisted of Callie Armstrong, Jordan Anderson, Grace Cooper and Mea Joyner. Coaches for the Centerburg game were Adam Pursel (coach of both fifth- and sixth-grade girls teams. He left at half to coach the fifth-grade team in Danville), Mitch Cooper and Chloe Joyner. Coaches for the Fredericktown game were Cooper and Jason and Chloe Joyner. Team strategy included using all available time outs to give the girls as much rest as possible and relentless spirit, team encouragement from players, coaches and fans alike, and lots of teamwork.
Amber Dayton, who is Grace Cooper’s mom, said, “As Fredericktown walked in at the beginning and saw there were only four girls to play against, you could truly see their excitement as they really thought they had it in the bag, and to be honest, so did most of the rest of us. Fredericktown was undefeated going into this game, but the Junior Jackets showed a ‘never give up spirit,’ they slowed the game down, they played smart, and they played with all their hearts. On this day, it was enough to win.”
