Soph continues strong play as Turkey Valley girls roll
It might be pretty intimidating for Jacqlyn Schmitt, a sophomore playing for the Turkey Valley girls. Not only is she playing with some seasoned veterans on her team, but some of those players are also state leaders.
After last Monday’s 51-22 Trojan win over Riceville, senior Jaycie Byrne led the state — all classes — in steals with 54, while classmate Ali Hoffert was tied for fourth in the state with her 25 3-pointers made and she was second with 52 free throws made.
Yet Schmitt has emerged as a scoring threat as, after the first 11 Trojan games, she is second to Hoffert in points per game with 7.4 and in the same spot to the same teammate in rebounds per game with 5.9.
“It was a little intimidating at first,” admitted Schmitt. “But my teammates do a great job helping me, showing me how to do things. Tonight they did a good job finding me, the shots kept falling so I just went with it.”
The shots fell on 8 of her 10 attempts for a season high 17 points for the first year player, second to Hoffert’s 20 against a Riceville team that came into the pre-holiday game with a 6-2 record.
— For more on this story, see the Jan. 5 Tribune