Lebanon High School; Lady Yellow Jacket Basketball; Record Book; 1973-2016

By Larry Winfrey

This book contains the statistics and records of the Lebanon, Missouri High School Girls Basketball program from 1973-2016

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365568305

Book preview

Lebanon High School; Lady Yellow Jacket Basketball; Record Book; 1973-2016

LHS Girls Basketball RECORD BOOK 1973-2016

I prepared this book to be printed the old fashioned way.  I thought the hard print copy turned out very nice.  However, I was concerned the price it cost me to have printed would be prohibitive to many people who are mentioned in this record book. My journey to find a more affordable format led me to the ebook.

This is my first experience with an ebook format, so the formatting may be a little off.  I found that setting the font to the smallest setting and turning on the scrolling function works best. 

All proceeds from this book will go to the Lebanon High School Girls Basketball Program minus the 20% Lulu charges for epublishing the book. 

DEDICATION

This Record Book is dedicated to all the girls that ever put on a Lebanon Yellow Jacket jersey and stepped onto the court to represent their high school, their town, their community.  For all the hours of running, shooting and practicing…For all the sweat, pain and effort…For all the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory…For the bonds of teammates never forgotten…But most importantly…For all the years of not being recognized; this book is dedicated to you.

DISCLAIMER

THIS BOOK CONTAINS A COMPILATION OF RECORDS OF THE LEBANON HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL PROGRAM FROM STATISTICS THAT COULD BE LOCATED.  HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOK IS NOT COMPLETE!   AS A MATTER OF FACT, DUE TO RECORDS NOT BEING MAINTAINED OVER TIME, IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING COMPLETE. THERE ARE MANY RECORDS, EVEN SOME ENTIRE GAMES, WHERE NO STATS COULD BE LOCATED.  THERE IS ESPECIALLY A LACK OF RECORDS PERTAINING TO REBOUNDS, ASSISTS, STEALS AND BLOCKS. ALSO, THIS BOOK CONTAINS THE HIGHLIGHTS OF A VAST AMOUNT OF DATA FROM OVER 1,000 BASKETBALL GAMES THE LEBANON HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS HAVE PLAYED.  THAT DATA IS MAINTAINED IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT.

PLEASE!

If you have any written records pertaining to Lebanon High School Girls Basketball that is not represented here, please get it to me or the LHS Girls Basketball Coach or Athletic Director.  Newspaper clippings from 1973-1994 are not needed since they have already been included. Please help make this record book as accurate as possible.

You may contact me at [e-mail]. Thank you!

FORWARD

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past six months researching Lebanon High School Girls Basketball statistics.  I love sports, LHS, statistics and history, so this project has turned into a great hobby for me.

In the interest of transparency, I got interested in this project because my daughter Kelsey will be beginning her senior year playing for the LHS Girls Basketball team.  Basketball has always been her passion and she just recently signed her National Letter of Intent to play basketball at the University of Missouri.  As she began her basketball career at LHS and her stats started piling up, people would ask Has anyone ever done this before?  To my surprise, no one knew.  Stats had never been compiled for girls basketball at LHS.  I was really interested in where Kelsey ranked historically at LHS.  The phrase to our knowledge no one has done this before was not sufficient for me.  So, I got started on this project for the selfish reason of knowing if Kelsey had actually set any school records.

While I had the desire to find out this information, I was uncertain how to go about it.  The door opened on one wintry night in early 2016 after a girls basketball game.  As typical after a game, us parents were gathered on the gym floor waiting for our daughters to come out of the locker room.  Coach Kelley came out and was visiting with us when someone asked Coach, why don’t the girls have a record board like the boys do?  Coach Kelley responded that the stats have never been compiled to his knowledge and that he did not know where they could be located.  I saw my opening, so one other dad and I responded that we would be willing to assist him if he ever wished to pursue compiling them.  I did not hear anything else about it until early June 2016, when I received a message from Coach Kelley asking if I was still interested in compiling the girls stats because he had located two duffle bags full of scorebooks while cleaning out a closet. Thus began a journey that was much more rewarding than I anticipated.

My goal in this project was to make the records as complete and as accurate as possible.  I knew going in that, unfortunately, there would be gaps in the records due to the fact there has never been any protocol for preserving them.  To accomplish my goal of completeness and accuracy, I set some parameters.  The stats have to be credible, so I only used stats from five primary sources: MSHSAA Scorebooks, Online stats from Maxpreps, Coaches season records, LHS Magnet yearbooks and the Lebanon Daily Record.  In my search for records, I have contacted former coaches, players and players’ parents seeking credible records.  I also posted on Facebook requesting information on LHS Girls Basketball.  I received a lot of anecdotal evidence from various sources, but there was no written record to support the evidence so it has not been included. 

With the exception of a few seasons, the scorebooks provided by Coach Kelley went back to the 1994-1995 season.  The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) official game scorebooks only contain stats for points scored, field goals made, three point field goals made, free throws attempted and free throws made.  No record is kept in those books on field goals attempted, three point field goals attempted, rebounds, assists, steals or blocks.

The most complete and accurate records are during the last three years.  Coach Kelley posts all stats on Maxpreps.com following every game.  Unfortunately, all the records prior to the 2013-14 season are incomplete.  The most complete records are the scoring records.

After compiling the stats from the MSHSAA scorebooks and Maxpreps, I began the arduous task of going through every issue of the Lebanon Daily Record (LDR) from 1973-1994 for the basketball season dates.  I also searched the LDR for the seasons I did not have MSHSAA scorebooks after the 1994-1995 season.  Most of this search took place at the Lebanon public library where they have most issues of the LDR on microfiche.  For the issues the library did not have, Kirk Pierce at the LDR was gracious enough to allow me access to their archives. 

I also used information contained in LHS Magnet yearbooks from 1973-2016.  They provided valuable information on what games were played and when; season records and players names.

To my surprise most coaches do not keep their records after they end their coaching career at Lebanon.  I was, however, able to obtain stats from the 1984-85 season and 1985-86 season from Tina Ruble Helm.  She had the stats that Coach Steplugh handed out to the players at the end of each of those seasons.

My hope is that as this information becomes available former players and coaches will come forward with written records so that these stats can be updated.

I have compiled in 4 bound volumes the documentation for every statistic contained in this record book.  I printed copies of every LDR article, every Maxpreps stat, every coaches compilation of stats, and every LHS Magnet yearbook record. Every MSHSAA scorebook provided is contained in a sleeve in the bound volumes.

Finally, while knowledgeable of spreadsheets, I am by no means an expert. I also did all the data entry from which these records were compiled.  While I was as diligent as I could be, I am sure mistakes were made. I take full responsibility, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would contact me should you discover any.

I hope you enjoy perusing the many accomplishments of the LHS girls basketball players contained in this record book, as much as I have enjoyed compiling them. 

Larry Winfrey, Jr.

25355 McBride Ln

Lebanon, MO  65536

[e-mail]

[phone]

INTRODUCTION

While girls basketball had been played as a club sport dating back to the 1950’s, the first season as an official high school sport at Lebanon High School was in 1973.  Due to Title IX, LHS added three varsity girls sports in 1973: girls track, softball and basketball, to equal the number of boys varsity sports programs.  Coach Eddy Blake was the first LHS Girls Basketball coach for that inaugural 1973-1974 season where they compiled a record of 6 wins and 9 losses.  All games were played at what is now the Dr. Tom F. Luthy Fieldhouse on the old LJHS campus. During the second season of girls basketball, the girls improved to 10 wins and 7 losses, won the Regional Tournament and advanced to the State playoffs where they lost in the first round to Russellville 48 to 36.  There were very few teams statewide in the early 1970’s, so there were no district and sectional tournaments like today.  Teams played in a regional tournament and then advanced to the State playoffs.

There has been 43 season of LHS Girls Basketball and during that time they have played 1,046 games and compiled a record of 453 wins and 593 losses.  They have scored 49,566 points and given up 51,269 points.  The Lady Jackets average 47.39 points a game and allow 49.01 points a game historically.

There have been a total of 10 coaches during the 43 year tenure of Lady Jacket Basketball.  Coach Eddy Blake coached the first two seasons and after taking the team to the State playoffs in 1975-76, it was reported that the school board felt the team should be coached by a female. Carol Myers was hired for the 1976-1977 season and coached for 4 years.  She was replaced by the return of Eddy Blake who coached for 3 more seasons.  Lynn Long was the longest tenured LHS coach with 8 seasons and Brad Clark had the shortest, coaching only 1 season.

LHS Girls Basketball has won 4 district titles and 1 regional title.  District championships were won by Coach Eddy Blake’s team in 1979-1980; Coach Lynn Long’s teams in 2000-2001,2002-2003 and 2003-2004.  The regional title was won by Coach Blake’s 1975-1976 team.

There have only been four LHS girl basketball players named to the All-State team: Diane Carey (1979-80); Chris Bohannon (1990-91); Ashley Warren (2001-02) and Kelsey Winfrey (2015-16).  While there have been numerous LHS Girls Basketball players play at the collegiate level, Kelsey Winfrey (2013-2016) will be the first NCAA D1 basketball player.  However, Ashley Warren (1998-2002) played D1 Volleyball where she was a star for the MSU Lady Bears.  Terry Kovarik (1974-75) played basketball for the SMSU Lady Bears but what is now Missouri State University was a NCAA DII school at the time.

While there were numerous games I came across where we won or lost on last second shots or free throws where there was no time left on the clock. There are a few games I found particularly interesting and would like to share:

The first was on  December 11, 1980.  Coach Blake’s team had lost their All-State player Diane Carey and several other key players due to graduation.  The team was struggling and would finish the season with a record of 4 wins and 16 losses.  On that fateful day in December, Coach Blake would be taking his young team to Rolla to face the State Ranked Bulldogs.  The shortest Rolla starter at 5’9 was taller than the tallest Lebanon player who stood 5’7.  To make it even more difficult, the game was being played during the school day as an all school assembly.  So, the Lady Jackets were young, undersized, in a very hostile environment playing one of the best teams in the State.  Coach Blake’s came up with a strategy to hold the ball and never shoot until fouled and sent to the free throw line.  His offense spread the floor and played keep away until fouled.  It was a delaying tactic that had the student body in attendance going crazy and the Rolla players becoming extremely frustrated.  Coach Blake figured Rolla could not score if they did not have the ball. Lebanon was only down by 2 at the half and ended up losing the game 11 to 17.  If Lebanon had hit a higher percentage of their free throws, they just may have won the game!

On November 20, 1984, Lebanon was playing Stockton in the Buffalo Tournament.  The game was tied at 34 with only seconds left in the game.  Stockton had the ball when Raquel Anderson fouled the Stockton ball handler knocking her to the floor.  Monie England then accidentally kicked the Stockton player in the head.  The Stockton player then got up and took a swing at Raquel Anderson! A technical foul was called on the Stockton player and she was ejected from the game.  A substitute Stockton player shot the bonus free throw due to the initial Raquel Anderson foul.  She made the basket but it was disallowed due to a line infraction.  Rhonda Anderson then shot the technical foul shots for Lebanon making them both.  Lebanon got the ball back and Stockton was forced to foul.  Rhonda Anderson went to the line and hit two more free throws sealing the Lebanon 38-34 victory.

Finally, two games that are exemplary models of sportsmanship.  Ironically they both are against Lebanon’s arch rival Camdenton Lakers.  The first game happened on January 23, 1986.  With Camdenton leading early in the fourth quarter Lebanon had a player foul out leaving them with only 4 eligible players left.  To keep the game fair, the Camdenton coach made one of his players stand in the corner of the court and not move. The game resumed in a 4 on 4 fashion with Camdenton ultimately winning 60-49.  Lebanon repaid the Lakers on January 21, 1988.  Lebanon had won a hard fought game 53-51.  However, as Coach Steplugh looked at the scorebook after the game, she noticed she had used an ineligible player.   A player is only allowed to play six quarters a night.  One of the Lebanon players played all four quarters of the JV game and 3 quarters in the varsity game.   Camdenton did not realize an ineligible player had been used and therefore, the Camdenton coach had not objected in a timely fashion to preserve a protest under MSHSAA rules.  Coach Steplugh, after catching the mistake, notified the officials and Camdenton that Lebanon would be forfeiting the game since it had violated the rules.  So although Lebanon out scored Camdenton 53-51, the official score of the game became 2-0 Camdenton.

RECORD OVERVIEW PERSONAL & TEAM BEST

The following records are an overview of the record holders in each category.  This is the information you might find on a Record Board.

Team Record Board

RECORDS Individual SINGLE GAME 1973-2016  Top 100

The following records are for individual performances in a single game.  They contain the top 100 performances unless the data does not support that number or there are individuals that are tied.

Single Game Records:  Points Scored