One of the two leading girls basketball scorers in Jefferson County plays guard for a public school, while a couple miles away the other is a dominant forward for a private school.
Despite their differences in size, function on the court, or affiliation, Crystal City High School sophomore Addison Bova and St. Pius X senior Brooke Blankenship are offensive forces for their winning teams.
Signed to play Division I basketball at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Blankenship is a 6-1 power forward for the Lancers (10-8), who’s averaging 21.1 points per game and recently became the school’s career scoring leader with 1,353 points.
The point guard for the Hornets (10-8), Bova has made 33 3-point baskets, is averaging 20.7 points per game and has amassed more than 750 points in a career not yet half over. Bova was a first-team all-Jefferson County Activities Association small-schools selection last season. She poured in a career-high 39 points against Brentwood High in December.
Crystal City head coach Dana Hern holds the school record with 1,241 points, and she said as far as she knows, the only other player there to get to 1,000 points before their junior season was Bill Bradley.
“It’s extremely rare, especially at Crystal,” said Hern, who didn’t get to 1,000 until her senior year. “She won’t quit. She’ll just keep going. She’s a very good ballhandler and has a great basketball IQ. It allows her to create opportunities for herself, and allows her to give opportunities to her teammates. She’s very selfless with the ball.”
In their JCAA small-schools opener, the Hornets beat Grandview High (3-12, 0-2) 57-23 Jan. 22. That was a complete 180 from a 63-35 loss to the Eagles in their conference meeting last season.
“Last year we got beat pretty bad by them,” Hern said. “Our strategy was defense. And that’s the way we’ve been all year. I told the girls as soon as you make a shot, get up in their girls’ faces and that helped turn the narrative from last year.”
Senior forward Maya Hankins is averaging 12 points per game for Crystal and she’s made 62 of 117 shots from the free-throw line.
Last weekend’s snowstorm forced the cancellation of the Hornets’ games against College of Science and Biomed on Monday and Northwest High on Tuesday. Hern said those games would be made up prior to districts.