Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090052
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS KING SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Most observers would say she is modest to a fault.
She is Pulaski County girls basketball player Jodie Hallett, last year's Roanoke Valley District player of the year, who this year has her team in line for the RVD title and along with it a berth into the regional tournament.
"She is as skilled offensively as any player I have ever coached," said Pulaski girls basketball coach Rod Reedy. "She is as good as anybody in the RVD in the lowpost, and she is our best perimeter shooter."
As evidence to support Reedy's boasts of Hallett's offensive prowess, one has to look no further than the Cougar stat sheet. Hallett led the team in scoring in her sophomore and junior seasons and is well on her way to doing the same again this year with an average of 14.4 points a game. The senior also led the team in rebounding last season and is collecting a team high 8.1 boards a game this year.
So how does Hallett explain her success?
"I'm lucky sometimes," she said. "I don't really have any strengths. I have had great teammates and they have made it easy for me to do what I can do."
As a matter of fact her teammates have been good enough to make sure that she was named first team All-RVD the last two years and first team All-Northwest region as a junior. Nobody would be surprised if the same honors were bestowed upon her again this year.
One difference this season, despite the statistical similarities for Hallett, is the team's prospects for success. A subject Hallett will gladly address without mentioning the word luck.
"My sophomore year we were rebuilding and we were not very good," said Hallett. "Last year we lost in the first round of regionals. This year we have worked very hard, and if we play the way we are capable of it is very reasonable to think we can go a long way."
When the discussion turns to basketball and going a long way, Hallett can identify.
She began playing the game in the fifth grade in a Pulaski Recreation Department basketball league, and her interest in the game burgeoned immediately.
"It is hard to explain," she said of her desire to play the game. "I love every aspect of it: the commitment, the competition, the dedication. I just fell in love with it from the start."
Her progression up the basketball ladder has taken Hallett to various camps and tournaments over the years. Her travels culminated this past summer when she joined three of her Cougar teammates, among others, to form the team that captured the Virginia State AAU championship and advanced to the national AAU tournament.
Hallett has parlayed her love of the game into something that could benefit her long after her time on the basketball court has expired; a full scholarship at Elon College, where she will take her "lucky" game in an attempt to help the Elon women's basketball team next fall.
"That meant a lot to me. If didn't get that I wouldn't have been going to college," said Hallett. "For girls, playing four more years is a dream come true. I'm not looking forward to my high school career ending because we [her teammates] are all so close. But I am looking forward to a new beginning at Elon. I'm just hoping I can produce down there."
Despite all of the individual accolades she has received, and the fact that she has enjoyed success at every level on which she has played, the self-deprecating Hallett insisted that she did not feel playing at the college level was a given.
"I wasn't expecting it," said Hallett. "I was getting some letters at the end of my junior year, but it was never like 'Yeah, I'm getting a scholarship.' I was really shocked and happy."
While Hallett may have been shocked Reedy was not in the least bit surprised to find out that his star pupil was taking her game to the college level.
"She will be an outstanding player for Elon," said Reedy. "She is certainly a leader and a go to scorer. She has been a great assest for us."
So how does the girl, who says one of goals on the court is to not embarrass herself, remain so modest in this time of shameless self promotion on the various athletic fields of play.
"Coach Reedy emphasizes how important the team game is," said Hallett. "If I didn't have a coach like that maybe I would be conceited. We play so many teams that are like that [arrogant], and we just try to make an extra effort not to be that way."
by CNB