WHITNEY CREECH
Jenkins, Senior, 5-9
Jenkins guard Whitney Creech reacts after she scored 71 points against Paintsville in overtime to become the all-time scorer in Kentucky at 4, 957 on Feb. 2 (John Flavell, Special to the Courier-Journal)
* On the floor: The small-town girl with the big-time numbers, Creech enjoyed a magical senior season. She averaged a state-record 50.3 points per game and chipped in 14 rebounds per outing as the Cavaliers finished 18-15 after falling to Leslie County in the 14th Region final. She joined the Jenkins varsity team as a fifth-grader and finished with a state-record 5,527 career points. Her total of 4,462 points from grades 9-12, the number recognized by the National Federation of State High School Associations, ranks fifth in U.S history. She was a second-team All-State pick as a junior and an honorable-mention selection as a sophomore.
* Off the floor: Creech is a solid softball player, playing second base and batting leadoff for the Cavaliers. “Every day after softball practice she’s in the gym and the weight room working on her basketball game,” basketball coach Ashley Addington said. “Softball is kind of her release. She has fun with it. To be that good and just having fun with it, it’s unbelievable to think what she could do if it was her main sport.”
* Future: Creech signed with Western Kentucky after also considering Middle Tennessee State and East Tennessee State.
* Quotable: “There’s not a day that goes by where somebody doesn’t stop me and congratulate me on how well she’s done and how much the community appreciated her and the positive attention she brought to our little town,” Addington said. “Her career has just been something that you can’t even imagine coming from a small place like this.”