McKenzie's Stafford Reaches 1,000-Point Milestone

ATWOOD (January 22) — Early in the fourth quarter of McKenzie High School's win Thursday at West Carroll, Lady Rebel sophomore Jaycee Stafford hit a pair of free throws to bring her career total to 1,000 points.

Head Coach Dru Emerson immediately called a timeout to inform Jaycee and her teammates of the milestone, which the West Carroll PA announcer also announced to the crowd.

After the game, Stafford spoke to The Banner about the accomplishment.

She said she knew she was approaching the mark, but those in the know kept her wondering. "I asked my mom before the Clarksburg game [two night earlier] and she wouldn't tell me. I asked Dad and he said I was about 60 points away. So I knew I needed a high-scoring night for both nights."

She said about the moment and sharing it with her team, "It definitely feels surreal. This gym holds memories for me, I reached my 500 here. It's a feeling of accomplishment. I'm never satisfied, obviously, I'm always going for more, but it's a feeling of accomplishment knowing that my hard work and my teammates' hard work can pay off into something big like that."

Stafford is the fastest player to reach 1,000 points in MHS history, hitting the mark in 48 games. She is outpacing Anna (Trull) Riggins, McKenzie's all-time leading scorer, who reached the century mark in 56 games en route to 2,154 points before she graduated in 2007.

The only other McKenzie player to surpass 2,000 points is Savannah Davis (2024) with 2,040.

Davis' 646-point senior effort set the single-season record, which was previously held by Trull (633 in 2004-5).

Stafford scored 619 points in her freshman season.

Clearly on track to break the career record, Stafford said, "I can get there for sure. Hopefully, if I stay healthy, no injuries. That's the plan, just to go as high as I can."

Asked about the pressure of being the centerpiece of the team, she said, "Definitely last year, with all of the injuries, the pressure fell a little bit heavier on me. But I feel like this year, especially in the summer, everyone put in the work, everyone developed. [Injured players] came back healthy, and that's definitely played a part in our team this year."

The Lady Rebels made a statement in their district two weeks ago with a road win over McEwen. Stafford said, "Everyone's been locked in right now. Everyone's staying after practice taking extra shots. I feel like we just kinda take it one game at a time. We pre-game in the locker room together, listening to music. Everyone is locked in on just going game-by-game and getting win-by-win. Especially in the district, we know that we can compete with anyone now. We know that people can't overlook us, and I feel like that plays into how we're playing every game. We're coming out and competing and putting up high numbers."

The team's next big test comes Friday as McEwen comes to McKenzie seeking to avenge the home loss.