Congratulations, Kionna!!!  A well deserved award for a spectacular player!   

 

 

(the Herald, 2015)

Spartanburg guard Kionna Jeter rendered any argument mute Friday night if anyone from around the state had the audacity to try and challenge her selection as the S.C. 4A Player of the Year.

The junior scoring machine received news of that honor Friday morning and then responded with a school-record 46 points in an 88-64 playoff victory over Ridge View that has the Vikings one step away from playing for an upper state championship. The 46 broke her own mark of 44, set twice this season.

 

“(The award) is just a blessing to have such a great team around me, great coaches and a great fan-base…just a blessing,” Jeter said. “I just want to help contribute to the team. All we're trying to do is get a win. Our focus is to win state and that's what we're gunning for now.”

It's not like there is any convincing case out there against Jeter, who is far more than simply a scorer despite averaging a whopping 28.6 points per game. The 5-foot-7 combination guard is a complete player also averaging 7.2 rebounds, 5.5 steals and 3.8 assists. She's a total ball-hawk on the defensive end, an ace at disrupting an opponent's offensive flow, and keeps her teammates involved on the offensive end as a key distributor.

There was little opposition from Dillon's fellow coaches when the meeting to name player of the year took place and Dillon arrived more than ready to vehemently plead the case for her superstar. Instead, it was a rather mellow presentation as Jeter's resume was simply too tough to top.

“Her stats spoke for themselves,” Dillon said. “Sometimes during those meetings you really have to fight for your kid, but I just read her stats and talked a little bit about her. I said she's the best I've ever coached and probably ever will coach. She makes everybody better, gets everybody on the floor involved and is very unselfish. She can shoot 3s, she can drive…sometimes she even fakes me out. She did that one time tonight when I wasn't expecting her to pass it and she did. I kind of shook my head, it happened so fast.”

Jeter has begun to regularly make unbelievable performances seem routine and Dillon not only gets to enjoy the remainder of the current playoff run, but another full season with her talented team leader.