After the Bowdon High School girls’ basketball standout sank her 1,000th career point this past Saturday evening, she joined an exclusive club of Red Devil and Devilette standouts, one that includes her older sibling, J.B., who netted his milestone as a senior last season.
Needless to say, it’s made for a lot of talk at the Sunday dinner table at grandmas over the past few years for Remonica Stephens, who along with serving as Jacole’s head coach, is also her aunt.
“We’d all be at the house together, at momma’s on Sunday, and J.B.’s always coaching her. He’s giving her tips on playing. So it’s been an interesting season. [Jacole’s] momma is loud, and that’s my sister. So just imagine family gatherings with all the kids? It got interesting. Trust me, it got interesting,” Remonica Stephens laughed.
“My son, [C.J.], was telling her one day, ‘You’re just trying to be like your brother.’ So I think it’s even more special because they are siblings. And to have two of those — two 1,000 point-scorers in the household — that’s pretty nice. I mean, a lot of kids score and do a lot, but 1,000 points in four years of basketball, that’s nice.”
A four-year starter at Bowdon — just like her brother — Jacole Stephens knew she was closing in on the milestone at the start of the season. And after a slow start, there was some question as to whether she would reach the magic number.
“She asked me at the beginning of the season how many points she needed. I told her, ‘I think you need two or 300.’ Earlier in the season, she kind of struggled offensively. She was giving us that look like, ‘I’m not going to make it,’” Remonica Stephens recalls. “You know, we talked about it. ‘What’s more important? You getting 1,000 points or this team going into the state tournament?’ Her answer was the state tournament. After that comment, it stopped being about her and her points, and that’s when she started really scoring.”
Jacole Stephens scored her 1,000th career point during the first quarter of the Red Devilettes’ 39-36 victory over Manchester on Saturday in the third-place game of the Region 5-AA Tournament, but her coach let the festivities wait until after Bowdon (15-9) got the ‘W.’
“She only needed five on Saturday and she scored the first six or eight points of the game. So she had it then and we knew it, but we didn’t say anything to her until after the game,” Remonica Stephens said. “It just got to a point where she stopped asking and we stopped telling her. We just let it play out.”
And now that brother and sister are on a level playing field when it comes to scoring milestones, it’s little sister that has the opportunity to take over family bragging rights by putting a postseason victory on her hoop résumé when the Red Devilettes travel to Greene County for the opening round of the Class AA state playoffs on Wednesday evening. Tip time is slated for 5 p.m.
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