Setting records not this guard's focus / State title would mean most

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 25, 2000 | by Nick Walter

When it first happened, the 5-year-old girl had no idea.

It was Jessika Stratton's first basket. It occurred right before kindergarten at Sabin Junior High, where many other young basketball dreams started.

Her parents, Randy and Kathy, brought the video camera just in case.

As the mini-Stratton looked high up at the basket and heaved the ball into the hoop, already with a camera on her, she had no idea how many opponents she would hurt with that stroke.

She grew up with a basketball attached to her like an extremity, and fell in love with the sport.

This was clearly Stratton's life. And she was exceptional at what she did.

Even as a freshman guard at Coronado, it was obvious that records would fall when she averaged 15 points. Two even more successful seasons followed, as she inched closer to state records.

After 19 games as a senior this season, Stratton is in the Top 10 in four categories of Colorado's all-time career records.

She is 10th in points, seventh in assists, third in 3-pointers, and second in steals with 352. She is eight shy of the steals record behind Jenny Samber of Prairie.

Her 189 3-pointers trails Lincoln's Meshach Rhoades (193) and Ali Johnston of Evergreen (205). If Coronado makes it to the state championship game, Stratton must average 3.4 3-pointers per game to break the record.

Twelve years after her first basket, she has the idea.

"I'm aware of it, but I don't pay attention to it. I think individual accolades come when your team performs well and that's all that matters," said Stratton, decked out in a yellow Nike hat and basketball garb even off the court. "We have one goal this whole season and that's being a state champion."

A high school state championship trophy is about the only thing missing from Stratton's "Shrine", her breathtaking collection of medals, plaques and trophies that blanket her west wall.

Jessika isn't the only basketball junkie in the Stratton household.

Her sister Nikki, a freshman at Coronado, has a shrine almost identical to Jessika's. In the Stratton den is a phone in the shape of a basketball with an NBA logo on it.

On the outside of the house, beside a sign that reads "Stratton Gardens: The Dream Starts Here", is a basketball court. The color changes when Randy refinishes it each year. For now, the court is blue.

It's been red, yellow, green, Coronado's scarlet and gold, University of Tennessee colors and the Denver Broncos colors to name a few.

The east rim is the same one Randy practiced on in sixth grade.

It is here, on Stratton Gardens, that Jessika has spent countless hours shooting and doing various ball-handling tricks to perfect her game.

She'll grab two basketballs and dribble them simultaneously between her legs while walking. Then Stratton will hold one ball with two hands, bounce it under her legs, bend backward with her arms extended behind her head and snag the ball.

Jessika has the tricks, the ball-handling ability, and of course, the shot.

The short hop before her shot has been questioned by coaches, who think it may be a traveling violation.

"I don't think I do. I just get so excited when I shoot," Jessika said. "I used to use every ounce of energy I had to get the ball to the basket because I was so short."

"They used to call her twinkle toes," said Kathy, referring to a picture of Jessika during a free-throw competition in which she placed third in the nation at 9 years old.

But it wasn't easy.

Nationals were held in Springfield, Mass., site of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I had never seen the Basketball Hall of Fame and my 9-year-old daughter gets to," said Randy laughing.

Jessika was nervous on the morning of the competition.

"You wake up, they take you downstairs and you're at the table for breakfast," Jessika said. "None of the girls talk to you, so you just sit there and shake."

Because there was an ice rink underneath the floor, Jessika was shaking even more.

As if it wasn't bad enough for a 9-year old, the 100th Anniversary of Basketball Parade that took place nearby sent drum beats and explosions through the Springfield Civic Center, distracting the shooters.

After Jessika made just 7-of-10, her parents thought it was all but over. But she made 14 of her last 15 to tie for third, forcing a five free-throw overtime.

But both shooters made all five. In the second overtime, they both made four. In the third, Jessika made just three. Her opponent made her first three, but missed the last two.

When they went another round Stratton made all five, while her adversary missed her first one, giving Jessika the win and a third- place trophy almost as big as she. Jessika was even spelled correctly.

"There were seven Jessicas born the same day she was born," said Kathy. "We had decided way before that it was Jessika with a K."

After Coronado, Stratton will attend Baylor University, but will not have the same coach who recruited her after Sonja Hogg retired this week.

"I was kind of upset at first. One of the main reasons why I chose Baylor was because of the coach, she's absolutely wonderful," Stratton said.