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In the past 3 years, the FHS Basketball Lady Cats have celebrated the past, present, and future players of their program, called Culture Night. On the final home game of the season, the Lady Cats hosted the 3rd annual Culture Night on February 22, 2024. In the week leading up to the game, the girls’ basketball Instagram, @fredrockgbb, honored its past players. They shared various members such as Betsey Royer, who is the program’s All-Time Leader in Block with 361, leading the team to the quarterfinals in 2016. Another key player was Courtney Kemp. Courtney led the Lady Cats to the Missouri State Quarterfinals in the 2005-2006 seasons. She is the All-Time Leader of Assist with 503 and the All-Time Leader of Steals with 521. She went on to play for 4 years at Missouri S&T.
The all-star player of the Lady Cat basketball program is Shyla Tucker, the undefeated player for 34 years. Shyla claims the All-Time Scoring Title with 2926 points! She also is the Lady Cats’ All-Time Leading Rebounder with 1136 rebounds! She led the Cats to their only Missouri State Final Four appearance in 1990. Shyla had a legendary career at Arkansas State University, taking them to the 1993 Women’s NIT Title. She was also awarded Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 1994. Shyla is a member of the Arkansas State Hall of Honor and still ranks second in the program’s history with 1989 points. Finally, we would like to give the All-Time Spotlight to the legend, Coach Lonny Sheldon. Coach Sheldon is the program’s All-Time Leader in Wins with 412 over his career at FHS. You will often hear his name in Lady Cat Basketball. He led his teams to 3 conference championships, 4 district championships, 4 state quarterfinal appearances, and 1 state final four appearance. Coach Sheldon still supports Fredericktown Athletics to this day, and all programs are extremely grateful.
On Thursday, February 22, both JV and varsity were up against Dexter, whom they would play again for the district title on Monday. JV played first at 6pm. The JV girls absolutely dominated their game, leading 22-8 in the first half, and smashing them with a 50-20 score by the end of the game. The top player of the game was Charis Moss (9), with a total of 28 points. Maggie Wood (9) followed behind with 12 points. One particular player to mention is Alyson Collins (10), who scored her points of the season in the second half of the game.
To honor the present and future players of the program, the starting lineup ran out with younger players of the program. Kiera Francis (12) ran with Chloe Bess and Zalie Moss, Gabbie McFadden (12) ran out with Mazie Reutzel, Amelia Miller (11) ran out with Ellie Allgier, Callie Allgier (11) ran out with Gracyn Sharp, and Ava Penuel (12) ran out with Paisley Collier. All participants truly enjoy the tradition, glad to see the program growing.
After the varsity game, there was some trouble. The crowd felt that the refs were not being fair in the first half of the game. In the second half, however, they began calling all plays, both against Dexter and Fredericktown. During the second half as well, they asked for all past players to stand. Just a few of the past players in attendance were Amy Allgier, Michelle Laut, Callista Francis, Michelle Sharp, and Billie McFadden. It was a close game throughout, but the Lady Cats fell, 49-34.
As the season came to a close on Monday, the community is still immensely proud of the Girl’s Basketball team. The girls worked hard at each and every game, bringing in some amazing wins throughout the season. Culture Night has just been one of many new additions to the program, and we hope it is one to stay!
