Following Crane’s fourth straight Class 2 state championship I asked Lexie Vaught about the possibility of being named Miss Show-Me Basketball.
The standout senior, unsurprisingly, was not only apathetic to my question, but shifted the attention to her teammates, thanking them for making her look good.
She was in no way being disrespectful, but that’s just how she feels about individual honors and accolades; I don’t think it is humanly possible to care any less about them than she already does.
Now if you’ve ever met Vaught, or if you’ve seen her play basketball, you’re not surprised by this; there’s not a selfish bone in her body.
The question has zero significance now, as on April 17th the MBCA will name the 2016 recipient of the state’s most prestigious individual honor and it won’t be Vaught.
In fact, Vaught won’t even be in the room as one of the six finalists.
We’ve all gotten used to yearly snubs, be it on an all-conference or all-state team or some other postseason award, but her omission from this group might be the most egregious I’ve seen in a while, maybe ever.
For starters, the committee named seven finalists for Mr. Show-Me Basketball, all of whom are extremely deserving, but the committee named just six finalists on the girls side.
I’m assuming they ran out of chairs… or maybe food… and felt like it was more justifiable to leave off a deserving young lady than her male counterpart.
Who knows, maybe I’m crazy… maybe she wasn't a deserving candidate.
It’s not like she averaged 15.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 6.7 SPG and 6.1 APG for the best team in the state of Missouri, regardless of class.
The same team that beat the Class 5 and Class 3 state champions in Missouri and the 3A state champion in Arkansas…
The same team whose only loss came to 7A Arkansas state champion North Little Rock, who just so happens to be nationally ranked with several high-major D-1 prospects…
The same program that racked up a 123-7 record over the last four years and is one of only a handful of Missouri programs to beat Columbia Rock Bridge and 2015 Co-Miss Show-Me Basketball, and this year’s SEC Freshman of the Year, Sophie Cunningham during the Lady Bruins historic run. (Vaught had 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals in that Feb. 2015 game)
The numbers are beyond impressive.
Vaught had five triple-doubles this year, including a 22-point, 15-rebound, 12-assist and six-steal masterpiece in the Class 2 state championship, and flirted with triple and even quadruple-doubles on several other occasions.
And it’s not like she was just picking on small schools, Vaught was an equal opportunity savage throughout the season.
16-8-8-10 against Strafford
18-11-6-6 against Kickapoo
27-5-2-8 against Republic
26-7-5-4 against Gainesville
Those were four of the best teams in the state of Missouri this season, combining for a 109-10 record with Crane accounting for five of those losses.
*You should be scratching your head by now*
I mean, I guess she could have scored more to make people feel better about her overall game. But then again, that’s just not the kind of player she is. Penalizing her for not scoring more is like being upset that Steph Curry doesn’t get more dunks or because Shaq couldn’t shoot 3s.
From a numbers standpoint, Vaught was one of the most efficient scorers in Missouri. Her 15.8 PPG came on 57% shooting from the field, 41% shooting from deep and 80% from the line and still finished the season with 521 points and seven 20-point games.
If the association was looking for points then yes, I can completely understand why Vaught could have been overlooked. But, if they were truly looking for the best senior high school basketball player in Missouri, then someone has some explaining to do.
If you weren’t impressed by her Russell Westbrook-like triple-doubles, then maybe her 15 double-doubles as a combo guard is a little more your style.
Or maybe you like defense and intangibles…
Vaught might be the most competitive player to step on a court in the Ozarks since Jackie Stiles was giving opponents the business in Hammons Student Center.
She often checked the opposing team’s best player and is one of few players that can guard any position, 1-5.
Vaught’s 726 career steals is the third highest total in state history. Her 221 steals this season is the fifth highest single-season total ever.
Again, it’s not like she’s ripping kids that can’t dribble, she had 25 steals in four playoff games. She’s racked up a total of 20 steals in three career games against Kickapoo.
If you don’t like her senior numbers, there’s always the career achievement aspect of it.
1,476 points, 644 rebounds, 597 assists and 726 steals.
123 wins.
Four state championships.
It could be another 50 years before we see someone hit those benchmarks, if ever…
To be clear, this isn’t a knock on the six finalists; I’ve seen five of the six play and they’re all tremendous. But again, I’m still confused by the message being sent with the varying number of finalists.
And ultimately, all of this means very little in the grand scheme of things.
The award will be handed out to another deserving player who will go on to a great career at the next level, Vaught will lose zero sleep and go on to be an impactful player at Drury and all will be well.
Class 5 Player of the Year Kallie Bildner (Waynesville) and Missouri State signee Alexa Willard (Stoutland) both had phenomenal seasons, putting together the best season in their respective programs' history, and both are extremely deserving of being the first player to receive Miss Show-Me Basketball since Kickapoo’s Heather Ezell won the award in 2005. (Full disclosure: I thought the same thing in 2014 when Hannah Cook, Lauren Aldridge and Heather Harman were all seniors. But, Harman wasn’t even named a finalist and the award ultimately went to Carrie Shephard).
But, should either Bildner or Willard not receive the award, I would be a little concerned for the Ozarks and what could be in store for the next three classes.
We are in the midst of a special, special run of basketball and having two finalists for the state’s top honor might be something to get used to, with hopefully someone breaking the more than decade-long drought.
Mizzou commit Kelsey Winfrey (Lebanon), Illinois State pledge Jordan Sanders (Kickapoo) and Harding bound Amanda Kearney (Branson) will be three of the top players in Missouri next year. All earned Class 5 all-state honors and are part of a loaded crop in the Ozarks that could see several others push for the honor.
Audrey Warren and Jordan Wersinger (Kickapoo), Bayley Harman (Walnut Grove) and Michelle Gabani (Bolivar) will all have a strong case in 2018 and the Class of 2019 might go down as one of the best in the history of the Ozarks, led by Strafford’s Hayley Frank and Mount Vernon’s Cameron Call.
I’m not willing to say that there is some kind of Southwest Missouri bias… or even small-school bias. But whatever the case may be, let’s hope it gets rectified sooner rather than later.
