Just a year after graduating from Stockton high school and arriving at North Arkansas junior college, Jolene Shipps is leaving the school after her freshman season to attend Southern Mississippi, an NCAA Division One program. And it took her giving up her first love to reach new heights in hoops.
Shipps played both volleyball and basketball at Stockton. An all-state 6-3 post in hoops with a deft touch. But her first love was…
"Rodeo for sure," she replies with a smile. "I love going fast. I have a fast car. And I have a love for animals too."
Coming from a rodeo family and competing since she was 6, it was hard for Jolene to change her emphasis to basketball. But when she arrived to college at North Arkansas in Harrison, she knew where her future was on the court.
" Basketball was something that provided me a lot of opportunities academically as well."
Shipps blossumed at the two-year-school into an All-American, averaging 19 points and 8 rebounds in leading the Lady Pioneers to a 25 and 7 record, a number 12 national ranking, and the first back-to-back national tournament berths in school history.
"College is so different from high school," explained Sydnee Garrett, Jolene's teammate at both Stockton and NorthArk. "She grew to love the game more than she ever did in high school. She was just more motivated."
That new motivation caused four-year schools to start calling. And Shipps settled on Division One Southern Miss.
"I kinda decided that I wanted to be in the south," Jolene said. "I like warm weather. And Southern Miss was the only school that made me feel like I was going to be part of a family."
But that means leaving her family at NorthArk after just one year. A family that has literally taken care of her.
"She doesn't know how to cook at all," Garrett said. "She can't even brown a hamburger."
"I've heard some stories," adds head coach Stacie Klott. "Stories about not being able to make macaroni and cheese. She didn't realize she needed to drain the noodles so she had macaroni and cheese soup."
"She is a grouch in the morning," Garrett said. "I've had to mother her and have to tell her when to go to class because she won't wake-up on her own."
So there's no doubt that as she heads to Southern Miss, Jolene will miss her old team.
"I'll never forget the times I had here at NorthArk," she said.
And her team will miss her.
"It's very sad that she's leaving but I'm very excited for her," Garrett said.
"She'll leave a big void for our program," adds Klott. "But it's definitely a recruiting tool for us to show the players out there that we have the ability to send them on. This is a great opportunity for her and we're very happy for her."
