McCollum Grows up on the Basketball Court

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports 

(February 13, 2022 8:00 AM) Two plays during the North Adams-Jerome/Jackson Christian high school girls basketball game involving junior Kayley McCollum tells someone everything they need to know about her.

Up nearly 40 points, McCollum was scrambling for a loose basketball with a NAJ player 30 feet from the basket.

Minutes later she was eight feet from the basket – and wide open – she decided to pass the basketball to a teammate so the other player could have a chance to score.

McCollum scored 25 points in a 50-9 win over North Adams-Jerome last Thursday. It was a breakout game for Jackson Christian who scored 50 points for the first time this season. 

Being a good teammate is more important than scoring a lot of points according to McCollum.

“It is fun to see my teammates succeed,” McCollum said. “I just wanted to give someone else a chance to shoot.”

McCollum is in her fourth season at the varsity level. She was brought up as an eighth grade – due to the size of Jackson Christian. The Royals have a number of young players on the team playing at the varsity level for the first time.

“We have improved greatly on a team with only three returnees,” McCollum said.” Our young players have had a chance to play  tremendous amounts of minutes.”

McCollum said playing at the varsity level as an eighth grader was scary.

“We were tiny and it was scary to be on the varsity with a number of six-foot players,” McCollum said.

The junior has a perfect 4.0 grade point average and expects to have 20 college credits by the time she graduates from high school.

She would like to study in the medical field.

“My brother is in medical school and my sister is studying to be a physician’s assistant,” McCollum said. “Hearing all of those stories about the emergency room draws me toward the field.”

McCollum believes that sports teach athletes about character.

“You have to maintain your character on the court,” McCollum said. “(At Jackson Christian) you are representing Christ on the court.

“That has been a great lesson for me because at times it is hard to maintain.”