Rhoads

Jence Rhoads has piled up accolades at the rate she piles up points on the court for the Slippery Rock High School girls basketball team.

Add another one to her resume.

Rhoads, a 5-foot-11 junior guard for the Rockets, was named to the first team of the Class AAA all-state team recently.

This season for the 21-7 Rockets, she averaged 21.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 3.8 steals per game. She also blocked 49 shots.

Last year, she was a third-team all-state selection.

"I was really excited about it," Rhoads said. "It's a great achievement to get on the first team all state. I wasn't expecting anything."

But Rhoads was a virtual lock to make the team after putting up those kinds of numbers this season. She is a two-time Butler Eagle Girls All-Star Player of the Year and is widely considered one of the best players in the state.

Her mailbox swells with letters from colleges and universities all over the country that are clamoring for her services when she graduates from Slippery Rock.

Rhoads saw many familiar names on the all-state team.

Rhoads plays for Rock Solid, an AAU basketball team coached by her parents Posey and Melinda Rhoads during the summer. Five members of that team were either first- or second-team all-state selections this season.

One of them was Grove City senior Julie Molloy.

The 5-foot-9 guard for the Eagles averaged 21.7 points per game and also hit an area-leading 71 3-pointers this season.

Molloy scored more than 50 percent of Grove City's points this season. She will play college basketball at Division I St. Bonaventure.

"I haven't talked to her much about it, but it's pretty exciting to have her on the all-state team," Jence Rhoads said. "I know this year was tough on her, but she was still very, very excited about it."

The other members of the Rock Solid team to be all-state selections were Jalessa Sams from New Castle, Sheena Aden from Lakeview and Joyce Novacek from Hopewell. All three were first-team selections.

Molloy won't be able to play with Rock Solid this year, but Rhoads, Sams, Aden and Novacek, along with Butler's Amy Achesinski and Julie Ehrman, will be together for one more season.

"I think it's kind of cool that we all get to be on the all-state team," Rhoads said. "I guess that means we are pretty decent. It's going to be sad, though. This is our last year together."

How is Rhoads going to top this past season?

"I don't know," she said. "I just want to have a great senior year."