After signing her letter of intent to attend the University of South Florida last week, Statesboro’s Alisia Jenkins showed exactly why she was recruited to play at the collegiate level.
    The senior forward played a huge part in Statesboro’s victory in the Ladies Night Out tournament it hosted Monday and Tuesday. Jenkins piled up 40 points and added 19 rebounds in a pair of wins as the Lady Blue Devils – ranked No. 3 in the Class-AAAA state poll.
    “She’s a very big part of this team,” said SHS coach Jeff Seier. “You can see that when Jenkins gets going, the rest of the team gets hot too. She’s certainly a big reason for the success we’ve enjoyed in the last few years.”
    All-State, All-Region, Player of the Week; Jenkins has collected a wide and prestigious array of awards over her first three years at Statesboro. Still, there is one goal that remains.
    Jenkins and the Devils have stormed through the opening rounds of the state playoffs, only to come up short in the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons. This year, Jenkins and five other seniors that have made up the core of the Devils’ recent dominance know that they only have one more shot to achieve their goal of a state title.
    “This is a very disciplined group of girls,” said Seier. “They’re very focused and we know what we want to achieve. Between Alisia, Sierra (Kirkland) and our other seniors, I can leave the room and they’ll keep running the team right.”