Family feat
Jenkins joins dad as 1,000-point scorers at Uniontown
YORK RUN — Dierre Jenkins remembers when he scored his 1,000th career point while playing for Uniontown.
“Three in the corner against Woodland Hills,” said the 2002 Uniontown graduate, who finished his Red Raiders career with 1,244 points. “I remember Mr. (Dave) Shuck came and told me there’s a good chance you might get your 1,000th tonight. That game I was hot, I think I had like 25.”
Thursday night might be even more embedded in Jenkins’ memory from now on.
Now the head coach of Uniontown’s girls basketball team, he had the opportunity to watch his daughter, Lady Raiders senior Aierra Jenkins, match him with her 1,000th career point.
Aierra needed just four points to reach the milestone in her team’s Section 4-5A opener at Albert Gallatin and took care of business quickly, scoring Uniontown’s first two baskets. Points No. 999 and 1,000 game on a shot inside with 6:17 left in the first quarter. Play was stopped and Aierra posed with a group of teammates, coaches, relatives and friends behind a banner noting her achievement.
She finished the night with a game-high 21 points as Uniontown fought off the gritty Lady Colonials, 48-18, to extend its winning streak to four.
“It’s great to do it like my dad did and at the same school,” Aierra Jenkins said. “I was proud of myself. I’ve been pushing myself for this moment.”
Jenkins is the first Lady Raider to reach 1,000 points since Mya Murray during the 2019-20 season.
“It’s incredible,” Dierre said. “You have your moments, you have your battles, but that right there is something I’ll never ever forget, me being on the sidelines watching her do that.
“You remember the journey, taking her to all the workouts and all those things, watching her continue to grow as a player and a person. Then seeing her score 1,000 … it’s a special moment and I’m really proud of her.”
Another subplot to Thursday’s game was a third relative mixed into the occasion as Lady Colonials coach Shandon Marshall pointed out.
“Dierre is my uncle and Aierra happens to be my little cousin,” Marshall said with a smile. “He had Aierra and those girls ready to play.”
Both are first-year coaches although uncle Dierre has a bit more talent and experience than nephew Shandon.
Uniontown (1-0, 4-1) jumped out to a 19-2 lead midway through the second quarter but Albert Gallatin (0-1, 1-4) out-scored the Lady Raiders 8-4 the rest of the half and then pulled within 10 at 23-13 after Paiton Lovis was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws early in the third.
“With us, we’re just figuring it out still some games it seems like,” Dierre said. “Sometimes we shoot too fast when I want to get the ball moving, get the defense moving and then get a good shot.
“Give AG credit. My nephew is doing a great job over there. They’re a scrappy team, they’ve got their hands out causing trouble. They’re getting in the passing lanes. He’s got those girls feisty.”
“I’m so happy with the way my girls played tonight in the first half,” Marshall said. “You honestly thought it was going to be a different ballgame.”
Uniontown regrouped, however, and went on a 20-point run that extended into the fourth quarter for a commanding 43-13 lead. Aierra tallied 12 of those points.
“There are times where I can tell we’re down a little and then that’s when I know I really have to up my game to get us going again,” Aierra said.
“That was an important part of the game,” Dierre said of when the Lady Colonials whittled the gap to 10 points. “You give a team hope and that’s when you can get in trouble so we had to stop that.”
Dierre commended his daughter for taking charge out on the floor.
“When she wants to, she’s a powerful force that not too many people can stop,” he said. “As we’re playing, everything is going to go through her. The way we play, everything is going to feed off of her. When she gets going, the other girls start making layups and shots and then everything starts clicking.”
Uniontown limited AG to just eight points in the second half, all by Lovis with a 3-pointer and a five-for-five showing at the foul line.
“She’s coming into her own,” Marshall said of Lovis, a sophomore guard who finished with a team-high 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. “She didn’t play much last year but now that she’s getting back into the flow of things she’s actually starting to really enjoy it. I love her because she’s our only 3-point shooter most of the time.”
Albert Gallatin’s only other scorers were Mikayla Shea with three points and Korina Samuel with two.
“Mikayla is our only senior and she is our leader,” Marshall said. “She’s our most experienced player. They follow her.”
Lyric McLee followed Aierra in scoring for Uniontown with 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and Ambree Long added six points.
Aierra has altered her style of play since transferring from Laurel Highlands, where she was a three-year starter.
“I knew coming into this season that I had to change my game,” she said. “Most people know me for being in the paint. To help this team I had to really work on my outside game and do a lot more different things than I did before.”
Marshall is upbeat despite having a very young roster that consists of one senior, one junior, five sophomores and three freshmen.
“It’s a blessing to be able to coach these girls really,” Marshall said..” We’re taking it step by step, having a little trouble only because we’re so inexperienced. We’re getting better each game and each individual step that we take is a step towards positivity.
“All my girls are really bought in and we get along very well. I have five that have never really played basketball before but they’re learning. We just have to keep playing together. That’s the best thing we can do.”