Lady Lions turned to youngster to win

JESSIEVILLE — A couple of months ago, Jessieville boys standout Noah Futch laughed when asked if he or his sister Payton were the better basketball player.

He waited a few moments before offering up an answer.

“She ’s probably the better than me,” he said. “Yeah…she’s definitely better.”

It’s not certain if Noah’s response was tongue and cheek, but there’s one thing he was adamant about.

“Payton’s a heck of a player, for sure,” he said.

That analysis is one that’ll probably be echoed throughout the city of Jessieville for the foreseeable future about Payton Futch, whose monster freshman season helped turn the Lady Lions into a true contender.

The 5-8 guard averaged 22 points, nearly 5 steals and 4.7 rebounds to lead Jessieville back to the state tournament for the first time since 2017.

“Of course going into the season, I was a little nervous as a freshman, kind of being the underdog,” said Futch, who’s the Arkansas DemocratGazette All-Arkansas Preps Girls Underclassman of the Year. “But after the first game, I knew that I belonged, that I was supposed to be here at this level. After that, I got more and more confident.”

That first game was a 60-24 victory over Cutter-Morning Star on Nov. 10, where Futch scored 19 points and snagged seven steals for the Lady Lions. Those stat lines would only get more and more impressive as the season progressed.

She delivered multiple 30-point games, including a 32-point masterpiece against Central Arkansas Christian on Dec. 29, and continued to keep Jessieville in the thick of things in a tough 3A-7 Conference.

But the way Futch exploded nightly wasn’t exactly surprising for Lady Lions Coach Magen Scrivner.

“She’s special,” she explained. “Payton’s a special kid, a special player. I knew she had the ability to do what she did as a freshman at this level, and honestly, I even think she met higher expectations. The way that she works on her game, the way that she’s in the gym. … everything she does is at a high level.

“We practice at a high level, too, so I just knew she had a really good opportunity to do big things at the high school level.”

Futch, along with Scrivner’s daughter Karstyn, was one of two freshmen who were moved up to a varsity team that was extremely young to begin with. That duo was tasked with trying to re-energize a Lady Lions group that was coming off a 7-16 season, and by Scrivner’s account, the two thrived.

“The culture is just different, these younger kids these days are just different,” she said. “Some of them are just so close, like sisters, and that culture that they brought to this team was just so contagious. The other girls bought into that culture, and it just rolled over onto the court.

“When your chemistry and culture is positive and where it should be, that makes a huge difference.”

That difference was apparent as the Lady Lions finished 18-11 and reached the Class 3A state tournament, where the played then-defending champion Bergman tough before losing 61-52. That loss did little to dent what Futch helped re-establish for Jessieville.

The Lady Lions are rich with tradition and appear ripe to build on what they recently accomplished, particularly behind a youthful core.

“As one of the young ones, I thought myself and Karstyn brought a lot to the group,” Futch said. “As a team, we took a couple of lumps before and during the season, but I really thought over the latter part of the year, we really started to gel to the point where we could compete and hold our own with anybody.”

Futch, herself, appears more than ready to carve her own place in Lady Lion lore, with the intent of eventually taking them to their first state title. But for the star ninth grader, first things first.

“Just gonna keep working this summer,” Futch said. “I’ll have some personal workouts, play some games. … just get ready for another big season in the fall.”

“Payton’s a special kid, a special player. I knew she had the ability to do what she did as a freshman at this level, and honestly, I even think she met higher expectations.” Jessieville girls Coach Magen Scrivner