Jackson County Blue Devils basketball player Reece Thomas has spent nearly her entire life jumping from gym to gym, season to season and Thomas said she would not have it any other way. For Thomas, basketball never truly stops.
Thomas plays AAU basketball every offseason, a commitment she has kept since elementary school. The summer circuit brings together players from across the Upper Cumberland, mixing athletes who rarely suit up on the same side during the winter. Thomas said that experience has shaped her into the player she is today.
“I’ve played probably since I was in like fifth grade we’ve been playing summer ball,” Thomas said. “I think it’s just helped me get better with like, you know, simple things like using my left hand and dribbling better and things like that.”
Those fundamentals now anchor her role at Jackson County, where the senior guard returns for her final campaign. Thomas enters this season averaging just over 4 points per game, along with contributions in assists and steals. Thomas is part of a senior class of four players who have grown up in the program together, forming a core that Thomas said knows each other’s tendencies as well as any group in the Upper Cumberland.
“I feel like playing AAU over the summer has helped us prepare for our senior year and hope we can make it to the state championship,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that mission is personal. Thomas and her three fellow seniors have been teammates since elementary school, developing chemistry long before ever putting on a Lady Blue Devils jersey.
“I think it’s helped a lot,” Thomas said. “I feel like we all know each other pretty well and read each other good at what we’re going to do next. It’s definitely helped bonding wise cause we all four know each other so well and we get to know all the new people on our team that come up through the years.”
Now, Thomas said the task ahead is clear: To return Jackson County to the stage that has defined its proud basketball tradition. The Lady Blue Devils have reached the state championship 18 times, one of the highest totals in the Upper Cumberland, but have not appeared since 2014.