LITTLE ROCK — A lot of people owe Linnay Flanery a debt of gratitude.
Linnay Flanery is Jessica Flanery’s mother and the one who basically made her daughter start playing basketball in eighth grade. As usual, it turns out Momma knows best.
Jessica Flanery turned out to be quite the basketball player, good enough to earn a scholarship to play at Arkansas State and a spot on the West team for tonight’s Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star girls basketball game at Walton Arena. Flanery, a 5-10 guard from Mountain View, averaged 22 points per game as a senior and helped lead the Lady Yellowjackets to the Class 3A state title as a junior.
“I didn’t want to play, but my mom made me,” Flanery said. “I had a lot of fun playing. I had potential.”
Flanery also was really good right away, and people were soon telling her she was good enough to earn a college scholarship. A foursport athlete at Mountain View, Flanery is a versatile basketball player. Her college position figures to be shooting guard, but she played everywhere on the court for the Lady Yellowjackets.
She is strong enough to pound away inside, but she also handles the ball well and is a good shooter.
“I was impressed immediately,” said West Coach Jerry Chumley of Benton, who coached against Flanery in a tournament this year. “You can tell she’s a gym rat and she’s comfortable with that ball in her hands making plays. You can play her from one to five. We feel good about her having the ball anywhere on the floor.”
Versatility is something Flanery works on. It’s why she is as adept at rebounding inside as she is leading a break or hitting the outside shot.
“I work at a lot of stuff,” Flanery said. “You never know where the coaches are going to put you. Arkansas State said I would be a two guard, but who knows?”
Flanery’s basketball abilities are often overlooked because of the attention she received for playing football for Mountain View. Although she achieved notoriety for playing football, Flanery was far from a publicity stunt or a sideshow as she set school records for field goals and extra points made.
“Playing football definitely got me more publicity,” Flanery said. “It helped me out a lot, but playing in the finals my junior year helped me out the most.”
Flanery said she wants a chance to try out for the Red Wolves’ football team when she reports to Jonesboro. She will have to convince Gus Malzahn, who was hired during the offseason to replace Hugh Freeze as ASU’s football coach. But she said Freeze told her he was open to her trying out before he was hired at Ole Miss.
“Coach Malzahn, I don’t know his views on girls playing football,” said Flanery, who kicked a 37-yard field goal as a junior. “I want to be out there and I want to play. I want to be the first girl to play at Arkansas State. I want to show that girls can do anything guys can do.”
First, though, Flanery has some All-Star business to take care of. She said being selected to the All-Star team was an honor because Mountain View usually doesn’t get a lot of attention for athletics.
Jason Gilbert represented Mountain View in the 1998 All-Star boys basketball game and later played at the University of Arkansas.
“It’s pretty cool because not many people play in it,” Flanery said of the All-Star game. “I just want to do good.”
High school All-Star bio
WHO Jessica Flannery SCHOOL Mountain View POSITION Guard HEIGHT 5-10 NOTEWORTHY Was named MVP of the Class 3A state tournament after leading Mountain View to the state championship in 2011. ... Averaged 22 points per game as a senior and 16 points as a junior. ... Signed to play basketball at Arkansas State. ... Was a kicker for Mountain View’s football team and set school records for field goals and extra points made.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/20/2012