Morgan County senior Jaden Young reached the 1,000-point mark in a win over rival Greene County on Dec. 6.
Young reached the milestone in the first quarter of the Lady Dogs’ dominant 57-31 road win over the Lady Tigers.
Young said the moment felt surreal, which came on a layup from a fast break.
“Accumulating 1,000 points in my career means everything to me because it’s a goal that I’ve worked towards for four years,” she told the Lake Oconee News. “I want to thank my coaches, parents, and teammates for leading me to accomplish [scoring] 1,000 points.”
The game stopped, and Young was honored at center court. She was presented with a special basketball. Young’s coach, Milfred Franklin, said it wasn’t the official game ball but one with Morgan County’s logo.
“It was cool of Greene County to let us honor her at midcourt,” Franklin said. “Thanks to their school for that.”
Young entered the game with 996 career points and quickly scored the last four. She finished the game third in scoring (nine points) behind fellow senior Kymora Smith (10 points) and junior Cydney Burke (12 points).
Morgan County made it look easy against Greene County. The Lady Dogs dominated from start to finish. While it wasn’t their best shooting night, they played stellar defense and limited the Lady Tigers to 31 points.
Entering this week, Young was the team’s second-leading scorer behind Burke (14 points per game) at 11.8 points. However, the Emmanuel College signee leads in assists (2.9), rebounds (4.3), and blocks (0.6) per game.
Last year, she averaged 12.6 points and led in other statistical categories on a team that made the Elite Eight.
Young has been pivotal to Morgan County’s success over the previous three years. She garnered All-Region first-team honors last season as a junior and second-team honors during her sophomore campaign in 2022-23. As a freshman, Young made the All-Region honorable mention list as well.
Franklin has coached her for three years and was proud to see her as the next Lady Dog to join a unique club.
“I was blessed to be able to be a part of that and witness it,” he said. “It’s been a tremendous ride watching her develop as a player over these last three years and achieve her ultimate goal to play at the college level.”