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There’s not a lot of high school basketball players, let alone sophomores, that can do what Shylee Shelton has done during her first two years at Cosby.

After winning district player of the year her freshman season, Shelton was almost unstoppable this past season for the Lady Eagles, ultimately winning co-district player of the year.

Because of her efforts on the court, Shelton has been named the Citizen Tribune Lakeway Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

“It was definitely a season to remember,” Shelton said. “I did accomplish a lot and want to thank my coaches and teammates for giving me the opportunity to accomplish those things.”

The work for Shelton started in the offseason as she worked on the entirety of her game to get ready for a big season.

“I definitely took the time out to work on the things I need to work on, like defense and my offense,” Shelton said.

That hard work paid off for Shelton as she averaged 21 points and seven rebounds per game. That included eight games scoring 30 or more points.

“Taking the charge offensively was definitely a big thing I did,” Shelton said. “But I just want to thank my teammates because I couldn’t have done what I did without them.”

Shelton’s biggest game of the season came in the district tournament semifinals against Jellico. In that game, Shelton scored 50 points. That is the Cosby record for points in a game.

“I definitely did not expect to score 50 that game,” Shelton said. “I just saw that my shots were going in and my teammates kept giving me the ball, and it just worked out to me scoring 50 points.”

However, the 50 points was not the biggest accomplishment for Shelton during the season. Taking on Washburn, Shelton became the youngest player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

“That definitely meant a lot because it was one of my goals coming into high school,” Shelton said. “I wanted to be the youngest to do it, so I just worked my hardest to be able to accomplish that.”

For Cosby coach Cody Lowe, he has seen Shelton for two seasons now. And while she was very good for him her freshman year, Lowe saw her ability on and off the court increase as she turned into the leader of his team.

“I thought she stepped up as far as leadership wise,” Lowe said. “When she was a freshman, we knew she would be special. This year, she really became a leader. In practice, she does everything the right way. She leads by example. A lot of people talk the talk, but she walks to walk. She works harder than anybody we have and plays year round. She’s just really dedicated to her craft.”

During his time as coach of Cosby, Lowe has had a lot of good players come through his program. However, Shelton sets herself apart with the way she is able to play in all phases of the game.

“Her ability to score at all three levels is where she stands out,” Lowe said. “Shylee really shoots the ball well but it’s underrated how she is able to get to the rim and finish. I’m just glad she’s on my team.”

While the season was a success for Shelton personally, the season ended in heartbreaking fashion as the Lady Eagles lost in the district championship and then the first round of the region tournament.

While not wanting to experience that again, Shelton hopes that the team uses the way things ended as motivation next year.

“It’s definitely going to be motivation,” Shelton said. “I definitely want for us to win the district championship next year and go a lot farther.”

Lowe reiterated what his star player said for next season as he wants to see his Lady Eagles squad get to experience what his teams early in his career got to in the postseason.

“It’s really exciting,” Lowe said about getting Shelton for two more seasons. “All these accolades are great. But her goal and my goal both are to make it a little bit further. We have lost in the first round of regions the last two seasons. We just want to get back to our winning ways. Cosby is special and loves their basketball, so winning is the most important thing.”