PORT ANGELES — Scoring must be in the Madison DNA.
The family just has a knack for lighting up scoreboards for Port Angeles High School basketball teams.
None, it appears, better than Jessica Madison.
Just midway through her junior season, the 5-foot-9 shooting guard has already scored 1,133 points for the Roughriders.
That’s an average of 19.9 points per game, for a player that has started every game since she was a freshman.
It’s a pace that could very well put her atop the Madison family scoring list by the time she’s done, which is no easy feat considering brothers James (1,702) and Jon (1,140) are first and third, respectively, on the Rider boys all-time list. (A complete girls list is unavailable.)
For Jessica, passing her eldest brother (James) is the one that matters the most.
After all, her inside-outside game is in many ways a carbon copy of his.
“It would be kind of cool to beat James’ record,” said Jessica.
“Every summer we always go to the gym and work out together. He shows me new moves. Last summer he helped me with my shot, getting it off quicker.
“I have watched videos of him and it’s kind of weird because we kind of play the same. People always tell me, ‘You remind me of James.’ “
Coach knows Madisons
Count Port Angeles girls assistant coach Lee Sinnes in that group.
Having coached all three Madison brothers at one point in time — Sinnes assisted the 2007 boys team, which Jake played for — nobody would know better than him.
“Both of them had an uncanny sense for scoring,” said Sinnes, who was the boys head coach for more than two decades. “They just had that feel when it’s there and knew how to take advantage of a defense.
“James was probably more of a shooter than Jessica is, but both of them have that mentality to score.
“And it didn’t matter how . . . shooting 3s, taking it to the hole, getting fouled. Whatever it took, both of them had that desire.”
It appears Jessica has taken it to another level this season.
The rangy, long armed guard has torched defenses specifically designed to stop her with regularity, scoring 20 or more points in all 14 games this year.
Her lowest point total in a game prior to this season is 10 points.
That’s despite the fact she’s had to work through injuries each of the last two offseasons, including a broken hand she suffered the summer after her freshman year and a broken pinky in October.
“If you watch her shot, it doesn’t matter if she’s falling down or if she’s shooting a 3 or whatever . . . it’s the same shot,” girls head coach Mike Knowles said.
“It’s the same form every time. Because of that, she is the player she is.”
Those perfect mechanics are all the product of lots of work in the gym, according to Knowles.
Indeed, Jessica spends at least an hour working on her game each day, often by herself.
And if she isn’t doing that, it’s probably because she’s playing in AAU games with her Federal Way-based AAU team.
There again is something she and James have in common: an indomitable work ethic.
“She definitely has gotten where she is now because of all the time she has put in,” said James, who now coaches high school basketball in the Cleveland area.
“She tries for perfection. She always wants to get better.”
The similarity that matters most to Sinnes, however, is the way Jessica has developed in her junior year the same way James did in his.
That was the season that both turned into complete players, willing to sell out on defense and rebounding just as much as they did in the scoring department, he said.
In Jessica’s case, not only does she lead the team in scoring at 24.3 points per game, she’s also its top rebounder (8.1 rpg), passer (5.2 apg) and stealer (4.4 spg).
“She just plays at that level, and she brings the rest of the kids to that level,” Knowles said. “She brings my daughter [Alison Knowles] to that level. Skylar [Jones], Kiah [Jones] . . . all those kids step up when she plays like that.”
As a result, the Roughriders (10-0 in league, 12-2 overall) find themselves in a position to all but clinch the Olympic League title with a win against Kingston at home tonight.
It may very well vault Port Angeles to state as well, something James himself was never able to do with the boys.
No doubt he will be paying close attention.
James calls her before and after games religiously. He listens to games when he can on the Internet, and keeps up with her numbers better than anyone.
In fact, when Jessica passed the 1,000-point mark earlier this season, he was the first to call and let her know.
“Records are made to be broken,” said James, who also set the 3-point record as a four-year contributor for Division I Cleveland State.
“I knew sooner or later someone was going to break it. I knew it was somebody who had to put up big numbers and at the some time played four years.
“I couldn’t be more happy for her, because she’s earned everything she’s gotten.”