It was an impressive varsity debut for one Wright City freshman.

Despite it being her first year at the high school level, Jasmine Simpson fell just one vote short of being a unanimous Eastern Missouri All-Conference selection. She was the Wildcats’ lone representative earning postseason honors, landing a spot on the first team.

Coach Dan Friedel was glad opposing coaches recognized the value Simpson had to Wright City’s team and the role she played in its success.

“The big thing was she was the focal point of our offensive system and kind of quarterbacked our defense too,” said Friedel. “As an opponent, if you’re looking at one player you need to stop on our team, she was the player coaches were focused on.”

Simpson was a leader for the Wildcats in nearly every sense of the word. She was a statistical force, averaging 14.5 points and six rebounds per game.

“A lot of teams had scouted us to see what her tendencies were to try to take her away as best as they could,” said Friedel. “They began doing things later in the year like putting two girls on her to make it hard for her to catch the ball.”

Simpson also wreaked havoc on defense, snagging three steals each contest.

“Another thing that is great is she’s able to play anywhere on the floor,” said Friedel. “If they want to double her in the post, we can bring her outside and still have success. She can catch the ball in spots where she can still be effective if someone is guarding her.”

Friedel says Simpson facilitated for the Wildcats in a lot of areas, helping make her teammates better.

“The underrated part is she’s a good playmaker,” said Friedel. “She did a lot of that this year, and we’ll look for even more of that in next three years. She’s a good worker and will continue to get better. She wants to be a really good player and put forth the effort to achieve that.”

Friedel says it’s exciting to know he gets to have Simpson as his leader over the next three years. Even with her early success, he believes she possesses a high ceiling and plenty of room for improvement.

“There’s a lot of stuff she can get better at,” said Friedel. “She’s good at scoring around the basket but can be better. She can get better at making decisions about in-game moves. What I really want to see from her moving forward is her taking on a leadership role for our team. That’s part of being an all-conference player is your teammates are going to look to you in any situation.”