She broke a bone in her lower leg two weeks before the 2015-16 campaign and after practicing with the varsity as an eighth-grader and essentially knowing she would be a contributor as a freshman, Musgrave’s budding basketball career was already off to a rocky start.

Fast forward four years and Musgrave is now the most prolific scorer in South Tama County girls basketball history. She finished her career with 1,385 points — the most of any Trojan girl in history — and her teams had a combined 52-40 record. She is also a three-time all-state honoree, recently making the Class 3A second team in the 2019 Iowa Print Sports Writers Association All-State selections.

Musgrave ends her career with one more distinction: the 2019 Marshalltown Times-Republican All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

She said one of the most difficult things on her path to success was the way it started, with her leg in a cast.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“It was really hard for me at first because going in everyone was kind of like, ‘you could be playing varsity ball as a freshman,’ and that was big for me, I really wanted to do that,” Musgrave said. “It was tough starting out like that, but I went along with it and got what they gave me, and I took advantage of playing with my grade’s team and worked my way up to junior varsity, and that was just as much fun. Then I got to serious ball in varsity and took it by the horns.”

Musgrave finished the final 10 games of her freshman year on the varsity squad, coming off the bench to score 89 points as the Trojans went 6-4.

Her coming out party was her sophomore season, however, as Musgrave dropped a whopping 472 points in the 2016-17 season, which was second in 3A only to Elle Ruffridge from Pocahontas Area, the leading scorer in the history of Iowa high school basketball. Her scoring tear led to team success on the court as well, as the Trojans went 13-10 and eventually fell to state-qualifier Center Point-Urbana in the regional semifinals.

She said that explosion of scoring was a direct result of her wanting to make up for lost time from her freshman season.

“It came from the idea of ‘I want to score, get the ball in the hoop.’ I felt like it was my bounce back year and I needed to really prove myself, my goal was to get at least 20 points per game and I needed that, because the year before wasn’t going to help me,” she said.

T-R GRAPHIC

Musgrave did reach her points-per game goal, finishing with 20.5 points per contest. That scoring average would again take a jump her junior year, as Musgrave would finish with 546 total points and 21.8 points per game in the 2017-18 season.

She took the point crown in 3A as a junior and finished as the sixth-leading scorer in the entire state. Once again, the individual success for Musgrave led to wins on the court, as the STC girls went 15-10 and reached the state tournament for the first time since 2011.

Musgrave said one of the most special things about that run was she got to do it with the players from her own grade, who she started her Trojan career with on the ninth-grade team.

“It was fun, it was actually my grade’s team and we’ve always had chemistry,” she said. “All we needed to do was get the round thing in the round thing and that was what we did, It was a great year for me, that was probably my best year for sure.”

In a two-year span, Musgrave reached the 1,000-point plateau with 1,018 points, a milestone it takes many people a full four years to accomplish. She was much more than just a scorer in those seasons, however, as she had 311 combined rebounds, 249 combined steals and 160 combined assists in her sophomore and junior seasons.

“I wanted to be that No. 1 scorer, that was my big goal, but to be able to get other people the ball and get my steals up and rebounds, that was a goal going into this season,” she said. “I wanted to get other people the ball and see where it went from there.”

Her senior campaign saw her stats take a dip, but not to the point where she wasn’t still considered one of the best players in 3A in the state. She finished with 278 total points, 140 rebounds, 76 assists and 97 steals, which was the second-best steal mark in the class.

This was also the shortest season of her career, with the weather this winter truncating the Trojans’ season to just 20 games, but they did reach the regional final for the second-straight season before losing to eventual state runners-up North Polk.

Musgrave said she specifically went into this year not wanting to score as much, but to get her teammates involved more, especially her sophomore sister Carissa.

“I definitely had my points my junior year and I wanted to keep going with it, but college ball is about everyone and that’s what I wanted to make it like,” she said. “Every year I’ve tried and I wanted to get my goals accomplished, but I tried to value my other players more.”

That focus led Musgrave to 3.8 assists per game this season, her best average of her career. She specifically wanted to focus on facilitating to prepare for her college career, where she will be playing at Upper Iowa University for the next four seasons.

Jessica’s mother, Carrie, said when she looks back on the journey her daughter has taken it floods her with emotion.

“To see the love that she has, it really warms our heart,” Carrie said, tears welling in her eyes.

It wasn’t just Jessica who put in the work as her father, Chris, said there have been many early mornings and late nights taking her to and from AAU tournaments and camps. It was all worth it though, he said, because of what the game brings out in his daughter.

“That’s something that’s hard to teach, the love for the game. To have the heart and the motor and drive,” he said. “It’s been fun to see her play with a lot of girls that love the game too. They grew together and helped build her name.”

When she started her career four years ago, Jessica said she of course wanted to leave such a lasting legacy, but many people feel the same way and never get the opportunity.

“I always had these goals but never thought they would be reached, you just don’t know, you just kind of take it day by day,” she said. “The more seasons went on and we accomplished what we have at a school like South Tama, it’s just unreal.”

Chris said it’s also surreal to him that his daughter will be considered one of the greatest players from his alma mater.

“We are both alumni of this school,” Chris said of himself and Carrie. “There’s been a lot of good history and good players come out of this area, and for her to have her name right there with those other players is pretty special.”

Carrie said it’s not hard to see the impact that Jessica already has made on the community.

“They look up to her, they see the passion that she has and know that that’s her only love,” Carrie said. “It’s neat to see that love, she actually coaches at the rec and those girls all look up to her and she cherished those moments teaching this year.”

Jessica said one of the things she is most proud of is how she and her teammates helped restore the team back to where it was in the early part of the decade when they were competing for a spot in the state tournament year after year.

“I love that I have left my legacy on this team and I hope younger girls look up to me as I looked up to the players when I was younger,” she said. “I hope they can take my legacy and turn it into their own, create this new basketball team that can develop in our culture of South Tama.”

As for how she hopes she is remembered years down the road, Jessica said a simple phrase comes to mind.

“That girl can play,” she said with a laugh. “I just hope they remember who I am, and if there is someone who beats me I hope I remain in the legacy of South Tama basketball.”

All-Area Girls Basketball Teams

Player of the Year — Jessica Musgrave, sr., South Tama County

Coach of the Year — Fred Zeller, West Marshall

FIRST TEAM

Kayla Cripps, sr., West Marshall; Taylor Gienger, sr., Gladbrook-Reinbeck; Payton Tahahwah, jr., Meskwaki; Olivia Terrones, jr., East Marshall; Madi Ubben, jr., BCLUW; Kelsey Vaverka, sr., GMG.

SECOND TEAM

Madison Farrington, sr., East Marshall; Madi Finch, jr., Marshalltown; Erica Johnson, jr., Marshalltown; Deandra Navarro, so., Meskwaki; Karlyn Snider, jr., West Marshall; Katie Thompson, sr., BCLUW.

HONORABLE MENTION

Alyvia Chadderdon, sr., Marshalltown; Zoe Duncan, sr., GMG; Abigail Iron Shell, sr., Meskwaki; Rylee McLean, so., North Tama; Melinda Puumala, sr., East Marshall; Avril Sinning, jr., West Marshall.

Former T-R All-Area Players of the Year

2017-18 – Isabelle Gradwell, sr., West Marshall & Hailey Wallis, jr., Grundy Center

2016-17 – Isabelle Gradwell, jr., West Marshall

2015-16 – Katie Lindeman, sr., Grundy Center & Gabby Reyerson, sr., West Marshall

2014-15 – Shayla Dean, sr., Colo-NESCO

2013-14 – Caitlyn Riese, sr., Colo-NESCO

2012-13 – Dia Keahna, sr., Meskwaki Settlement

2011-12 – Madison Baier, sr., South Tama County

2010-11 – Madison Baier, jr., South Tama County

2009-10 – Tara Gray, jr., GMG

2008-09 – Jessica McDowell, sr., AGWSR

2007-08 – Jessica McDowell, jr., AGWSR

2006-07 – Allison Volkens, sr., Gladbrook-Reinbeck

2005-06 – Allison Volkens, jr., Gladbrook-Reinbeck

2004-05 – Chelsie Luhring, sr., Grundy Center

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