Oak Harbor High School senior Jessica Denmon signed a letter of intent to play basketball next year for Warner Pacific College of Portland.
Denmon, a four-year starter for the Wildcats, was an all-Wesco first-team selection her junior and senior seasons. She was also named to the all-Wesco second team her sophomore year and was honorable mention as a freshman.
The Skagit Valley Herald named her the area’s Player of the Year last season.
She scored 37 points against Kentridge this year; that total is the second most in school history to Heidi McNeill’s 40-point effort in 2005.
In this year’s all-league voting, Denmon received the second most votes to Monroe’s Suzanna Ohlsen. Denmon’s Oak Harbor teammate Nicole Mowbray also earned first-team honors with the third most votes.
This season Denmon led the Western Conference in scoring with a 19.8 average. The 5-6 guard also averaged nine rebounds per game.
Oak Harbor coach Brett McLeod said, “Jessica has an amazing work ethic during practices and games that make her exciting and fun to watch. She has always had a competitive spirit that leads her to giving her all.
“She is the first player at OHHS (that I know of) to make it to the post season four straight seasons.
“She was a joy to coach as she always was willing to do what was asked and demanded of her. She is a perfect example of a leader by example.”
McLeod added that Denmon’s desire and willingness to work on her game on her own “left a legacy to be emulated by future Wildcat players.”
Denmon said she chose Warner Pacific because “I like the campus, I like the basketball team and I like the coaches.”
She signed Feb. 13 in Kirkland when Warner-Pacific was playing at Northwest University.
Denmon, an honor student at Oak Harbor High School, plans on majoring in business administration.
Warner Pacific is an NAIA school that plays in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, which includes Southern Oregon University. Denmon’s classmate Mowbray signed earlier this year with SOU. Denmon said, “It should be pretty fun” to compete against Mowbray.
Warner Pacific (18-9) finished the regular season this year one game out of first with a 13-5 league record.
