Jessica Shepard brings winning ways to Fremont after titles at Lincoln Southeast

Tony Weinandt is much too busy drawing up plays and barking out orders in the heat of competition to make note of the distress of his counterpart on the other side of the gymnasium.

But he knows all too well what it's like to try slowing down Jessica Shepard, arguably the best girls basketball player in Nebraska and possibly beyond. Just a year ago, he was paddling upstream in that same boat.

Something happened last summer that relieved Weinandt's own anxiety and flipped the table on Lincoln Southeast coach Kara Graham. Shepard transferred back to Fremont (Neb.), where she grew up. While Weinandt has empathy towards his colleagues, he's not about to trade places with them.

"I've been on the other side," Weinandt said. "It's definitely a difficult situation. We're all professionals and we all want to compete. It was definitely a difficult game on our schedule. It sure is fun having her on our side."

Blessed with the talent to do just about anything she wants to with a basketball in her hand, the Top 5 recruit for the Class of 2015 according to several national recruiting services has immediately changed the postseason prospects of Fremont in 2013-14.

The Tigers finished 8-16 a year ago, but returned several key players and added Shepard and Bellevue East point guard transfer Rylie Cascio Jensen to the mix, making the Tigers a squad that's ready to challenge for it all.

Shepard, who is 60-6 through two-plus seasons, isn't a stranger to deep postseason runs. As a freshman with the Knights, Shepard and her teammates played their way into the Class A championship game before falling to Omaha Central 36-35 on a last second free throw. A year ago, Lincoln Southeast won the state title with a 65-57 win over Bellevue West.

"I loved winning state with my friends," Shepard said. "I was extremely happy when we won, especially with what happened the year before.

"The loss gave us a lot of motivation. We definitely didn't want to experience it again, so we worked much harder. At practice, or in a game, if things weren't going well, we would look back on that moment."

During Southeast's 10th championship win, Shepard scored 26 points and pulled down 19 rebounds. The Nebraska Cornhuskers pledge averaged 21.2 points and 10.1 rebounds during her freshman and sophomore seasons. She will more than likely climb to, or near the top, of the Nebraska girls all-time scoring chart before her career comes to a close.

Through the 12th game of her junior season, the 6-foot-4-inch forward has ripped the cords for 1,527 points – 60th all time. Having played in six state tournament games, Shepard's point total has reached 111 points, or 18.5 points an outing.

If all goes as planned, Shepard's name may soon rest alongside the likes of Darcy Stracke (Stuart and Chambers), Jordan Hooper (Alliance) and Trudi Veerhusen (Adams) on the state tournament scoring chart. Shepard would have to average 43 points in six state tournament games to catch Stracke atop the state tournament chart. Should she score 27 points an outing during that same stretch, she would bump present-day Husker Jordan Hooper from the No. 2 spot.

By season's end Shepard will be perched comfortably in the Top 15 on the all-time scoring chart, should her current 2013-14 scoring average of 32 points a night hold up for the remainder of the season.

"There have been a lot of great players to come out of Nebraska," Weinandt said. "Many of them have played at a real high level in college. She ranks right there with all of them. Her versatility may take her to the top. Not many of the great ones did what she can do. Sure, there may have been a better guard, or maybe even a better post. But she does much more. She can speed dribble up the court, dribble behind her back and battle down low. She does it all."

College coaches took notice of Shepard's versatility early on. In the months just before her first varsity contest at Southeast, the two-time All-Nebraska selection and last season's Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year took a visit to the University of Colorado. She then checked out her hometown Huskers.

Already holding an offer from Nebraska coach Connie Yori, Shepard told Graham to cut off all contacts because she was going to Nebraska.

"They're good," Shepard said of Nebraska. "And they are my home state team. I grew up watching them and I guess I kind of started thinking, ‘That's where I want to play.' They have a great coaching staff and great facilities."

If she had her druthers, Shepard might just choose playing guard at Nebraska.

"I like feeling the ball in my hands," she said. "I like driving more than anything."

Graham traded places with Weinandt earlier this season, taking her turn in the ‘Stop Shepard' hot seat. Shepard guessed that Graham's initial attempt at slowing her down included wearing her out.

"They had the player I was guarding run all over tarnation," recalled Shepard, who scored 30 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the 45-41 Tiger win.

Shepard, who wants to star at Nebraska before taking her do-it-all game to the next level, played on her sister Taylor's teams growing up, under the X's and O's of their father Mark. Shepard played four to five years up in age until she reached junior high and high school.

Taylor (6-2, Jr. C) began her college hoops career at Minnesota State-Moorhead. But now she and their brother Clayton (6-7 Fr. F), who played high school ball at Lincoln East, compete for Midland University in Fremont. Shepard's younger sister Sam will be joining her on the Tiger squad next season.

"Basketball is a ton of fun," shared Shepard, "and it's been a part of our lives for a long time.

"And I'm really good at it."

Fremont reeled off four straight wins to open the season before suffering its only loss to Bishop Miege (Kan.) 54-53, at the HyVee Shootout at Avila University in Kansas City, Mo. The Stags, 7-0, are a mainstay at the Kansas State Basketball Tournament.

Shepard was at her best against the powerhouse Stags, scoring 40 points and ripping down 12 boards.

"I think the season has gone really well for us," Shepard said. "Since our only loss in Kansas, we realized work needed to be done. I loved playing down there. It's always fun playing against someone you've never competed against, in a different environment.

"They (Miege) had a couple of guards that were skilled and athletic. We played against Omaha Northwest and they had athletic guards. Here, we play against teams that are athletic, but not necessarily skilled."

Shepard believes that if the Tigers can consistently get on the same page, her chances of competing in her third-straight Class A championship game are pretty high, this time with the Tigers.

"I think if we start playing together, we can make it as far as we want to," Shepard said. "It won't be easy. In order to have success at state and to ultimately win it, you have to step up your game as a team. To me you have to have six or seven players that really want to go get it. And I think we have that."