Jaque Hall returns to the court for Haworth!

As appeared in the Mccurtain Sunday Gazette
By Brad Reesing
HAWORTH – The last points scored in basketball games generally receive most of the attention.
But it was the first bucket sank in Friday’s tilt between Haworth and Battiest that will be remembered.
Jaque Hall, who suffered a spinal cord injury in January 2008, made her first appearance on the court Friday. Hall, who uses a wheelchair, was announced as a starter.
She was pushed down the court by fellow senior Ashley Wilson and scored the first bucket of the game, after missing a couple of shots.
Haworth coach Amanda Reynolds and Battiest coach David McDonald discussed the plan for senior night before the game.
McDonald said it was an honor to take part. When Hall made the bucket, the crowd erupted. Actually, the crowd clapped every time she took a shot.
“It was a pretty neat moment,” said McDonald.
“It was loud,” said Reynolds.
Haworth scored two buckets and Battiest had one before a timeout was called and Hall left the game.
Hall had asked her coach earlier in the day if it would be OK for her to get on the court one more time. Reynolds ran it through the proper channels and received the nod.
Hall, a determined competitor, immediately went to the court and worked on her shot with teammate Courtney Maye before anyone showed up at the gym.
“I had to make sure I could make it up to the goal,” she said. “I was not going to not make it.”
She was nervous when 6:30 p.m. finally rolled around.
“I was scared,” she said. “I could not believe that the coach let me go out there. And then I was mad that I didn’t make it the first time.”
“The girls told me to keep on trying, I wanted to quit,” said Hall. “They wouldn’t let me give up,”
Hall has not been a stranger to Haworth’s games.
“I have only missed one all year,” she said.
She stays on the bench. Hall wore a jersey for the first home game.
“But that’s the first time I’ve been out there on the court with it,” she said.
Hall had not played in a game in more than a year.
“It was pretty awesome,” she said.
Her parents, Chris and Carol Hall, didn’t know about the plans until they arrived Friday evening.
“It was pretty exciting,” said Carol Hall.
Hall continues her rehabilitation two days a week by lifting weights and stretching in Idabel. She will graduate from Haworth in May and plans to attend college in Texarkana, majoring in business.
She actually bagged a couple of deer in hunting season, taking a 10-pointer and an 8-pointer near her grandmother’s place in Burns Flat.
While her shooting touch may be off a little, Hall is still the same competitor that made her one of the region’s finest softball pitchers. That spirit was on display Friday.
Play every game like its your last, is one of her favorite expressions.