After former Homewood-Flossmoor great and NBA draft pick Julian Wright presented Jenesis Moore the trophy with a big glass ball on top, the junior guard had to carry it around for a bit.
Moore won the trophy Saturday for being MVP for the Vikings at the MLK The Dream Continues Invitational in Flossmoor. She held it when pictures were being taken on the court.
After a team meeting, she held it for a video interview. Then, she held it when pictures were being taken in the hallway. She was finally was able to put it down on a table in the school cafeteria.
“It’s heavy,” she said of the trophy.
How heavy?
“Real heavy,” she said.
Moore also did some heavy lifting for the Vikings during the game against Rich Township, scoring 18 points and coming up with four steals in a 53-28 victory.
Freshman guard Laila Williams added 11 points for H-F (16-8), which led 40-14 at halftime.
Rich Township (16-7), which came in with a 10-2 record in its past 12 games, was led by Sherrie Emmons with eight points and Ziko Okolo with eight rebounds.
Both the Vikings and Moore needed a game like this, too. H-F had been 1-3 in January, and lately, Moore wasn’t playing like she wanted to, but she scored 16 points in the first half Saturday.
“I just came into the game and knew that I had to kill, kill, kill,” she said. “The past few games, I’ve been too lax, so I had to take that initiative. Coach (Anthony) Smith gave me the green light.”
Moore, who has been on the varsity since her freshman season, is now helping to lead a roster for H-F that includes six players who are either freshmen or sophomores.
“They are very talented,” Moore said of the younger players. “I want them to see what I see because I’ve been on the varsity for a couple of years.
“As they get older, their IQ is going to expand, and I just want to help them to be able to grow.”
Williams appreciates what Moore has done for the Vikings’ youth movement.
“Man, Jenesis is an amazing point guard,” Williams said. “She really does bring us together. She’s a good floor general. She impacts me as a freshman. She keeps pushing us.”
Moore, meanwhile, had an interesting athletic career growing up.
She was a cheerleader and a football player. She played tackle football at age 8 before her mother pulled her out of tackle and let her play flag football.
“I was a running back,” Moore said of her football experience. “You might think I’m lying, but I think I was the best player on the team. I had speed. I was a good runner.”
Moore was one of the best players on her basketball team in grade school. In eighth grade, Moore and Symora Damon were the top scorers for Prairie-Hills in Markham as the Mustangs finished third in Class 4A in the Illinois Elementary School Association state finals.
Damon is making a national name for herself on the AAU circuit while getting Division I looks. Moore fondly remembers her days at Prairie-Hill playing with Damon.
“We were the dynamic duo,” Moore said of teaming up with Damon. “We used to go at it in practice. In games, we had that chemistry, so it was easy. We would drop 20 apiece every night.”
The 5-foot-6 Moore is also garnering Division I interest, including Alcorn State and Delaware.
“I plan on going to college because that’s a big thing in my family,” Moore said. “I know my mom wants me to go to college. I’ll be the first one in the family to go away to college.
“That’s a big thing.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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