Staff photo / Brian Yauger Kennedy senior Gianna Pompelia drives to the basket during the team’s district finals victory over Chalker on Saturday.

When asked to describe Gianna Pompelia’s contribution to the Warren John F. Kennedy basketball program, JFK coach Marc Morgan doesn’t immediately recite stats, which include a career scoring total of 1,440 points. Nor does he zero in on Pomelia’s tendency to perform at a high level in clutch situations – even though she repeatedly puts up her best numbers in the brightest of spotlights.

Instead, Morgan eagerly talks about what Pompelia does away from the spotlight, when the only spectators are her coaches and teammates.

“Gianna is a consummate worker, every single day she’s doing something to make herself and this program better,” Morgan said. “She sets the tone. She gets things going. The other players seem to gravitate toward her. She’s a leader, she is a great role model and others follow her lead.”

“Three-hundred days a year, Gianna is doing something to make herself a better basketball player and a better teammate.”

This past Saturday, Pomelia helped lead JFK to its second straight district title as the Eagles rolled over Southington 71-14. Pompelia led the way with 33 points, connecting on eight of 11 three-point shots.

Kennedy (16-5) will now advance to the Division VII, Region 25 semifinals where it will play Maplewood (22-3) on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Massillon Perry.

“Some players don’t do well in those types of situations, but Gianna seems to live for those moments,” Morgan said of Pompelia’s tournament play. “She hit an early three, and you could see the confidence and the rhythm was there, and the whole team just picked up on that energy and went from there.”

A year ago, Pompelia led JFK to its first-ever district championship with a 43-point performance in a 60-43 win over Middlefield Cardinal in the district finals. In that game, the Eagles were without leading scorer Didi Ryan, who suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the year.

As a sophomore, Pompelia scored 25 points in a district semifinal win over Cornerstone Christian. The Eagles eventually fell to Springfield in the district title game.

Pompelia will continue her basketball career next year at Wheeling University – a Division II school which plays in the Mountain East Conference.

“Everyone points to that 43-point performance as a defining moment for Gianna, and rightfully so,” Morgan said. “With Didi out, Gianna carried us to a district title. But as far as I’m concerned, her performance against Cornerstone really set the stage for this program moving forward.

“As a sophomore, she kind of sent a message that she was going to do whatever it took to send this program to the next level. She’s been a great team leader ever since. This program has a 51-19 record with its first two district titles in school history over the past three years.”

This year, Pompelia is averaging 20.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. She scored her 1,000th point and at the same time set a school single-game scoring record in last year’s 43-point performance in the district final. Pompelia nailed a free throw in the waning seconds of the game to achieve both feats.

Earlier this season Ryan matched Pompelia’s 43-point performance in a JFK setback against Lutheran East.

“Scoring 1,000 points was always a personal goal,” Pompelia said. “My sister (Alyssa) accomplished the feat when I was in eighth grade and I didn’t want to be that other sibling who couldn’t match up. That’s when I really started taking things seriously, and I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work to achieve my goal.”

Pompelia says that personal goals evolved into team goals the first time she walked into the JFK gymnasium as a sophomore and looked up at the banners honoring the championship teams of a tradition-rich sports program.

“There weren’t any banners recognizing girls basketball,” Pompelia said. “Kennedy was never really known for girls basketball or girls sports in general, and I wanted that to change. I wanted to be part of a group of players who kind of put Kennedy girls basketball on the map.”

“We lost in the district final two years ago, but I felt like we learned a lot from the experience. Last year was a huge step forward, winning a district title. Now we’re back in the regionals again but we’re not satisfied. We want to keep making history.”

To do so, Kennedy will have to get past a Maplewood team which earlier this year defeated the Eagles 48-41.

“We’re excited because it’s a local matchup, and because we get another chance at Maplewood,” Pompelia said. “They are a great team. Their record speaks for itself. We weren’t at our best when we played them earlier this year and they took advantage of the situation. That’s the sign of a really good team.”

Pompelia knows that she’ll also have to continue to carry out her role as a team leader and captain. Pompelia, along with Hannah Myers (7.7 points, 5.4 rebounds per game) are the only two seniors on the JFK roster.

Ryan, a junior, leads the team in scoring (21.5 ppg), assists (4.0 pg) and steals (6.2 pg).

“When I was a sophomore we had two seniors on the team and they really helped me adapt to playing at the varsity level and they helped me adapt to a new program,” Pompelia said. “That taught me the importance of being a good teammate.

“I try my best to be a good leader, to set an example. But honestly Didi and everyone else on this team, they are all leaders. We’re all after the same goal. I do whatever I can to help the younger players but they are already great teammates. They all worked hard all year to get us where we’re at. We all have the same goals.”

Right now, the next goal in mind is to add a regional title banner to the now-growing list of achievements of the JFK girls basketball program.

“That would be awesome, we got our district title last year now we want to take that next step,” Pompelia said.

The Kennedy-Maplewood winner will play either Western Reserve or Seneca East for the right to advance to the state semifinals.