JORDAN SHOOP

SCHOOL: Knoch

WHO IS HE? A 6-foot-3 senior point guard who also was the Knights' starting quarterback the past two seasons.

THE PAST WEEK: Shoop topped the 1,000 career point mark by scoring a career-high 38 points Friday in Knoch's 84-81 loss to Section 1-AAA rival Hampton. Shoop, who raised his season average to 17.4 points per game, had 1,053 career points after Wednesday night's game against Leechburg in the Freeport tournament.

CAREER: Shoop is in his third season as a starter. After scoring 100 points his freshman season as a reserve, he averaged 14.1 points per game as a sophomore and 16.1 as a junior.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Jordan is the youngest in what has become quite a Knoch sports dynasty. Les Shoop is in his 24th season as the Knights' coach. Older brother Josh, 32, is the school's athletic director and graduated in 1991 as Knoch's all-time leading scorer (he was later passed by Aaron Faulx in '98). Oldest brother Aaron, 34, was on the '89 team with Josh that earned Les Shoop the first of his three section titles. Sister Lindsay, 27, played basketball before concentrating on cheerleading for Knoch and brother Anthony, 23, played but eventually gave up basketball to run cross country.

THE FUTURE: Though some schools initially showed an interest in Shoop for his basketball skills, he has decided to concentrate on football. At least three schools (New Hampshire, Maine and California, Pa.) have offered scholarships.

-- By Chris Adamski

NIKKI PRESTO

SCHOOL: Thomas Jefferson.

WHO IS SHE? A 5-foot-4 senior point guard, Presto is a four-year starter for the girls' basketball team. She was averaging 22.7 points per game after Wednesday night's contest against Penn Hills at the Allderdice tournament .

THE PAST WEEK: Presto scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Jaguars to a 71-36 win Dec. 19 at McGuffey. She also scored 29 points in a 57-18 rout of Chartiers Valley Dec. 22 and didn't take a shot in the fourth quarter. Presto has led Thomas Jefferson (5-3, 3-0) to a first-place tie in Class AAA Section 4 with Elizabeth Forward. Presto has 910 career points and is on pace to reach the 1,000 plateau. A natural point guard, Presto is also averaging 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals per game.

NOT ALL IN THE FAMILY: "No one in my family ever played basketball before," Presto said. "My mom was a cheerleader when she was in high school and my dad played hockey. It's not like there are any family roots [in basketball]."

FUTURE: Presto has committed to play college basketball at Division II Slippery Rock where she plans to study elementary education or physical education.

-- By David Assad