A Marymount University women’s basketball standout of the 1990s has been selected to coach the Yorktown High School girls basketball team.
Jessica Turgon will take over from Devaughn Drayton, who recently stepped down after 13 seasons at Yorktown.
“It’s so awesome, and I am so excited and grateful about this opportunity to give back to the community of basketball in Arlington. I have always loved coaching,” Turgon told ARLnow.
Turgon made a name for herself in Arlington athletics as a four-year standout player for the Division III Marymount University Saints. She helped lead the women’s team, then under head coach Bill Finney, to a string of successes.
The 1997 graduate remains the Saints’ all-time scoring and rebounding leader with 1,814 career points and 992 boards. She also is ninth in career blocks (73), first in career field goals (699) and free throws made (414), and tied for fourth in the most games played with 116.
For her performances, Turgon was a two-time All-American honorable-mention selection playing for Marymount.
Turgon and Finney are both members of Marymount’s athletic Hall of Fame.
Turgon spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach of the McLean High School girls team under Virginia High School League Hall of Fame coach Pat Deegan. She previously was the girls head coach at National Cathedral School.
In addition, Turgon was a girls assistant coach for a couple of seasons at St. John’s College High School in D.C.
For many years, the Delaware native coached her sons on boys teams in the McLean Youth Athletics program, and served as president of that organization.
Turgon said she gained a lot of insight about coaching while playing under Finney and being an assistant to Deegan.
“I learned from them and will add some new things,” Turgon said. “We want to build our own culture at Yorktown of winning by doing the right things.”
