Meet Gaston County’s Tionna Pettus, the No. 1 girls’ high school scorer in America
Tionna Pettus honed her basketball skills by playing against her older brother.
That’s a fairly common story. But in this case, Tionna’s big brother was a scoring machine who broke a number of records in his high school days.
“He challenged me,” Tionna Pettus said. “He pushed me hard. He wanted me to do better.”
Mission accomplished.
Randall Pettus, who still holds some Gaston County scoring records and now plays college ball at Northern Kentucky, helped turn his sister into the nation’s leading girls’ high school basketball scorer.
Tionna Pettus, a 5-10 senior at Bessemer City, is averaging 45.4 points a game this season. She scored 65 points in a Nov. 20 game against North Gaston, tying the N.C. single-game scoring record set by Providence Day’s Konecka Drakeford in 1991.
Pettus’ scoring average is No. 1 in the nation, according to Maxpreps.
This is turning into a banner season for girls’ basketball in the Charlotte area. Porter Ridge’s Ashanti Taylor is second in the state in scoring, with 32.5 points a game, and Za’Myia Bynum of Queen’s Grant Charter is fourth at 28.8. Several other area players aren’t far behind.
But none of them scores quite like Tionna Pettus.
“Can you imagine one family producing all that talent?” Danny McDowell asked.
They have fun
McDowell has enjoyed a front-row seat to the Pettus family’s success. He was boys’ head coach at Bessemer City when Randall played there (once scoring 60 points in a game). After a brief break from coaching, he came back to guide the girls’ team. That means he coaches Tionna and her younger sister, Kionna, a junior who averaged 15.2 points a game and was an all-district selection last season.
“The thing is, Tionna and Kionna don’t let any of this affect them,” McDowell said. “All they do is go out there, play basketball, and have fun! It’s amazing to see!”
The Pettus children’s parents and a grandparent played basketball, and Tionna’s cousin, Evonna McGill, played at Elon and now works with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
“So there’s a basketball history in our family,” Tionna Pettus said.
As to how she and her younger sister came to be basketball standouts … well, she credits Randall for some of that.
“When I was 5 or so, I went to see Randall play,” Tionna Pettus said. “I said, ‘I want to play too.’”
So began a career of rec league basketball that morphed into travel team and AAU ball as she grew older, and her skills improved.
“My brother was a big part of it,” she said. “He wanted me to get better. We were pretty competitive against each other.”
Pettus already was an accomplished player in her junior year, averaging 23.2 points a game, but she said she needed to overhaul her game during the offseason.
“In years past, I was a ‘big,’” she said. “This year, I wanted to be a point guard. I love playing down low, but I needed those point guard skills too. So I spent a lot of time working on my ball handling.”
She can do it all
McDowell, her coach, said he is comfortable with Tionna bringing the ball upcourt.
“She can do it all,” he said.
Pettus is averaging 14.1 rebounds, 10.6 steals and 4.6 blocks, in addition to her scoring.
“I know what my statistics look like,” she said. “But I’m not a ball hog. I like to pass to an open teammate, and I’ll do that if the situation calls for it.”
That is likely to happen more and more as the season develops.
“Teams know about me, and I’ve noticed a change in how they defend me,” she said. “Now I’m seeing a lot of box-and-one. I often have two players guarding me. It’s something I have to work through.”
If the defense collapses on her, Pettus said she will be happy to pass the ball to teammates — especially with options like Kionna available.
“Passing is always the best option,” she said. “After all, the ball moves faster than people do.”
For now, though, Tionna has managed to deal with the defenses and continue her torrid scoring pace.
The fame isn’t a problem, she said. Her coach confirms that.
“I look back at Randall,” McDowell said. “He had all kinds of people recruiting him, but it didn’t faze him. That’s how the Pettus family is.”
Tionna Pettus said she knows she’s the nation’s leading scorer but added that she tries “to block out the noise.”
“I just want to be a Bessemer City High basketball player, and I want our team to win,” she said. “I want people to know more about Bessemer City.”
The Yellow Jackets have an 8-7 record, playing against some tough 2A competition in the Southern Piedmont 1A-2A Conference.
“We’ve only made it to the second round while I’ve been here,” she said. “I’d like to see us go farther in the playoffs.”
Tionna said the season is bittersweet, because it will be the last time she’s able to play on the same team with Kionna.
“I think about that from time to time,” she said. “I really like playing basketball with my sister. That’s one reason why I want to get the most from this season.”
Tionna Pettus hinted that she might have a surprise or two left this season too.
“Maybe I’ll break another record somewhere along the way,” she said. “Who knows?”
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
