During a late-season basketball practice, local print and television reporters gathered around Free State High’s Kelsey Harrison for an interview, but the forward could not stop laughing.

Senior Jenna Brantley had placed an orange practice cone on top of her own head, forcing Harrison to break with her camera-ready demeanor.

“Everybody’s got Jenna stories,” Free State coach Bryan Duncan said. “The more you get to know her, the more she makes you laugh.”

As a sophomore she wore her game shorts backward during a game against Junction City during the Bonner Springs Tournament’s championship game. Duncan swears it was an accident, but Brantley insisted on wearing them that way during the entire game.

Instead of yelling “butter” after made shots, she’ll bark the pun, “butter stop shooting,” when a teammate misses.

“I make fun of (Lauren) Kimball and Kelsey a lot,” Brantley said. “It’s just to make them smile, and they usually do better after that.”

She not only kids her teammates, but also the opposition. Brantley dispenses an on-court dialogue to disrupt the other team’s focus. What does she use as material? Let’s just say she has broached the topic of their boyfriends.

The 5-foot-10 guard’s contributions extend beyond her role as basketball court jester. A true two guard, she possesses an accurate shot. She honed that skill as a junior when she began staying after practice until she connected on 40 three-pointers.

Brantley can create her own shot, deftly find teammates with sharp passes and dribble penetrate with both hands. When Kimball, the point guard, is out of the lineup or faces a trap, Brantley often brings the ball up court. Duncan described his three-year varsity starter as “dynamic.”

“She’s one of the most skilled people with the ball,” Duncan said. “Just about every game she does something else the coaches have to look at and just say, ‘Wow.'”

FREE STATE HIGH SENIOR JENNA BRANTLEY smiles as the Firebirds prepare for a second consecutive trip to the Class 6A state tournament. Brantley's jokester ways - as well as her steady play as the team's starting shooting guard - have paid big dividends for Free State this season.

Brantley first wowed Duncan when he saw her play during eighth and ninth grade.

“We knew she had a chance to be special,” he said. “You could tell right then that that’s a girl you wanted playing for you.”

Since ninth grade Brantley has played alongside Kimball. The backcourt duo has developed a level of familiarity, bordering on extra-sensory perception.

“She knows where I’m going to be,” Kimball said. “I know what she’s going to do. From that I know where to position myself.”

During Free State’s 36-30 sub-state tournament win against Lawrence High, the Firebirds led by only two at the start of the fourth quarter. Then Kimball saw Brantley drive. Both knew Kimball’s defender would help on Brantley. So Kimball went back door, and Brantley dished to her for the momentum-changing score.

“It was one of the most important points of the game,” Kimball said. “That was just reading each other.”

If they both attend Kansas University next fall, the guard tandem will room together. Brantley said she will not make a decision until finishing her basketball season, but also has considered playing collegiately at Baker University or the United States Air Force Academy.

The rigidity of the latter option may seem like an odd choice for a team cut-up, but Brantley’s family has deep roots in the Air Force. Her sisters joined the Air National Guard to help pay for college. Her parents met at Keesler Air Force base in Biloxi, Miss. – where Jenna was born. Her stepfather, Bruce Stewart, recently retired as a lieutenant colonel and worked at the Pentagon.

“My whole family’s in the Air Force,” Brantley said. “I have some good connections.”

Stewart introduced Brantley to basketball. Shortly thereafter, she began playing for the Lawrence Flames sixth-grade A team while still in fifth grade. And Brantley likely made those Flames’ practices a bit more enjoyable.

“She’s just entertaining,” Kimball said. “If everyone’s down, she’s the one that will bring us up.”