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GILLESPIE – Amari Vickery is unable to recall any particular tourist attraction that may have drawn her to Gillespie as a middle school graduate with plans to leave Litchfield.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It was kind of just like the next town over.”
Her family’s move 10 miles west on Route 16 into Macoupin County was a gift to Gillespie Miners athletics. The biggest thank you came from the Miners’ girls basketball program.
An impact player immediately as a freshman and a star in the making as a sophomore, Vickery’s rise produced a junior season that earned her recognition as the 2026 Telegraph Small-Schools Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
“I put in a lot of hard work to be successful my junior year,” Vickery said. “It feels good getting a lot of goals and accomplishments out of that work.”
The 5-foot-7 point guard averaged 17.6 points per game for a Gillespie team that finished 17-13 overall, including 7-2 in the South Central Conference. A two-time first-team All-SCC selection, Vickery scored 529 points as a junior to break Gillespie’s single-season record of 501, set by Mia Brawner two years earlier.
Vickery also joined Brawner in the Miners’ 1,000-point club when she scored a season-high 29 points against Williamsville at the Carlinville Holiday Tournament.
“It was amazing,” Vickery said. “It was a lot of weight off my shoulders because that was one of my big goals.”
After becoming the 12th Miner to surpass 1,000 points, Vickery climbed to No. 6 on Gillespie’s all-time scoring list with 1,257 career points by season’s end. The first 39 points she scores as a senior will move her into the top five and set up a chase of the school record of 1,711, set by Kristine Polo in 1998.
“It would, honestly, mean the world to me,” Vickery said. “Coming in as a freshman to a new school and to be able to get the all-time scoring record, with all the time I’ve put in to be a good basketball player, it would be a good look.”
It has taken only three seasons for Vickery to build a great career, and she is already assured of ranking among the best players in program history.
“She definitely is,” Gillespie coach Nikki Brawner said. “And one thing we’ve talked to her about is just to enjoy the process and the moments and slow down and take it all in. High school sports go by so quickly and you don’t want to look back and think, shoulda, woulda, coulda. Just enjoy the moments, trust the process and have fun with your teammates.”
The fun began soon after Vickery arrived from Litchfield as a freshman and joined a Gillespie team that longtime coach Kevin Gray guided to a 26-8 record.
“I knew a little bit about their high school team,” Vickery said of her basketball expectations for the move. “I had a few friends over there and then I really liked Kevin. I was super-excited to have him as a coach.”
The talent to start was obvious, but Gray opted to bring Vickery off the bench. She took it as an opportunity, not a snub.
“My freshman year, starting on the bench, I was able to settle into the game, see the pace of the game before I actually got in to play,” Vickery said.
And the quick fit she hoped to find in Gillespie came without setbacks.
“It was, actually, really easy,” Vickery said. “Moving to Gillespie, with the seniors I did have, it felt good having people to play with that kind of knew the game like I do. Summer, I walked in, I kind of saw it, I knew it and I fit right in. And they accepted me, so it felt really good.”
Vickery’s success with the Miners was no surprise. She was a state track champion in the 800 meters for Litchfield Middle School, and she has earned varsity letters in track, basketball, volleyball and softball at Gillespie.
“We’ve been playing against her since she’s been in fourth grade,” Brawner said. “So, yeah, we knew what kind of player we were getting and we thought she’d fit in well with the rest of the girls. Clearly, she has.”
But what may once have been Vickery’s best sport no longer has any place on her calendar.
“Growing up, I thought it was going to be soccer, which is very odd,” Vickery said. “When I hit middle school, I started playing AAU and that’s when I finally realized basketball was the one. That’s what my future was going to consist of. Ever since, it’s just grown from there.”
The soccer breakup was not without regrets. “I miss the friendships, I miss everything about it,” Vickery said, “but basketball has led me in the best path that I could dream of.”
Still, basketball was a relationship that took some nurturing.
“Just my athletic genes let me be OK at the start,” Vickery said. “But it definitely took a lot of work, time in the gym, training, to be where I am today.”
Vickery is spending her summer working on being better tomorrow. She already plays at a level that lifts the Miners.
“Obviously, she’s a great scorer, but she also creates a lot of opportunities for her teammates. Amari sees the court extremely well,” Brawner said. “She always sees the openings for the post players and her fellow guards. And she works hard on defense. This team likes to play defense and she’s a huge part of that.”
Fast and athletic, Vickery’s best moments come with the ball in her hands. She can take the ball to the basket, pull up for a mid-range jumper or find an open teammate under the basket. She’s a slasher. She wants to be a shooter. That has been a point of emphasis in select basketball before her senior season at Gillespie.
“For sure, my outside shot,” Vickery said. “All summer, I’ve been working on my outside shot so I can have that in my pocket and not just my get-to-the-rim and pull-up.”
Erin Brown (1,295), Mia Brawner (1,438), Corrie Allan (1,460), Kara Joyce (1,480) and Kristine Polo (1,711) stand between Vickery and the scoring record at Gillespie. Three seasons that have produced a 65-30 record — the Miners’ best stretch in 24 years — have set up Vickery for more success as a senior.
“It’s been really good so far,” she said, “and I’m excited to see what my last year is like.”
She is also excited about college basketball, though she has made no decisions yet.
“My recruiting process is up in the air right now,” Vickery said. “I know God has the path laid out for me and I’m just waiting for Him to let it happen. I’m kind of playing the cards put out to see what feels like home.”
