SCOTTSVILLE – Sarah Sutton took a big step Thursday toward realizing a dream.

The Allen County-Scottsville senior, who’s played varsity basketball for the Lady Patriots since her seventh-grade year, signed her national letter of intent to play at Murray State during a ceremony in the school library.

“It feels awesome,” Sutton said. “It’s something that I have been looking forward to for a very long time. It was a decision that I didn’t take lightly. I just felt like I was best fit for Murray.”

Sutton follows in the footsteps of recent ACS standouts like Morgan Rich (Kentucky and Oklahoma) and Shelby Harper (Louisville) as the Lady Patriots’ latest Division I signing and the sixth-ever in women’s basketball for the school.

“I’ve always wanted to be a Division I player since I was little,” Sutton said. “It’s something that I’ve dreamed of and I’ve gotten to watch Morgan Rich and Shelby Harper go on and play Division I. It’s just something that it was my goal to do that.”

Sutton got started on that goal early, and by her eighth-grade season she was already making a major impact for ACS. As an eighth-grader, Sutton started for the Lady Patriots during their appearance in the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen Girls’ Basketball Tournament. Sutton helped ACS reach the 2015 state championship game and finish with a 30-5 record under then-coach Brad Bonds.

Sutton has been firmly entrenched in a starting role ever since, and the numbers have piled up over the years. She starts her senior season among the school’s all-time leaders in scoring (sixth with 1,617 points) and rebounding (855, just 147 short of the school record). Sutton has career averages of 10.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

All of those numbers were put up playing for Bonds, who has moved over to coach the ACS boys’ basketball team this season.

“I got to know Sarah when she was a younger kid,” Bonds said. “I kind of knew she was going to have something special about her. So I was able to pull her up and really fine-tune some skills. Sarah has played so many basketball games, whether it’s here on the AAU circuit. She’s definitely put the time in. I’ve known her for a long time. I knew this day was coming and I know it’s a special day for her.”

Greg Dunn, who replaced Bonds as the Lady Patriots’ head coach, is looking forward to coaching a talented ACS team led by Sutton this season.

“She’s just a really, really all-around good player,” Dunn said. “She can play inside, come outside. She’s a really good shooter from outside, so that’s nice to have on the varsity level with someone who can come in and out like that. We’re going to use her that way.”

A 5-foot-11 forward, Sutton said she hit it off with Murray State coach Rechelle Turner and loved the campus in Murray. Her future role as a Racer could be much the same as it is with the Lady Patriots.

“We talked about it and she thinks that I’m going to be an inside-out player,” Sutton said. “If I have mismatch, I can go inside and post up. I can also go outside and get the ball.”

This past season, Sutton averaged 18.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, twice recording career-highs of 30 points in a game. She shot 54 percent from the field and 83.1 percent from the free-throw line, earning District 15 All-Season MVP and All-Region 4 first-team honors.

“I’m super excited,” Sutton said of the upcoming season. “We want to do big things this year. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the state tournament my eighth-grade year and actually play in that game and it’s something that’s just an awesome experience. And I want my teammates to be able to do the same thing.”{&end}