Sarah Helton finished her career with 2,316 points and All-America accolades. She became the 11th women's basketball player or coach to be inducted in the school's athletic hall of fame and joined her former coach Rachel Clay-Keohane in the exclusive club.
A Wise native, Helton attended J.J. Kelly High School from 1999-2002, prior to coming to the College. At J.J. Kelly she lettered four years under the direction of Head Coach Robin Dotson. Helton, a two-year captain, led J.J. Kelly High School to its first girls basketball state championship after a failed championship final ('00) and quarterfinal ('01) attempt; and only perfect season in the school's history (30-0).
Helton scored 1,524 career points, had 912 career rebounds and 415 steals during her prep career. She ended her senior year as a two-time Group AÂ First-Team All-State player and in 2002 she was named Virginia's Group A Co-Player of the Year (VHSCA). Helton also lettered in track and field her junior and senior years and won the individual high jump state championship as a senior.
In early spring of 2003 Helton retracted her official commitment to Virginia Commonwealth University to remain in her hometown and play for the Highland Cavaliers. Helton was a four-year starter and letter winner. The forward also had over 1,000 career rebounds and 332 career steals and was a three-year captain. In 2003 Helton was the AAC Freshman of the Year as well as a Third-Team All-Conference honoree. In 2004 she was voted Second-Team All-Conference. In 2005, she was named First-Team All-Conference and Defensive Player of the Year by the league's coaches. Additionally, Helton was voted Third-team All-American. In 2006 the awards continued to pile on. She was again voted First-Team All-Conference while picking up her second All-American award by being named Honorable Mention All-American. Helton ended her career with the most points and made field goals in program history.
Helton was awarded ESPN The Magazine Women's Basketball Academic All-American Team--College Division, Second Team; and was named National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American Athlete of the Year in 2005.Â
While attending UVa-Wise, Helton received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, and also graduated from the teaching education program (fall of 2007), concentrating in business education. Helton graduated in May of 2007 and began teaching at Patrick Henry High School in August of 2008, where she presently remains.
There, she is a business education instructor teaching web design, business management and Information Technology fundamentals courses.
