(5-21-20) Deja Mattox plays the role of Savannah in Disney’s Big Shot in Episode 4, Season 1 – Great In The Living Room–

The fourth episode of Disney’s basketball high school drama series “Big Shot”. In this episode, we see Harper’s exposé on Coach Korn go viral and unsurprisingly, Korn isn’t happy with how it’s received, but for very different reasons than you’d think. This episode focuses on one main story, which evolves around Marvyn trying to recruit a new player Savannah Gibson (played by Deja Mattox) from another school.  As you might expect, nothing goes exactly to plan as Marvyn struggles to deal with the complexities of dealing with high school bureaucracy and not having the financial freedom he had while competing at the college level.

Deja Mattox with Big Shot star John Stamos

While the members of the Sirens TV basketball team have not had much of a background playing on a competitive team in high school…Deja, is the real deal, she was an Indiana high school star at Maconaquah, played college basketball for Indiana State University and played professionally overseas in Luxembourg, Lithuania and Maldives. 

In an entertainmentnews.com story she shared her background –

I was born in Kokomo, Indiana. It is definitely different from where I grew up which was in Peru. Peru, Indiana is a really small town. It isn’t a diverse place, but as far as growing up at a healthy pace it did provide that! To let you know how in the middle of nowhere it is, my high school has a “Drive Your Tractor to School Day.

Her bio during her Senior season at ISU –

High School – 2008 Indiana All-Star … 2008 McDonald’s All-American nominee and Sporting News All-America Honorable Mention selection … Selected to participate in the Nike Regional Skills Academy in 2007 … Four-time Peru Tribune Player of the Year … Averaged 20.9 points and 6.9 rebounds as a senior … Member of the Indiana Junior All-Stars in 2007 … Scored a career-high 35 points against Missinewa … Scored 31 points and pulled down 13 rebounds against Peru … Hit 29 3-point shots as a junior … Maconaquah High School and Mid-Indiana Conference’s all-time leading scorer for both boys and girls with 1,701 career points … Played under coach Stacy Broyles.

Mattox, whom Broyles reports has grown to nearly 6 feet in height, returns for her fourth and final season. The do-everything senior averaged team-highs of 25.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in 2006-07.

In 2008 she played for the Terhune Tigers in the Hoosier Gym All-Star Classic-

Name, School, Height, Position, College

  • Betsy Adams, Twin Lakes H.S., 5-7, Guard, Valpariso
  • Maggie Boyer, Lebanon H.S., 6-0, Forward, Miami (Ohio)
  • Devin Brierly, Southwestern H.S., 5-8, Guard, Butler
  • Ashley Buis, North Montgomery H.S., 5-11, Guard, Vincennes
  • Megan Craft, Terre Haute South H.S., 5-4, Guard, Vincennes
  • Kayla Drake, Kokomo H.S., 5-5, Guard, Undecided
  • Tiffany Fisher, Westview H.S., 6-2, Center, Purdue
  • Felisha Johnson, Lawrence North H.S., 6-2, Center, Indiana State
  • Deja Mattox, Maconaquah H.S., 6-0, Forward, Indiana State
  • Lisa Samplawski, Portage H.S., 5-9, Guard, Loyola Chicago
  • Lauren Taylor, Brownsburg H.S., 6-0, Forward, New Mexico
  • *Briana Bass, North Central H.S. – Selected but injured.
  • Terhune Coach: Dawn Basicker, Knightstown H.S.

From The Banner –

(6-7-2008) The Terhune girls, coached by Knightstown Lady Panther head mentor Dawn Basicker, took a 23-17 lead after one quarter and never looked back. They were led by Kayla Drake, a spunky 5-5 guard from Kokomo, who scored a team-high 22 points. Deja Mattox, a 6-0 forward from Maconaquah, scored 18 points. Also getting double digits for the Tiger girls were Brownsburg’s Lauren Taylor with 16 markers, Westview’s Tiffany Fisher with 14 points, and Betsy Adams of Twin Lakes with 11 points. Lebanon’s Maggie Boyer scored seven points, North Montgomery’s Ashley Buis had six, and Lawrence North’s Felisha Johnson scored three.

The Terhune Lady Tigers defeated the Hickory Huskers, 101-97, in a game that went down to the wire.