State Player of the Year: Factors that pushed George Washington’s Kalissa Lacy over the top

<strong><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Switzer DesignWorks</em></span></strong> <em><span style="font-size: 8pt;">PHOTO: George Washington’s [player_tooltip player_id="153323" first="Kalissa" last="Lacy"] (2) drives against Greenbrier East’s [player_tooltip player_id="153373" first="Amya" last="Damon"] on Feb. 18. </span></em> George Washington’s [player_tooltip player_id="153323" first="Kalissa" last="Lacy"] topped one of the most competitive and hotly contested fields in Mary Ostrowski Award history this year, winning the honor as the state’s player of the year as voted on by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association. Lacy was one of six players to receive a significant vote total and in winning the award as a junior, became just the seventh player to win  as an underclassman since the award began in 1977. The 5-foot-9 guard also became the first winner off of an eligible team that didn’t reach the state tournament since 1983 all while becoming the first Mary Ostrowski Award winner in GW school history. So what pushed her over the top? Here is a look at a few factors that gave Lacy the leg up. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Offseason Output</span></strong> It was clear from the outset of the season that Lacy’s game had improved by leaps and bounds. Lacy was a first-team, All-State selection as a sophomore in 2018, but got there largely by leading the rugged Mountain State Athletic Conference in scoring with an 18.6-points-per-game average. The bulk of that came at the 3-point line -- where Lacy has always been a deadly shooter -- and in complement to the slashing Katy Darnell, who graduated a year ago. This year, with Darnell and her average of 16.7 points per game gone, Lacy was bound to be the focal point of opposing defenses. So Lacy went to work in the offseason, improving her ball handling, her scoring repertoire in transition and her defense. This season, instead of settling in to work the perimeter looking for a jump shot, Lacy was more comfortable and more proficient in attacking the basket. That was true on fast breaks as well. In years past, Lacy would spot up from distance in transition, giving Darnell or point guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153350" first="Vivian" last="Ho"]</strong> (2021) an option to kick to. But this season, Lacy used her size and length to attack the rim herself, leading to easy buckets and more chances at the free throw line. Finally, Lacy’s work on the defensive end paid off as well. In a home game against No. 1 Wheeling Park, Lacy came up with 13 steals in scoring 31 points as the Patriots lost a fourth-quarter lead in a narrow defeat. Lacy has long had the attributes to be a great defender -- the aforementioned length, straight-line speed and strength -- and her presence at the top of a full-court press proved to be quite a hurdle for opponents to overcome. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Multi-Sport Muscle</span></strong> While it’s true that Lacy rededicated herself to becoming a better basketball player in the 2018 offseason, she did so without sacrificing any of other other interests. Lacy is a bit of a dying breed, a multi-sport athlete that embraces each coming season. For three years, Lacy has lettered in four sports (softball will be the fourth this season if it isn’t canceled due to coronavirus), also playing soccer -- where she was named a first-team, Class AAA, All-State selection this past fall -- and swimming, where she was part of a state championship this winter. Lacy has long credited playing multiple sports with her ability to avoid major injuries up to this point in her career, but they also help on the court as well. Her straight-line speed comes in part from leading the Patriots’ attack on the pitch in recent years and the strength that comes from years of full-body workouts in the pool helped her finish through contact and to persevere through game-long double teams and full-court, one-on-one opposition. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Who and The What</span></strong> It wasn’t just what Lacy did, it was also who she did it to. Outside of St. Joseph and Parkersburg, George Washington likely played the toughest overall schedule in the state. The Patriots played seven combined games against the three top seeds in the Class AAA state tournament (Parkersburg, Woodrow Wilson and Greenbrier East) as well as Class-AAA matchups against No. 1 Park, No. 6 Cabell Midland, No. 7 South Charleston and No. 10 Huntington. There were also games against Class AA No. 2 Winfield, Class A No. 4 Summers County as well as tough out-of-state showdowns against Paul Blazer, Kentucky and Fort Frye, Ohio, both away from home. Against all that, Lacy improved her scoring average by a full six points per game, led the MSAC in scoring again -- this time by a 7.3-points-per-game margin over South Charleston’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="153286" first="Myra" last="Cuffee"]</strong> (2020) -- and led the entire big-school classification in scoring by five points per game. Lacy also came up with some of her biggest games against the toughest competition, dropping 34 and 30 points in a pair of regular-season wins over Woodrow Wilson to go with the 31-point outburst against Wheeling Park.