4A: Shooters who could be on the rise

Although it seems forever since sports weren’t just something playing on ESPN from prior decades, the conversation surrounding athletics has remained ongoing via social media. It’s not all horrifying. Past the chunk of just of the most offensively inane things you could read (this not included), professional and amateur athletes have continued to post about the work they’ve put in during quarantine — some of it impressive, some creative. In basketball, it’s often a video of a player shooting at a hoop. “I bet kids have shot more during quarantine than they have in the last two years combined. I think we are going to see better shooters when this is all over,” former NBA player Keith Van Horn, the founder of the Colorado Premier, tweeted. Here’s to hoping. In this series, let’s take a look at four shooters on the rise from Class 4A. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="116790" first="Hannah" last="Burg"], 2021, SG, Falcon</strong> Burg has averaged more than 14 points per game the past two seasons but has <em>the stuff</em> to top it going into her senior season. Last winter, she scored 14.1 points on 41 percent shooting to help to lead the Falcons to the Class 4A Sweet 16. She shot 32 percent from behind the perimeter and a silky 80 percent from the free throw line. Down the stretch, she averaged around 20 PPG in her final five games, including consecutive games of 28 and 29. The do-it-all standouts also averaged 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 steals. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="95137" first="Nikki" last="Derrell"], 2021, PG/SG, Sand Creek</strong> Derrell’s complete game says she’ll be among the top players in the state when she returns for her final high school season this winter. The question is, ’How high can her game really rise?’ As a junior, she averaged a team-best 14.5 points per game, hit 59 3s and shot 28 percent as the Scorpions were the highest scoring offense in 4A. She also scored 20 or more points four times last season and crossed 1,000 points in the team’s Sweet 16 loss to Canon City. With [player_tooltip player_id="95081" first="Krystina" last="Hagood"] (11.2 PPG) now graduated, expect those numbers to all go up. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="118724" first="Laura" last="Gensert"], 2023, SG, Centaurus</strong> Centaurus coach Chris Mischke told Prep Girls Hoops early last winter that sometimes it took Gensert awhile to get her shot going “Laura is a good shooter,” he said in January. “It’s just that as a freshman it sometimes takes her a while to get going. But she can get hot and that really helps us.” Her stock should soar come sophomore season. Last winter, Gensert helped the Warriors bounce back from a five-win season in 2018-19 to reach the second round of the Class 4A postseason. In their opening round win, she scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth to rally past Pueblo South. Gensert, in a nutshell, has the ability to drive to the rim through contact and hit from deep. She led the league in scoring with 13.9 PPG and hit 47 3s. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="117691" first="Amelia" last="Solt"], 2022, SG, Thompson Valley</strong> Solt averaged 12.2 points per game as a sophomore and could be on the verge of taking another large-like step as a junior. Solt was 30 percent from deep with 48 3s, most in the 4A Northern League. But she was maybe even more impressive from inside the perimeter, shooting at a 47 percent clip. After scoring in the double digits her first six games, she ended the season with 14 of 15 in double figures.She also averaged 2.7 assists, 23. Rebounds and 2.2 steals.