3A Championship Game Standouts

The 3A state championship game featured Bergman vs Lamar. Both these teams had a great regular season with Bergman being undefeated heading into this game while Lamar only had 2 losses on the season. Let’s look at some of the players that stood out from the championship game. <strong>Carson Edwards | Post | Bergman | 2022</strong> The 6’1 post player had the size advantage over Lamar. She did a good job of getting position on the low block and utilizing her size. She was efficient when she caught the ball in the paint. On the catch, she would turn and score without putting the ball on the floor. When she wasn’t in the paint scoring she was on the perimeter knocking down catch and shoot three-point shots. Carson finished the game with 10pts and 10 rebounds. <strong>Abby Hodges | PG | Bergman | 2022</strong> Abby doesn’t do a lot scoring for her Bergman team, but she’s a very important piece. She did a great job of running the team and facilitating the offense. She pushed it in transition which lead to some easy baskets for her teammates. She did a good job of changing speed to keep the defender off balance. This allowed her to attack and draw additional defenders. She only finished with 5 points but what she contributed goes beyond the stat sheet. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="306111" first="Maddi" last="Holt"] | Wing | Bergman | 2023</strong> After seeing this game I am convinced that Maddi is one of the best players in the state. Definitely one of the best wing players in the class of 2023. She stayed in attack mode the whole game. She finished around the rim with either hand, displayed excellent footwork on her finishes, scored on post-ups, knew how to use her body on drives to draw contact, and knocked down three-pointers. Maddi finished with 23 points, with 17 coming in the first half. She was named tourney MVP. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="306145" first="Kara" last="Ponder"] | Wing | Bergman | 2022</strong> Kara did an excellent job playing her role vs Lamar. She didn’t force anything or try to play out character. She let the game come to her. She took shots when she was open, attacked the basket when she saw gaps, cut to open areas of the floor to receive passes to be effective, and knocked down catch and shoot threes. Defensively she gave great effort when guarding the ball and helping limit Lamar to one shot with her defensive rebounding. She finished the game with 12pts and 10 rebounds. <strong>Kori Sanders | PG | Lamar | 2025</strong> Kori is a freshman point guard with a lot of potential. She’s a quick point guard with good ball-handling ability that likes to attack and get to the rim. She can deliver on-target passing off the dribble, get out in transition quickly, and defensively she’s a solid defender. Lamar is in good hands with Kori leading the way. She led the team in scoring this year and I’m looking for her to continue to get better and lead this team over the next three years. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="306136" first="Karley" last="Williams"] | Forward | Lamar | 2023</strong> Karley displayed good hands in traffic as she caught passes in the paint on the move. She has a soft touch which allowed her to finish around the rim. She can score with her back to the basket over bigger defenders, she can attack in straight lines, and shoot the mid-range pull-up jumper.