Mya Morris takes home the Nickle Dickle crown

Long before anyone else had arrived for Saturday evening's Nickle Dickle 3-point shootout in Waconia, there were two players quietly knocking down warmup shots one after the other after the other in the mostly empty gymnasium: Mya Morris Mya Morris 5'7" | PG Perham | 2023 State MN and Kristi Kottke Kristi Kottke 5'8" | CG Buffalo Lake-H-S | 2024 State MN . When the dust settled on the affair 90 minutes later, and the prizes were handed out, guess who finished on top of a stellar field of elite Minnesota shooters. That's right, it was Morris in first and Kottke in second.

Morris, a senior from Perham and West Central United AAU, scored 17 points in the championship round to win by 5 over Kottke, the junior from Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart and the Minnesota Rise. It was Hopkins senior Kelly Boyle Kelly Boyle 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2023 State MN who finished third with 10 points ahead of Stillwater junior Amy Thompson Amy Thompson 5'10" | SG Stillwater | 2024 State MN in fourth place with 8. This was the first time Morris had ever taken part in a 3-point shooting competition. “It was so exciting!,” she said afterward. “It was an amazing experience to be in the room with such great shooters and to get to compete with them.”

The 3-point shootout is part of the annual Nickle Dickle Day, Waconia's town festival that includes a car and truck show, live entertainment, a fun run, pie eating contests and more. There was a huge 3-on-3 tournament held throughout the day with the girls and boys shooting contest and a boys slam dunk competition wrapping up the proceedings in the evening. In the beginning the competition served as a local fundraiser for St. Joseph's Catholic School – it still is – but the 3-point shootout has evolved into a much higher profile girls basketball event. Past competitors have included the likes of Paige Bueckers (UCONN), Taylor Koenen (North Carolina), Lauren Jensen (Creighton) and many more. None of this year's contestants had participated in the Nickle Dickle competition before.

THE COMPETITION

After making the 175-mile drive down from Perham, Morris took her time getting ready for the big event. “I was very nervous,” she admitted. “I wanted to take a long time warming up to help calm the nerves.”

That's certainly understandable. It's an unfamiliar situation with plenty of pressure and the field of competitors was impressive. Besides the aforementioned top four finishers were standout sophomores Addison Mack Addison Mack 5'9" | PG Minnehaha Academy | 2025 State MN of Minnehaha Academy and Aneisha Scott Aneisha Scott 5'6" | PG DeLaSalle | 2025 State MN of DeLaSalle, along with seniors Sophi Hall Sophi Hall 6'1" | CG Holy Family | 2023 State MN of Holy Family and Anna Lenzen Anna Lenzen 5'9" | CG Chaska | 2023 State MN of Chaska.

The contest follows the format the WNBA uses for the 3-point shootout at its All Star Game. Each player takes five shots from five spots on the floor for a total of 25 attempts. The 5th shot at each station is the “money ball” and is worth two points.  Players with the top scores in the first round advance to the second and final round with a clean slate.

Kottke shot first and immediately put up a record 23 points, five more than Thompson, six more than Morris. Mack got rolling early but hit a dry spell in the middle of her session and missed out on advancing to the final four by a single point. “I was super happy for Kristi,” Morris said of Kottke's early outburst. “She was the one who helped me feel less nervous before the competition, but after she got that big number it definitely put more pressure on. When I shot I just tried to focus on how I could do… In the first round it was hard to get going. I missed my first spots but got going at the end. In the finals I felt more comfortable and confident so I could make shots right away.”

That's exactly what she did.