The Hampton-Dumont-CAL girls basketball team had two players earn North Central Conference all-conference honors.
Sophomore MacKenzy Valley was a second team selection. In conference play, she was third in the league in points per game, fourth in steals per game, and third in blocks per game. Head Coach Miranda Stafford says Valley made major progress as the team’s only returning starter.
“Being our kid that came back as the only returning starter, kind of had a lot of weight on her shoulders,” Stafford says. “I think that she put a lot of that on her shoulders at the beginning of the year. And then you saw some of that lift off. And when that did, she kind of relaxed and started playing basketball a little bit more relaxed. But as a leader, that showed this year, that’s a tough spot for her to step into. But I thought she did a tremendous job as a vocal leader, as a ball handler, as a floor general, just all around, just being there for her teammates, kind of directing them, keeping them in the game. So very proud of her.”
Junior Madison Heilskov was a third team selection. She was second on the team in points, blocks, steals and rebounds per game. Stafford says she took on an expanded and challenging role in the post.
“I thought Madison did a really good job. She was always undersized this year as a post, used that volleyball jumping ability to do some really good things inside for us. We’ve got some big posts in our conference, some tall six foot, over six foot posts who play a lot of basketball. And she did a really good job. Coach Harr and Coach Miller, they work with our posts and they really developed her this year. And so she did a good job both offensively and defensively. She would be our second scorer when we needed somebody to step up and she even led us a couple times when we needed that. So gave us that inside presence. I thought she did some really good things this year. I look for her to continue to get better.”
The team went 7-15, and are projected to return all five starters next season.
