2004 Year in Review

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Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith Takes 10th in State

On February 26, 2004, Amanda Smith traveled to Bloomington, Illinois to participate in the IHSA State 3-Point Shootout. To get there, Amanda had to move her way up, winning each of four different qualifying tournaments. In the state tournament, Amanda made 8 of 15 shots, which was not good enough to advance her to the Finals, but it did place her 10th in state overall.

The fist step in the 3-point tournament was between teammates, where coach Mark Ernst had each player shoot two rounds of 15 shots; the total would be used to select the top 4 players on the team. Those included Leanne Smith, Kelli Nelson, Abby Vock, and Amanda Smith. Amanda shot 11 of 30, to place her in the top 4.

After the team shootout, the top 4 girls traveled to Newman to shoot against Polo’s top 4, where the top four from that event would move on. One Polo girl along with Amanda Smith, Abby Vock, and Kelli Nelson moved on. Amanda scored 6 of 15 that night.

The third hurdle for the girls came at Forreston, where the next two events would take place. Kelli Nelson was knocked out of the competition, but Abby Vock and Amanda Smith moved on to compete at Forreston later in the week. Abby Scored 7 of 15, and Amanda scored 10 of 15. Along with 2 girls from Forreston, Amanda and Abby would have to come back later in the week for the next round of competition.

Later in the week, the Morrison girls traveled back to Forreston for the Regional Championship. Both girls shot worse than their previous attempts, with Abby making just 4 of 15, and Amanda making 5 of 15. Amanda went into a shootout with another girl, where they shot from the baseline, unlike the normal top and wing positions. Amanda won the shootout, sending her to state on February 26.

Before state, Amanda and other teammates would go to practice for about an hour every day, just working on making 3 pointers. In Bloomington, the practice paid off for Amanda, because she was able to sink 8 of 15 shots. With such stiff competition though, she did not advance on to the state finals. By the end of the night, Amanda found out that she had placed 10th overall, a great finish for the Morrison Junior.

by larryg
2004-03-04 20:45:18