—  

By GREG WEBB

An extreme season calls for extreme measures, and the most recent basketball season is one that, overall, was extremely successful for most area teams. The task of appropriately recognizing  players who influenced team success, while leaving impressive individual credentials in their wake is a tough row to hoe.

The 2012-13 Girls All-Parker County Basketball team is laden with talent, prompting some flexibility in the infrastructure of the roster, but designed to illustrate the spectrum of accomplishments for local athletes.  

Parker County basketball prep teams — though 1A is split into two divisions — technically represent all five of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) classifications, Class 1A through Class 5A. Five of the seven girls’ teams in the county achieved postseason play, with three of those five entering the playoffs as district champions or co-champions.

And two of those squads earned a bus ride to Austin, a has been well-documented in recent weeks.

Another season produced another crowded queue in the Superlatives category of the APC roster, emerging with some clear choices, but also netting shared recognition for others.

Aledo senior Mallory Powell, seemingly wise beyond her years on and off  the court, represented the complete package in leading the Ladycats to a stellar season, including Aledo’s first-ever trip to the state tourney, and is the All-Parker County Team’s Most Valuable Player for the 2012-13 season.

Powell displayed her multiple roles for Aledo as leading scorer, offensive facilitator and above-average defender, providing the anchor for the Ladycats, while rarely leaving the court in contests where her services were needed from the opening tip to the final horn.

The ‘adjustments’ in the APC rolls include the addition of a Third Team roster, where ‘honorable mention’ just did not quite pay sufficient kudos to the calibre of players rife on the county’s high school squads.

And for the first time in the APC lists, a triad of defenders populate the superlative category for the top defensive players.

There are ‘wow-factor’ stats that are eye-catching, but there was also a body of work for the season to be reckoned with, as well. 

Aledo sophomore post Justis Szczepanski-Beavers clogged up the lane for opposing defenses all season long, rejecting 54 opponents’ shots while amassing 253 rebounds, 111 of those providing second-chance points for Aledo.

Springtown’s Brooklyn Dauenhauer was the top point producer for the Lady Porcupines, but was a major disruptive force at the other end of the court. The sophomore guard swiped the ball 112 times during the regular season, an impressive rate of nearly five steals per game.

Completing the trio sharing the Defensive MVPs is Brock’s Taylor Wallace, who was given the unenviable task of guarding the opposing teams’ top scorers — all season long. 

Intent on filling the role of a “shut-down” defender, four-year varsity member Wallace was not around the basket snagging rebounds, nor was she trolling the passing lanes with regularity to pick up steals or cause deflections, though she had her respectable share.

Performing the service season-long, apt examples are present in postseason play, with Wallace limiting Alvord’s District 9-2A MVP to two points in the regional final, and Merkel’s Class 2A Player of the Year to a paltry six points in the state final. 

For perpetuating the current Class 2A state run of the Lady Eagles, and overcoming formidable Class 4A competition, from district forward, the Brock and Aledo coaching staffs, led by Chance Westmoreland and Rusty Johnson, respectively, receive the nod for Co-Coaching Staffs of the Year.

The APC entire roster, Superlatives through Third Team, consists of accomplished athletes from the area, and in a county sporting more than a its share of state-calibre talent.

The bar has again been raised with a wealth of individual and team-level quality in Parker County — the selection process can only get blissfully more difficult in seasons ahead.

2012-13 All-Parker County Teams — Girls Basketball

Superlatives

Most Valuable Player

Mallory Powell             Aledo          Senior

Offensive Player of the Year

Lexie Ducat      Brock      Sophomore

Defensive Players of the Year

Justis Szczepanski-Beavers     Aledo      Sophomore

Brooklyn Dauenhauer       Springtown      Sophomore

Taylor Wallace        Brock         Senior

Newcomer of the Year

Tracy Johnson      Poolville        Freshman

Co-Coaching Staff of the Year

Aledo — Head Coach Rusty Johnson

Brock — Head Coach Chance Westmoreland

First Team

     Lou Hawkins           Weatherford      Senior

     Abbye Shearmire     Weatherford      Junior

     Heather Henson      Poolville            Senior  

     Alyssa Dry              Aledo                Sophomore

 Rebecca Dauenhauer  Springtown       Senior

   Ciandra Seabourn    Springtown        Senior

     Braylee Flaska        Brock               Senior

     Cora Jenkins          Brock               Senior

     Rachel Smith          Peaster            Junior

     Jolee Carswell        Millsap              Sophomore

Second Team

     Tori Novak             Poolville          Senior

      Remi Reynolds     Weatherford     Senior

      Kaylee Black         Aledo              Junior

      Bryce Frank          Aledo              Sophomore

     Jordan Doremus    Springtown      Junior

     Taylor Fulmer         Brock              Junior

     Rachel Williams     Brock              Sophomore

     Olivia Seli              Peaster           Sophomore

     Lauren Power        Millsap            Senior

     Sydney Herbel       Millsap            Freshman

Third Team

      Tana Jones           Poolville          Junior

      Bailey Bradford      Peaster          Junior

      Bronte Frank          Aledo             Senior 

      MiKalyn Kruger      Millsap           Senior

      Bailey Ivey             Brock             Sophomore

      Kylie Ducat             Brock              Senior

       Breann Forbes        Aledo              Junior

       Faith Woodring       Weatherford     Junior

       Katelynn Mainord    Springtown      Junior

       Aidan Pool     Weatherford     Junior