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O'Leary chosen player of the year for the third straight season

There isn’t much left to say about Catie O’Leary.

The Janesville Parker High School senior basketball standout left an indelible mark on the Viking program.

After being named first-team all-state by the Associated Press for the second straight year, O’Leary has been chosen as the Big Eight Conference’s Player of the Year for the third straight season.

The 5-foot-10 O’Leary averaged 20.8 points per game, including a season-high 33 against Sun Prairie. She scored in double figures in 22 of 23 games and had eight games of 25 points or more.

O’Leary is joined on the first team by Verona’s Leslie Schaefer and Ali Tackett, Middleton’s Emily Newman and Madison West’s Ellie Pearson. Janesville Craig’s Anne Morgan has been named to the second team.

A Loyola University of Chicago recruit, O’Leary became the second Parker player to win Big Eight Player of the Year three times. Mistie Bass Williams won the award four times from 1999-2002.

Although Parker finished one game short of a record 13th state tournament bid, O’Leary said it was a rewarding senior season.

“It means a lot to me to win the award my senior year, especially with Verona coming into the Big Eight with the great players they had,” O’Leary said. “The loss in the sectional championship game was tough, but overall, I thought we did pretty well as a team, considering how young we were.

“I’m really going to miss playing at Parker, especially the home games. The pre-game stuff really got the crowd and the team fired up, and that gave us an advantage.”

Schaefer, a Kent State University recruit, helped lead the Wildcats to a second straight state berth and a conference co-championship. The 6-4 senior averaged 14.2 points per game and nearly 10 rebounds.

The sharpshooting Newman led Middletons to a Big Eight co-championship and a Division 1 state semifinal berth.

Morgan led the Cougars with a 11.1 scoring average and had better than seven rebounds a game. The 5-11 junior had a season-high 22 points in a win over Madison East.

“We didn’t have the best record this year, so Anne being named to the second team shows you how much respect the coaches had for her,” Craig coach Mark Marsden said. “Anne has worked hard on her game, and if she can continue to develop on her mid-range shot, she’ll be a force next year.”

Craig senior Whitney Storbakken and Parker sophomore Danielle Flood have received All-Big Eight honorable mention.