Poll results: Mater Dei star center wins top playoff performer poll in southwest IL
The Belleville News-Democrat wanted to highlight some of the more recent notable playoff performances in this week’s Player of the Week poll.
In the end, the readers selected Mater Dei sophomore center Alyssa Koerkenmeier for top honors.
Koerkenmeier scored 23 points in the Knights’ 62-46 win against Byron in the IHSA Class 2A state championship game. She actually finished with a triple double — 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots — which was the first in girls tournament history. Koerkenmeier — the BND’s Girls Player of the Week last week — also had 21 points in a 61-54 victory against Quincy Notre Dame in the semifinals.
All in all, Koerkenmeier, who secured 60% of the votes, finished the season averaging 8.5 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Knights, who finished 27-7.
Here were the other top playoff performer candidates:
- Shannon Dowell, O’Fallon High School, senior, G. Dowell notched 25 points in the Panthers’ 62-57 double overtime win against Lisle Benet Academy in the IHSA Class 4A state championship game. Dowell also scored 30 points in a 77-60 semifinal win against Hersey.
- Kameron Hanvey, Gibault Catholic High School, senior, G. Hanvey scored 12 points — including the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer — in the Hawks’ 45-44 win over Illini Bluffs at the IHSA Class 1A Jacksonville Super-Sectional.
- Gavin Kesler, Gibault Catholic High School, junior, F. Kesler scored 22 points in the Hawks’ 58-56 win against Springfield Calvary in the IHSA Class 1A Hardin Calhoun Sectional championship game. Kesler added 7 points in Gibault’s 45-44 super-sectional victory.
- Alayna Kraus, Okawville High School, junior, G. Kraus posted 21 points in the Rockets’ 56-35 win against Christopher in the IHSA Class 1A state championship game. Kraus also posted 23 points in a 49-31 semifinal win against Galena.
- Macaleab Rich, East St. Louis High School, senior, G. Rich scored 23 points in the Flyers’ 53-38 win against Triad in the IHSA Class 3A Centralia Sectional championship game. Rich then scored 24 points against Sacred Heart Griffin at the Springfield Super-Sectional, helping lead East St. Louis to a 59-56 double overtime victory.
The poll ended at 8 a.m. Friday.
To be clear, this poll is not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers.
The next poll will appear on the BND’s website — www.bnd.com — at 5 a.m. Tuesday and will be a vote for the BND Team of the Year. Please email nominations to gvartanian@bnd.com.
Previous poll winners: Taylor Smith of Belleville East High School; Cole Stuart of Freeburg High School; Dylan Murphy of Columbia High School; Clareece Davis of Althoff Catholic High School; the Freeburg-Columbia Holiday Tournament; Jordan Lewis of Althoff Catholic High School; Karsen Jany of Columbia High School; David Marshall Jr. of Belleville West High School; Marshall Jr.; Addi Dilley of Red Bud High School; Chase Lewis of Breese Central High School; Sophia Loden of Mascoutah High School; Loden; Lane Otten of Freeburg High School; Bennett Briles of Nashville High School; Kaylyn Wiley of Granite City High School; T’Yonna Burris of Dupo High School; Brandon Scott of Belleville West High School; Shakara “Lyve” McCline of East St Louis Senior High School; and Grant Fridley of Wesclin High School; Cody Dickshot of Breese Central High School; and Alyssa Koerkenmeier, Mater Dei Catholic High School.
This story was originally published March 13, 2023 at 7:00 AM.