Heerrrrrrrrrre's Miss Basketball!

Well, not quite yet. But they did release the finalists for the 2008 Miss Basketball award:

Courtney Boylan - Chaska
Kiara Buford - St. Paul Central
Briana Mastey - Becker
Kamille Wahlin - Crookston
Brittnye McSparron - Eastview

Here's some more info.

McSparron averages 20+ pts. per game, led the tough Lake League in scoring while Eastview made their way to the state tournament.

Wahlin has no stats posted on Maxpreps, but her team finished 28-1, including a win over last year's AAA champ Becker.

Speaking of Becker, Mastey led the Mississippi Eight conference in scoring and finished 2nd in rebounding. The future Gopher was a key factor in securing last year's title over DeLaSalle. Ironically, she finished in the same positions in both scoring and rebounds in the Mississippi Eight. Mastey was the only Becker player to average above double digits in scoring the last two years.

Buford is Central's pure shooter and will help the Gophers in an area they need help with. She did make her mark at Central though. Her individual stats aren't eye-popping with Central's balanced attack (16.7 pts per game), but don't overlook this woman. She's shooting 83% from the free throw line this season, an 11% improvement from last year. If her free throws don't get you, her long-range shot will. Had little problem taking a leadership role this season.

Boylan is bound for Michigan and also comes from the Lake conference. She's second in the Lake for scoring (20 pts per game) and helped Chaska rally to beat Kennedy in their section final.

WHO GETS IT?

I'm not an expert with this, but the winners are very accomplished, two of the last three breaking some statistical record (Angel Robinson for all-time steals, Katie Ohm for all-time points). You won't see that this season, but they're all well-qualified.

Stats alone don't tell the story, but if Mastey didn't play for Becker, they wouldn't have won last year or even have a chance at state this year (the same could be said for McSparron and Boylan). Central likely would have won the title last year without Buford and would still be talented this year had she not been there. Mastey may have an edge for these reasons.

Barring some unseen tragedy, next year's selection won't be too hard.