Lailani Otuafi, 20, was named MVP of the Northern 3A girls' basketball teams; she was joined on the first team by teammates Caitlyn Welch and Faith Cornmesser.
Lady Wave basketball capped their historic season with selections to the All-North and All-State teams; six players were recognized for All-North and three to All-State with Coach Anne Smith herself being named coach of the year.
Lailani Otuafi was named the Northern 3A’s Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. This season, she scored 351 points with 156 three-pointers and 62 from free throws; she also pulled down 140 rebounds and tallied 87 assists and 102 steals.
She was selected for the All-North’s first team.
Faith Cornmesser and Caitlyn Welch were also named to the first team. Cornmesser scored 284 points this year with 86 free throws, 232 rebounds, 16 assists and 64 steals. Welch scored 91 points with one trey, 22 free throws, 32 rebounds, 38 assists and 35 steals.
Leta Otuafi was named to the second All-North team after scoring 166 points with two three-pointers, 37 free throws, 84 rebounds, 20 assists and 40 steals. Smith said she likely would have made first team but missed too many games after her injury early in the season.
Zoey Swisher and Kaitlyn Hunter received honorable mentions for All-North.
Lailani Otuafi was also named to the first All-State team with Cornmesser and Welch going to the second team.
Given the Wave’s state championship win, Smith said she would have thought more Fallon players would make first team; she was still happy, though, and proud of the recognition from the other coaches in the state.
“Any time your players receive recognition it’s a good thing,” Smith said. “I just think we should have had more on first team.”
She did note, however, the voting is done before the tournament and the end results of the season are not factored into the voting.
All-North and All-State players are voted on by all the coaches in the league, though coaches cannot vote for their own players. Smith said it was fantastic that her players impressed the other coaches, both in the north and the state as a whole.
“Any time your players get recognized by other coaches in their league is an honor,” she said.
