Simpson, Buffington earn all-league honors

Louisburg senior Madisen Simpson earned all-Frontier League first team honors after she averaged 17 points a game to go along with 55 3-pointers on the season.

 

The Louisburg High School girls basketball team made strides during the 2016-17 season and one of those improvements came in the win column.

The Lady Cats finished the year with 10 wins after coming off a three-win season a year ago and ended up in third place in the league standings. Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry had several players help the Lady Cats get to that mark and the Frontier League coaches recognized two of those athletes.

Senior Madisen Simpson (first team) and sophomore Carson Buffington (honorable mention) were each selected to the all-Frontier League team that was released following the state basketball tournament.

“I think like most coaches, I would like to have had more of our players recognized and for higher positions but the other coaches that vote don’t get to see all the work that specific players put in or the intangible things that specific players do for their team and teammates,” Lowry said. “With that said, there are a lot of really good players in our league.”

Simpson earned first-team honors and became the first Lady Cat to do so since Natalie Moore in 2015. Simpson, who served as the team’s point guard, was the team’s leading scorer with nearly 17 points a game and knocked down 55 3-pointers on the season.

She also was 83 percent from the free-throw line and made 25 in a row at one point during the season. Simpson also knocked down six 3-pointers in a game.

Simpson was able to work her way onto the first-team after not being an all-league selection last year.

As for Buffington, she earned honorable mention honors for the second consecutive season. She averaged a team-high 11 rebounds a game, including five offensive rebounds a contest.

She had several big rebounding nights for the Lady Cats, including a 22-rebound performance early in the season and also had 17 rebounds in their sub-state game against Spring Hill

Buffington also averaged six points and two steals a game as she was one of the team’s starting forwards.

“It’s hard to express just how good Madisen and Carson were this year in arguably one of the toughest leagues with so many exceptional players,” Lowry said. “This season was the culmination of many years of hard work for Madisen and it was great to see that commitment recognized with first team all-league.

“Carson led the Frontier league for the second year in a row in rebounding and finished in the top 10 for the entire state and all classes. She does all of those things I ask of players when it comes to effort, hustle, character, being unselfish and she does it all with great pride.”

Baldwin, the league-runner up, led the way with four all-league selections. De Soto was next as it was awarded three spots. Paola, the league champion, along with Louisburg, Spring Hill and Ottawa were next with two selections each.

 

ALL-FRONTIER LEAGUE GIRLS BASKETBALL

First Team

Abby Ogle, junior, Baldwin

Mariah Grizzle, junior, De Soto

Madisen Simpson, senior, Louisburg

Kamryn Shaffer, junior, Ottawa

Matti Morgan, senior, Paola

 

Second Team

Julia Johnson, senior, De Soto

Ryen White, senior, Ottawa

Chandler Karr, senior, Paola

Meghan Goff, sophomore, Spring Hill

Lauren Delker, sophomore, Spring Hill

 

Honorable mention

Carly Lindermeyer, sophomore, Baldwin

Taylor Cawley, senior, Baldwin

Kayla Kurtz, sophomore, Baldwin

Sydney Jones, senior, De Soto

Alaina Howe, junior, Eudora

Carson Buffington, sophomore, Louisburg