Great players do more than just score points, dominate the boards or handle the basketball like it's an extension of their bodies. They also help elevate the players around them, both emotionally and physically.
That's something this year's Deseret Morning News MVPs have in common. They don't just make their teammates look better, they help them play better and feel more confident as they become better athletes and better human beings.
They realize, almost innately, that as good as they are, they can't achieve real success on the basketball court without the help and support of their teammates.
5A MVP: Katie King, Layton
This senior forward played on a team where there might be a different high scorer each game. The Lancers were loaded with talent, but as a team leader, King helped cultivate the chemistry vital to overcoming obstacles.
"She's been a starter for three years and she's been a team leader for three years," Layton head coach Van Price said. "She communicates very well with everybody — on the court and off."
King's strengths are passing and rebounding, but she averaged 11 points per game and can handle the ball as well as most guards.
"It's kind of my fault she doesn't score 20 points per game," Price said. "It's our system . . . I'd rather have five or six players as close to double figures as possible. I think you do better as a team, if you do that, and you're a lot harder to stop."
The team won a 5A state title after a perfect 24-0 season, and key in every win was King.
"She is really personable and easy to talk to," Price said. "And she can be pretty feisty when she needs to be."
King maintains a 3.9 GPA and is still deciding where she'll play basketball. She has offers from schools like the University of Alaska-Anchorage and the College of Southern Idaho, among others.
"She has some really big decisions to make," Price said.
4A MVP: Sandy Marvin, Payson
Every year, this senior point guard picks a skill and makes it her summer project. First it was shooting, and then ball-handling. Last summer it was passing she chose to perfect, and her coach said it made the difference between a winning season and a championship finish.
"She realized she had to be able to get the ball to her teammates when she was being double-teamed," said Payson coach Dave Hiatt. "She works on something every summer, and she does it all on her own."
Marvin is an all-state athlete in three sports — volleyball, softball and basketball.
"She loves athletics and she's got a lot of energy," Hiatt said. "She's only got one speed and it's way too fast."
Marvin was one of the state's leading scorers, averaging 20 points per game. But she was also so tough defensively, it's hard to say how she helped the team most. Her coach, for one, sees the two as symbiotic.
"Our offensive approach was helped by our defensive efforts," Hiatt said. "Because of the way we played, we got a lot of points off turnovers."
Marvin wasn't just the leader in scoring and steals; she offered moral support to her teammates.
"She always picked everybody else up," Hiatt said. "She's really hard on herself, and the other players know that. So when she gets down, they pick her up."
Payson went through a metamorphosis mid-season that allowed them to beat region rival Timpview for the first time in four seasons. They continued their winning ways and defeated Timpview in the championship game for the school's first basketball title — boys or girls.
"It was one of those once in a life-time deals," Hiatt said. "We got to a point where we weren't having any fun, the pressure of being ranked so high all season was getting to us. Then, mid-season, we just kind of clicked when Sandy clicked and decided it was our year."
3A MVP: Morgan Warburton, Carbon
Several times this season, the Dinos were on the verge of losing a game, and it was Morgan Warburton who came to their rescue. It wasn't, however, always by scoring for the 3A champions.
"She'd scored 30 points in the championship game against Morgan, and then she picked up her fifth foul," coach Bruce Bean said. "She grabbed Halee Rasmussen and said, 'We're not going to lose this game. Get it done.' In years past, she might have gotten down or frustrated, but this year, she never let her frustration show."
Instead, she willed her teammates to follow her lead. Bean said that several times during the season, Warburton grabbed key rebounds, or made a big shot to turn the momentum in the Dinos' favor.
This senior, who was also a volleyball MVP, is officially a forward at 5-foot-10, but she can handle the ball like a point guard and often did for the 3A state champion Dinos. She proved herself one of the best players in the state as she averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds per game.
"She's always been good," Bean said. "Skill-wise, not a lot changed. What did change was her maturity."
Bean said she went to summer camps over the summer after verbally committing to the University of Utah, where she'll play point guard. That took some of the recruiting pressure off of her, but the camps also showed her what she was in for as a Division I player.
"She realized the difference in the skill level, and she really worked hard on getting herself in shape for college," Bean said. "She lowered her body fat by lifting weights and just really worked hard."
In fact, she became one of the team's hardest-working players. Another aspect of her maturity showed up in how much her passing abilities improved. Sometimes, they were too good for her coach's liking.
"There were times this year that I had to tell her to keep the ball," Bean said. "She realized she could score 30 points and we could lose, or she could score 20 and two other kids score in double figures and we win. She knew we were going to have to have more."
2A MVP: Heather Hillock, Beaver
Sometimes Beaver coach Jon Marshall would open his mouth to call a play, and sometimes the words came out his point guard's mouth.
"I would go to call the play and she would practically call the play right as I did," Marshall said of Heather Hillock. "She took care of a lot of stuff on her own out there on the floor. It was like having another coach out there."
A starter since she was a sophomore, Hillock is also a versatile athlete who boasts all-state awards in volleyball and set a school record in the 400 meters in track. She's an honor student, and Marshall said that her intelligence helps her run the team's offense.
"She's a big-game type of player," Marshall said, noting that she's been around the game of basketball all of her life as her father is the women's basketball coach at SUU. "She doesn't shy away from the pressure at all . . . She's very competitive and she doesn't take losing well. She demands a lot of herself."
While she pushes herself, she respects her teammates, which makes her a very effective leader.
"She treats her teammates extremely well," he said. "She inspires and encourages them. She makes everybody else better."
She may be the go-to player, but she doesn't have a superstar ego.
"She does a great job of including everybody," he said.
1A MVP: Halie Sawyer, Panguitch
Last year, Halie Sawyer played her game in the shadow of her older sister, Jenna. Graduation changed the landscape not just for Halie, but for the Bobcats.
Sawyer hasn't shunned the added workload at all. In fact, she's blossomed into one of the state's best all-around basketball players.
"Her biggest improvement is her rebounding," said head coach Curtis Barney of the junior who averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game. "I think she's kind of known that she's kind of our go-to girl, but that was the strength of our team. Each player knew their role, and how to make adjustments. Halie knew that if she wasn't scoring, she needed to do other things."
Barney talked to Sawyer about the added responsibilities, but that role also evolved as the season progressed and the team improved.
"It especially showed in the state tournament," he said. "Her maturity really showed. She wanted to prove that not only was the team good enough to be there, but we were the best team."
Sawyer, who was also the Deseret News MVP in volleyball, is being recruited in both sports. Barney said she's spent a lot of time working on her game in the offseason, and matured a lot in just a year. Instead of becoming frustrated when teams double-teamed her, she found a way to a pass to her open teammates.
"It didn't seem to really affect her or frustrate her," he said. "She didn't show her frustration; it just seemed to motivate her to do better. It was almost like she turned it up one more notch, in the state tournament, and showed her domination."
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com