Derby girls basketball’s Addy Brown, an Iowa State recruit, named McDonald’s All-American
Following in her sister’s footsteps, Derby girls basketball senior Addyson Brown was named a 2023 McDonald’s All-American on Tuesday.
Brown, an Iowa State recruit, was selected from a list of more than 700 nominees and will play in the McDonald’s All-American Game on Tuesday, March 28, at 5:30 p.m. in Houston’s Toyota Center, home of the NBA’s Rockets, with the TV broadcast on ESPN2.
Her older sister, Kennedy, was the first female high school player from Kansas to play in the prestigious game in 2019. After beginning her career at Oregon State, Kennedy, a 6-foot-6 center, has transferred to Duke, where she is currently averaging 7.8 points and 4.7 rebounds for a top-25 team.
“Both of them have just tremendous basketball IQ, but where Kennedy was more of a quiet leader, Addy really has a niche for leading,” said Derby girls basketball coach Dan Harrison, who has coached both of the sisters. “Addy is really one of the best leaders that I’ve ever coached. She’s always bringing kids in and encouraging them and taking them under her wing. ‘Hey, stay with me after practice and shoot.’
“She is one of those star players who really makes all of her teammates around her better. The kids trust her to make a play and she trusts them to finish a play. Put those two pieces together and it’s pretty powerful.”
Brown, a 6-foot-3 forward, is averaging 20.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists this season. She has helped Derby (8-1) maintain its championship contender status despite the team replacing almost all of the production around her from last year.
Her abilities on the court are obvious watching her play: Brown can score inside, pull up for mid-range jumpers and hit three-pointers. She is a savvy defender, a tenacious rebounder and perhaps her best trait, or at least the one that always amazes Harrison, is her ability to read the game and pass like a point guard.
As valuable as Brown’s production is to Derby, Harrison argues her leadership is near equal.
“It really is like having a coach on the floor,” Harrison said. “I can see stuff from the sidelines, but she’s the one on the court in the game. We know each other well enough now where I’ll look at her and say, ‘What do you think about this?’ And then sometimes she’ll come up and say, ‘Hey, they haven’t been able to stop this, let’s do more of that.’
“She’s always looking to get her four teammates involved. Her mindset is if defenses focus on stopping her, then she has four other teammates who are going to step up and make plays. It’s really empowering for the other players when the best player on the floor has that belief in you.”
Brown is just the third McDonald’s All-American from Kansas, joining her sister, Kennedy, in 2019 and Bishop Miege’s Payton Verhulst, a current Louisville player, in 2021.
The Derby girls basketball team had an off day on Tuesday when the news was announced and the Panthers will return to action for a three-day tournament in Emporia starting on Thursday.
Tuesday’s Wichita high school basketball game scores
Boys
Heights 67, Northwest 42
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 69, North 40
South 49, West 47
Southeast 63, Bishop Carroll 62
Hutchinson 55, Derby 50
Maize South 63, Goddard 30
Augusta 56, El Dorado 49 (OT)
McPherson 51, Andale 36
Mulvane 58, Clearwater 37
Clay Center 52, Hillsboro 40
Smoky Valley 50, Hutchinson Trinity 43
Girls
Bishop Carroll 45, Southeast 42
Heights 56, Northwest 21
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 42, North 33
Smoky Valley 58, Hutchinson Trinity 27
Inman 47, Belle Plaine 34
Sedgwick 44, Wichita Defenders 25
Norwich 54, Cunningham 12
Wildcat Classic (Mulvane)
Arkansas City 36, Winfield 30
Wellington 72, Campus 6
Conway Springs 45, Wichita North 20 (Monday)
Mulvane 44, Wichita Collegiate 29 (Monday)
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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