GIRLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

She stood out on the biggest stages ... and she was pretty good the rest of the time, too.

Smithton’s Alina Voronenko lived up to the preseason hype, leading the Tigers further than they had ever gone before.

Voronenko’s play this season made her a unanimous pick for The Democrat’s 2008 Player of the Year.

“I think it was just stepping up,” she said.

“Part of the reason is you go from a junior to a senior — the No. 1 thing is just maturity. For me ... my senior year, you have to lead.”

Voronenko entered the season with some lofty expectations, especially since she had just committed to play Division I basketball for Kansas State next season.

The 6-foot-2 senior averaged 23.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 4.6 steals per game as the Tigers (26-3) advanced to the Class 2 quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

She seemed to be at her best when Smithton played against good teams.

“The big games would really get her excited and ready to go, and she would go out there and perform,” Smithton coach John Curry said.

“In those games, the one thing she did that sometimes she didn’t always do is she always attacked the basket.”

The Latvian talent twice set what she believed were career highs, and both came against high-caliber teams.

In the W-K Holiday Shootout, Voronenko poured in 33 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, blocked five shots and had a pair of steals and assists.

Those impressive numbers came against Skyline, a team that won the Class 3 championship this season.

As impressive as her game was in that 67-64 loss, Voronenko put together her best scoring display in January.

Playing against Versailles and former Player of the Year Julie Teeple, Voronenko poured in 42 points and secured 11 rebounds while dishing out five assists in a 76-62 win.

She scored 22 points in the Class 2, District 7, semifinals to help the Tigers cruise to a 55-37 win against Russellville.

Voronenko was perhaps at the top of her game in the Class 2 quarterfinals against Westran.

She scored 26 points and helped orchestrate the Tigers’ offense against the Hornets — who went on to be the state runner-ups for the second straight year.

“It was actually pretty amazing, not what I expected,” Voronenko said of the season. “When we first met, me and coach Curry, I thought we were actually going to be worse this year.”

Voronenko said her concerns stemmed from the graduation of several players that gave the Tigers depth inside.

Without an inside presence, Voronenko was worried Smithton would struggle against teams with a good center.

That’s where she came in.

“She was fun to coach,” Curry said.

“She listened, she worked hard. We asked her to do a lot of things this year that she hadn’t done in the past.”

Although the senior was recruited to K-State because of her shooting skill, Voronenko agreed to shoulder some of the load inside and spent the summer learning how to post up in the paint.

“Coach made me post up a lot,” she said.

“He told me, ‘Once you beat them on the inside and then they start clogging that up and they know they have to protect that — then you can have your outside shots.’ That’s how it worked.

“It’s a lot better when you start by making a few shots on the inside.”

Voronenko made those shots inside, which helped her and the Tigers reach a new level of success.

Curry said the switch helped her defensively because she played more physically in the paint and still avoided foul trouble most of the time.

Curry said Voronenko and Brittney Hotsenpiller spent a lot of the preseason working together to improve their post moves. Voronenko developed a left-handed shot to keep defenders honest.

“She does pick up things really, really quick,” Curry said.

Voronenko said she thought committing to the Wildcats early made focusing on this season easier.

“I think it did a little bit because all these phone calls blowing up and stuff, I got that out of the way,” she said.

“Now I have just one coach, she’d send me a fax sometimes asking about the team. It really helps and for me, it was a personal choice because now I know where I’m going. Everything’s set.”