Bee’s Best: Rio Americano’s Abby O’Brien wins senior girls’ basketball player poll

Rio Americano Abby O’Brien won The Sacramento Bee’s top senior girls’ basketball player in the area poll.

O’Brien won the poll with 28% of the vote, with over 29,000 total votes. The entire poll had over 100,000 votes.

She is a four-year varsity player who is averaging 13.8 points and five rebounds this season and is averaging a career-best in every static. O’Brien was an All-Metro selection during the spring.

“As a coach, I could not ask for a harder-working or intelligent player (on and off the court),” Rio Americano coach Shawn Steck said. “Abby is a four-year varsity player, whose game is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our team. The most unique aspect about Abby is her desire to put our team’s goals ahead of her own. “

What impresses Steck about O’Brien is her ability as a shooter. O’Brien has hit 66 3-pointers this season.

“Primarily a shooter at heart, Abby has spent the past two offseasons working on her ability to get to the rim and finish,” Steck said. “As a captain (along with fellow seniors Haille Hackett, and Sierra Witte) Abby is extremely positive, supportive, and makes all the players around her better. As our team’s co-MVP this season (along with Junior, Bizzie Lynch), she has learned to become an amazing leader on defense this year, through her strong communication and work ethic.”

Del Campo’s Paige Krenecki came in second place with 23% of the vote. Folsom’s Abbey Hadsell and Makayla Jackson and Rocklin’s Keke Scott all got over 10,000 votes.

This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 1:28 PM.