Player of the Year

Published 12:01 am Sunday, March 13, 2011

No, Suzanna Ohlsen wasn’t manufactured out of all the best parts people want from their high school students. It only seems that way.

Outstanding student? Check. Star athlete? Check. All-around good citizen? Check.

In fact, if Ohlsen weren’t such a good person, it’d be enough to generate plenty of “Give me a breaks!”

But those who know Ohlsen best say that as good an athlete as she is — and she’s very, very good — she’s an even better person.

“She’s a great player but what I appreciate about her the most is how she carries herself,” Monroe girls basketball coach Rodney Walker said earlier this past season. “She’s a great teammate, she’s very supportive, she works as hard as anyone and she doesn’t make excuses. How good a player she is is secondary to what kind of person she is.”

So it’s no wonder that the 5-foot-8 senior guard from Monroe High School has been named the Herald’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Ohlsen averaged 22 points a game en route to leading the Bearcats to the state tournament. Along the way, she scored 36 points against Kamiak only to better it 11 days later with a school-record 40 against Marysville-Pilchuck. All the while, Ohlsen maintained her 4.0 grade point average.

“I’ve had to sacrifice a lot, a lot of times with friends,” Ohlsen said. “You just have to set priorities, getting your homework done before you go on Facebook or whatever. But it feels good to be able to balance everything.”

Her 40-point effort isn’t the only athletic legacy Ohlsen will leave at Monroe. She also holds the school record in the 800-yard run set when she competed for the Bearcat track and field team, and she went to state four years in a row for the Monroe cross country team.

But Ohlsen said even she was surprised as how productive she was as a scorer this season for the Bearcat basketball team.

“I thought maybe I’d average around 15 points a game or so,” Ohlsen said. “The biggest struggle was that teams were keying on me. They would throw box-and-ones or face guard me. But it made me expand my game. I thought that I can either try to beat this double team by myself or hit my open teammate. It was about doing what’s right for the team rather than for myself.”

That Ohlsen was even in position to have the kind of season she did wasn’t always a sure thing. She said there were times during her sophomore year that she even wanted to keep playing basketball, but others encouraged her to keep going.

“They told me to keep practicing, keep working hard,” she said. “And I just love being in the gym, competing, playing, getting better. And last year I kind of had a breakout season and that kind of set up this year.”

While Ohlsen’s production this season was prodigious, she’s already done enough to secure a scholarship to Division II power Seattle Pacific University. She said signing with the Falcons early alleviated some pressure and distractions and allowed her to simply play her game. It showed, as Ohlsen scored in double figures in all but two games and had at least 20 points 14 times. In fact, the only team to hold Ohlsen under double figures was Snohomish, against whom she managed just six and eight points in their two meetings.

“Their coach (Ken Roberts) is a genius,” Ohlsen said. “He always has some crazy gimmick defense. They did a great job.”

So, how would Ohlsen defend herself. She thinks for a minute before deciding it’s OK to reveal her idea, and then she does so with zeal.

“I would put a box-and-one on me and have the fastest, tallest, strongest player guarding me and keep me from making my cuts,” she said. “Just put a ton of pressure on me, force me to dribble and keep me from getting my outside shot. Just constantly stay up on me.”

Ohlsen will surely find teams at the next level who will find ways to make life difficult on her. And she said that’s a challenge she’s looking forward to.

“I can’t wait,” she said. “I’ve never had a chance really to play with a real post player, and SPU has some pretty talented posts who are going to be fun to play with. I’m just looking forward to the challenge of getting better and competing against the best players I can.”