PIASA – If you look at the record book for Piasa Southwestern's girls basketball team, one name, no doubt, stands out.
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Maddy Greeling.
The senior guard holds the school record for most points scored in a career, entering the 2015-16 season with 1,556 points scored. Her efforts on the court were enough to earn her a spot on the Illinois Associated Press girls All-State second team last year.
And she's still got a year to go.
“My mom actually said I started dribbling (a ball) when I was two,” Greeling said. “Then I went to Alton and got into a boys league because there were no leagues around here.”
There was no particular thing that attracted Greeling to basketball. “I really don't know (why); it came to me, I guess,” Greeling said.
A senior on the Piasa Birds when Greeling was a freshman proved to be an influence on her style of play, Greeling said. “Kristen Bowman; she was a senior my eighth-grade year and I watched her for her whole high-school creer,” Greeling said. “She hustled every single game, no matter what it was, and she wore the number 10; that made want to wear the number 10 and I'm just trying to wear it as well as she did.”
“She's a pretty steady player for us,” said Piasa Birds coach Steve Wooley. “She brings a well-rounded game; she's a great ball-handler, distributor, scorer – she averages 20 a game – very unselfish when she needs to be and takes over when she needs to.
“That diversity is what's best.”
For someone who excels at the game, the possibility exists that Greeling may not go to college on a basketball scholarship or even play in college. “I'm not sure if she's going to play in college,” Wooley said. “I think she may want to focus on her academics a little bit, so we'll see.”
“Ever since I was little, I've wanted to (take her game to the next level); I've played all summer and every single summer, but I don't want to get burned out on it,” Greeling said. “I want to end it while it's still fun and I just want to focus on my school next year.”
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