ALTON - Adrenna Snipes, a sophomore forward for Marquette Catholic High School's girls' basketball team, has seen many honors come in for her since the end of her sophomore season in which Snipes has continued to emerge as one of the St. Louis area's best players.
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Snipes was recently named third-team All-State by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, and was also named honorable mention on the Illinois state Associated Press team, selected by the state's sportswriters.
In two seasons, Snipes has scored just over 1,200 career points and has recorded over 300 steals for the Explorers, twice breaking the school record for steals in a season. She also has a flair for the dramatic, twice hitting buzzer-beaters to win games for Marquette, both of them to win tournament games. Snipes also averaged 20.6 points-per-game this past season, being the sixth-leading scorer in the area according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Explorers' head coach Lee Green agreed that Snipes has become one of the area's best players.
"I agree 100 percent," Green said. "I see her every day in practice. She's hit two buzzer-beaters that won us games in tournaments, which was huge. and she also had five triple-doubles for us this year."
And Snipes is also one of the hardest-working players on an Explorer team that went 24-7 in the 2019-20 season, which ended in the IHSA Class 2A sectional semifinals at Gillespie in a 49-33 loss to Breese Mater Dei Catholic.
"There's no question," Green said. "She's the old cliche of a gym rat, working, moving, and working on her game every day."
In fact, you'll often times see Snipes staying later after practice working on her shot and other aspects of a game she truly loves.
"She loves it," Green said. "She'll stay a little after practice, working on her shot, and she does whatever it takes to get better."
Snipes was a big factor in helping the Explorers win a season-opening tournament in Columbia, where she averaged right at 30 points-per-game, and in the Carrollton Lady Hawk Classic on the first day of February, Snipes hit a buzzer-beater in the third-place game that allowed Marquette to win over Father McGivney Catholic 49-48.
Snipes hit 30 percent of her three-point shots, and also averaged 6.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 5.6 steals-per-game to lead the Explorers in those categories. She models her game after her aunt, Cathy Snipes, who's the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Alton High girls' program.
Green feels that the sky's the limit for Snipes, and with all five starters and top eight players returning for the Explorers int 2020-21, there are some really big things ahead for both her and the Marquette team.
"We talked about it in our end of the season meeting," Green said, "on our goals for next year. Our goal is to make it to state, and that's what we talked about in our meeting. And that's what we'll get to work on once we get back to normal."
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