<\/p>\n
Mitty forward McKenna Woliczko is double-teamed by Clovis West forwards Ryleigh Schoonover (5) and Sydney Swillis during the first half of their CIF open division NorCal championship in San Jose on March 10. Mitty won 71-42.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Mitty forward McKenna Woliczko laughs as she autographs friend Billy Ferreira\u2019s shirt after her CIF Open Division NorCal semifinal against San Ramon Valley in San Jose on March 7. Woliczko, a senior and one of the top basketball recruits in the country, will attend Iowa in the fall.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Senior McKenna Woliczko finished off an impeccable high school career by winning her third Chronicle Metro Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s the second person to have ever won it three times, joining Courtney Paris, who played for Piedmont High, the University of Oklahoma and in the\u00a0WNBA. That places Woliczko, a San Bruno resident, among the most accomplished Bay Area prep girls players since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n
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And that\u2019s some list. It includes Paris, Brooke Smith (Marin Catholic-Kentfield), Jayne Appel (Carondelet-Concord), Brittany Boyd (Berkeley), Sabrina Ionescu (Miramonte-Orinda) and Mitty\u2019s own Danielle Robinson and Haley Jones. All either currently play (Ionescu and Jones) or played in the WNBA. Paris is an assistant coach with the New York Liberty, which drafted Ionescu with the first pick of the 2020 draft and won the 2024 WNBA title.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Woliczko\u00a0\u201chas certainly put herself in that conversation,\u201d said Clay Kallam, a Bay Area girls basketball coach and journalist since the 1970s. \u201cShe\u2019s right up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Mitty coach Sue Phillips, who has won 874 games against 146 losses and was inducted into the Women\u2019s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024, said of Woliczko, \u201cShe\u2019s had an incredible career. She very much deserves to be in that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n McKenna Woliczko\u00a0<\/p>\n High school: Archbishop Mitty, San Jose<\/p>\n Size: 6-2<\/p>\n College: Iowa<\/p>\n Season average: 20.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals<\/p>\n Season stats:\u00a0FGs (70.2%), FTs (81%), 3-pointers (40%)<\/p>\n Career averages: 21.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.3 steals Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Woliczko\u00a0would have likely stood by herself as the only four-time Player of the Year had she not suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the middle of her junior season. She was averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds for what was then the No. 1 team in the nation.<\/p>\n Phillips called the injury a \u201cgut punch.\u201d Woliczko, a perpetually upbeat teen, called it a \u201cvery stressful experience.\u201d But like stressful parts of game action or gut-punching defeats, Woliczko simply rolled with it. \u201cMore like rocked it,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n Instead, the year away from competition, playing fewer games as a senior\u00a0\u2014 she missed the first four weeks and 10 games\u00a0\u2014 didn\u2019t work against Woliczko for this individual award at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n Already the most talented and recruited player in the region\u00a0\u2014 as the No. 6 ranked player from the Class of 2026 by ESPN, Woliczko is the highest-ranked Iowa recruit since Caitlin Clark\u00a0\u2014 her dedication and devotion to the team off the court is what pushed her over the top to win the Chronicle Player of the Year award for a third time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In fact, the 2025-26 salute could also double as the Teammate of the Year award.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the sideline, at practice, or on the bench during game day, there was a regular dialogue with her and teammates,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cShe was mentoring in the form of X\u2019s and O\u2019s, offering championship\u00a0mindset advice, words of encouragement. The whole time, she was also learning more about the game as well as her teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe stacked days in the weight room and on the basketball court. There was always a connection before correction with her teammates. She always approached tactfully when addressing ways to improve.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile McKenna was not physically capable of competing on the court with her teammates, she was mentally in lockstep with them. She attacked her rehab and recovery with the same relentless competitive edge and mindset that she plays the game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time Woliczko hit the hardwood on Jan. 2 in an 82-44 win over\u00a0Clovis, a team that won 26 games and eventually captured the\u00a0NorCal Division 1 championship, she was at full throttle. Playing in 3- and 4-minute increments, Woliczko had 19 points and 13 rebounds, playing about 15 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cAmazing comeback performance,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cA year away from a basketball game and the next time she suits up, she logs a double-double. Incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n Woliczko was just getting started. She averaged 20.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 70.2% from the field (184-for-262) and 81% on free throws (59-for-73), leading the Monarchs to a 28-3 record and their fifth straight Northern California and Central Coast Section and Open Division title, the program\u2019s 34th section championship overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because Mitty won games by an average score of 73-36, Woliczko averaged just 22 minutes per game. In about 17 minutes, she scored 27 points on 13-for-15 shooting with four blocks in a 90-31 CCS Open Division title win at\u00a0USF over the Chronicle\u2019s No. 10 team, Riordan.\u00a0<\/p>\n The contest crystallized her season \u2014 even a career \u2014 as she didn’t force her offense. She shared the ball. She actually waited until the team led 19-3 before attempting a shot.<\/p>\n When asked after the game whether the time away made her hungrier to be on the court,\u00a0Woliczko said: \u201cIt makes me realize to be more grateful and enjoy every single moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Her final moment wearing a Mitty jersey on the court was not so joyous.\u00a0<\/p>\n For the fifth straight year \u2014 fourth for Woliczko \u2014 the Monarchs dropped a state championship game to a Southern California foe at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, this time losing to Ontario Christian 56-49. Mitty finished ranked second in the state and No. 3 in the nation by MaxPreps. Woliczko had 19 points and 10 rebounds<\/p>\n She still has Iowa to look forward to, and played in this week\u2019s McDonald\u2019s All-American game in Phoenix, where she had four points, four rebounds, a steal, an assist and a block for the West in a 91-71 loss to the East.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was on my bucket list as a kid to play in this game, so that\u2019s very cool,\u201d she said afterward. \u201cIt was an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillips, who has been at Mitty since 1992, said coaching Woliczko was a \u201cprivilege and honor. She\u2019s an unbelievable basketball player, but even a better human being. \u2026 She walks through life with incredible grace, confidence and humility. \u2026 I\u2019m really happy for her and her future.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Freelance writer Mitch Stephens has covered high school sports for The Chronicle since 2001. Email: mitch@scorebooklive.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mitty forward McKenna Woliczko is double-teamed by Clovis West forwards Ryleigh Schoonover (5) and Sydney Swillis during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[951,2044,105568,88,90,89,127,8859],"class_list":["post-253490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-high-school","tag-high-school-sports","tag-mckenna-woliczko","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sports","tag-womens-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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