Addie Siemsen emerging as scoring threat for Mitchell girls basketball during freshman season
Mar. 2—MITCHELL — Addie Siemsen may not have been at the front of many minds three months ago as a go-to scorer.
Fast forward to the end of the regular season, though, and the freshman is a consistent threat for the Mitchell girls basketball team that opposing teams have to deal with night-in and night-out.
The scoring jump she's made from her eighth-grade season to her freshman year is one that she said "just kind of happened," but as the shots kept dropping, her confidence kept growing.
"I didn't think it was going to happen as much as it has," Siemsen admitted about the increase in her scoring output. "I feel like I've just gotten more confident in thinking that if I shoot it, it will go in, instead of hesitating."
That confidence started becoming more apparent almost immediately. Her first made shot of the season was a buzzer-beater she sank to take down Huron, and though they were her only points of the game against the Tigers, she said hitting such a big shot that early in the season was a confidence booster for her.
Now, as the second-leading scorer for the Kernels, averaging over 10 points per game, she has a shooter's mentality — one she said her coaches have been engrained in her as the season has gone along.
"I feel like once I make one, I want to keep shooting them more," Siemsen said. "It's a good feeling when I make my first one."
Coach Dave Brooks has seen an improvement in her accuracy from last year to this. It's evident while watching her play — a made 3-pointer for the sharpshooter rarely touches anything other than net, producing the pure "swish" sound of all twine as opposed to rattling one in.
That accuracy was never more prevalent than against Sioux Falls Roosevelt, when she poured in a season-high 21 points in a win over the Rough Riders.
"It felt crazy," Siemsen recalled of the contest against Roosevelt. "I didn't even know I had 21 until I looked up and (the board) said I had 21. I didn't even believe it."
Her scoring output has taken a steady rise since that first game against Huron. And when the Kernels lost Taylor Giblin to a season-ending ACL injury in the second game of the season, Siemsen knew there was going to be a larger scoring role falling upon her, but Brooks didn't put any pressure on her to be the No. 2 scorer.
"There was no expectation or any pressure put on her that you now need to be the next scoring option," Brooks said of Siemsen's role following Giblin's injury. "We were just kind of running our offense and see what happens. She had some shots (and) made some shots to get some confidence."
But as the season progressed, she turned into the clear, go-to No. 2 scorer behind Sawyer Stoebner, and she followed up her 21-point game with 19 the next time out against Sioux Falls Lincoln. Those games were the first two in a stretch where she scored double-digit points in seven out of eight games, including five games in a row against Rapid City Stevens and Central, Sioux Falls Jefferson, Sturgis and Spearfish.
There are still areas of her game she wants to improve as just a freshman. She's been working on a pull-up jumper, as well as her driving ability and ball-handling skills.
Defenses have been forced to adapt to Siemsen's shooting this season, closing out harder and making a point to not leave her. She's combatted that by moving off the ball more to try to find open shots, instead of staying in one place during an offensive possession.
The growth for Siemsen this season has been undeniable, but Brooks said this year is just the beginning for the freshman. She and the Kernels will take on Brandon Valley on Friday, March 4, in the SoDak 16.
"There's just more confidence. (She's) a little bigger, a little stronger," Brooks said. "She's not done yet, as far as a finished product. ... She'll work at it, I know she will. That's just the person that she is."
