Meet the News-Leader's 2022-23 All-Ozarks high school girls' basketball teams

For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Springfield News-Leader is bringing back its All-Ozarks basketball teams as we honor the best high school athletes from across southwest Missouri.

In addition to our Dominant Dozen, in which we name the 12 most impactful players of the season, we're giving you our choices for who the top players in the region were in a team format regardless of class and conference. We're choosing this team based on who in the area we would most want on the floor with the game on the line.

The News-Leader is announcing a first and a second team and honorable mention selections. Athletes were chosen by News-Leader observations, conversations with coaches and others, observing highlight films and weekly statistics, the player's team's strength of schedule and seeing each player's impact on their teams throughout the season.

Here are the News-Leader All-Ozarks girls' basketball selections for the 2022-23 season.

First Team All-Ozarks

Kaemyn Bekemeier, Republic

Perhaps the greatest Republic girls' basketball player of all time exits the Springfield high school basketball scene after a marvelous career leading the Lady Tigers.

Bekemeier did a little bit of everything for Republic on the court this season while being the program's lone senior. She scored 22.5 points per game to go along with 10 rebounds. She also got her teammates involved with three assists per game and was committed to the defensive side of the ball. When the lights shined the brightest, she'd take over with not much resistance from anyone in the area.

Only a handful of players over the last decade come close to the level of player Bekemeier was over the last four seasons. The News-Leader's player of the year will look to add to her area legacy by attending Missouri State over the next few years.

Destiny Buerge, Carl Junction

Leading what turned out to be the best team in southwest Missouri, Buerge was Carl Junction's top scorer en route to a co-Class 5 Player of the Year honor. She's been one of the best scorers in the area for a few seasons and she got the opportunity to lead her team on a deep postseason run with a state runner-up finish.

Buerge averaged 24.6 points per game and was a 34.4% shooter from beyond the arc. She put effort into the boards by grabbing 5.3 per game. She played at a high enough level that she was named the co-Central Ozark Conference Player of the Year alongside Bekemeier.

Buerge has been one of the best players out of the Joplin area over the last few years and she certainly left her mark in a Carl Junction program that has been on a roll over the last several seasons.

Norah Clark, Nixa

Clark's 2022-23 season saw her step into a starring role and show off some of the best all-around skills in the Ozarks that make her the Division I prospect she is.

The UT Martin signee averaged 16.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while leading a Nixa team that lost quite a bit of production from the year before. Clark showed that she's one of the smoothest players in the area to go along with great basketball IQ and a desire to make everyone around her better.

And if she needed to, Clark would take over and be the one Nixa, one of the best programs in the area, to lead them to victory. She may be just starting to scratch the surface of the player she can become.

Kameron Green, Fair Grove

The heart of the Fair Grove state champion girls' basketball team, Green willed her program to the top and put her name down in Lady Eagles history on her way out.

Green averaged 16 points and nearly seven rebounds per game for a Fair Grove team that finally got over the Strafford hump and a team that had to come from behind to knock off defending state champ El Dorado Springs in the title game. She scored 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting to come away with the state championship win.

The Lady Eagles were the lone team to win a state championship out of southwest Missouri this season and Green was the best player on it and was a big reason why a first-place trophy now resides in Fair Grove.

Raegan McCowan, Lebanon

McCowan ended her career in Lebanon as one of the school's all-time greats and was the Ozark Conference's player of the year this season.

McCowan put up some of the best numbers in the Ozarks by averaging 26.9 points and 9.1 boards per game before she plays next season at Western Illinois. Her ability to score could make her an instant impact player at the next level.

Not many have had individual success quite at the level of McCowan over the years. She's been able to lead Lebanon to four straight winning seasons and it wouldn't be a surprise if she keeps being a big reason why her teams win when she puts on a college uniform.

Second Team All-Ozarks

• Lauren Luebbert, Marshfield

• Allyssa Joyner, West Plains

• Macie Mays, El Dorado Springs

• Logan Jones, Mansfield

• Sara Mendel, Ava

Honorable Mention

• Megan Brown, Sparta

• Kenzi Cheek, Skyline

• Kaitlyn Drake, Norwood

• Grace Frazier, Diamond

• Ashlen Garrett, Skyline

• Jacie Gavisk, Walnut Grove

• Willow Gideon, Rolla

• Kerrigan Guerin, Chadwick

• Kya Johnson, Kickapoo

• Elsie Larsen, Strafford

• Sami Mancini, Webb City

• Misora Nambara, Republic

• Mikayla Pilley, Kickapoo

• Cora Roweton, Bolivar

• Kylie Scott, Carl Junction

• Ellie Smith, Walnut Grove

• Zoey Williams, West Plains

• Kianna Yates, Carthage

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: News-Leader 2022-23 All-Ozarks girls' basketball team revealed