SAN JOSE – McKenna Woliczko burst onto the Bay Area scene last season as a freshman, putting up 20-point and 10-rebound double-doubles with regularity only a few months after graduating from middle school.
The 6-foot-2 forward rose up recruiting rankings in the same manner she jumped when competing for offensive boards, which is to say, very swiftly.
As a sophomore, much was expected from the phenom’s follow-up season.
Woliczko didn’t disappoint, averaging 22 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for a team that some called the best in Bay Area history. For this, the sophomore has been named the Bay Area News Group’s girls basketball player of the year.
The San Bruno native spent the first portion of the season as one-half of the best duo in the Bay Area.
Scenes of Woliczko blazing downcourt and catching long outlet passes from McDonald’s All-American Morgan Cheli for layups was a common sight as Mitty piled up victories over elite programs, including a nationally-televised thriller over then-No. 1 in the country Long Island Lutheran in mid-December.
”We always kind of know where each other is on the floor, and know what each other is thinking,” Woliczko said about her chemistry with the UConn-bound Cheli.
Archbishop Mitty’s McKenna Woliczko (20) listens in on a team huddle during the CIF NorCal Open Division championship (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Once a leg injury knocked Cheli out of the lineup midway through West Catholic Athletic League schedule, Woliczko stepped up for the Mitty juggernaut.
She averaged 25.6 points per game without her elite point guard as the Monarchs won the Central Coast Section Open Division title in dominating fashion.
With both Cheli and another Mitty standout, Belle Bramer, out with injuries, Woliczko went for 30 points, nine rebounds and five blocks against St. Ignatius in the section championship game.
“In my opinion, nobody can stop McKenna, especially in the post,” teammate Elana Weisman said.
Weisman was right about the sophomore’s ability to get buckets on the block, but Woliczko wasn’t happy to just dominate inside.
She spent the summer working on her jump shot, and the results were immediate as Woliczko showed that she could be more than a deadeye midrange gunner whose short bank shot is borderline unguardable.
“It’s a beautiful shot, and on her-pullup jumper, she can elevate over people,” Mitty’s Hall of Fame coach Sue Phillips said.
Woliczko shot 38 percent from the 3-point arc, looking comfortable as as standstill shooter, unleashing her shot off the catch.
That was almost an identical number to what her father, Aaron, shot as a 3-point specialist for the University of Pacific in the late 1990s.
“It runs in the family, or at least that’s what my dad would say,” Woliczko quipped.
Archbishop Mitty’s McKenna Woliczko(20) takes a shot from the mid range (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Woliczko isn’t done improving, either.
A tighter handle, a more advanced scoring arsenal on the outside and creative passing could be coming as soon as next season for the Mitty superstar.
“Our standard has a legacy (of success) because we have people who are in college and the WNBA,” Woliczko said. “We don’t lower that standard for anyone.”
If, or perhaps when, that improvement happens, she could join Mitty alum and Atlanta Dream point-forward Haley Jones as the only three-time winner of this news organization’s player of the year award.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE AND HOW SELECTIONS ARE MADE
Athletes eligible for all-Bay Area News Group recognition come from leagues based predominantly in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The selections this season were made by the Bay Area News Group’s Darren Sabedra, Joseph Dycus and Nathan Canilao.