Prep athletes of the week: Champlin Park guard saves best for No. 1

Scoring 16 points is good game for most players, but it was a dissatisfying 16 for Gibson, the Rebels' ultra-talented guard. Champlin Park defeated Roseville 84-74 in the first round of St. Cloud's Granite City Classic on Friday, but Gibson knew he would need to be better for the Rebels to have any chance to beat No. 1-ranked Apple Valley on Saturday.

"I didn't play my best," said the 6-3 Gibson, who has signed with Nebraska-Omaha. "I missed a few layups and easy shots. I had to go out and forget about that game."

He did, with a game he'll likely never forget. He scored a career-high and school-record 38 points as Class 4A, No. 2 Champlin Park defeated Apple Valley 79-74 to improve its record to 11-0. He made seven three-pointers in the game and had 25 of his points after halftime, keeping Apple Valley's comeback attempt at bay. He surpassed 1,000 career points in the process.

"In warmups, I was making my shots," Gibson said. "My confidence was pretty high."

Gibson admitted that the top spot in the state polls was a motivating factor for him and his teammates, but ultimately, a victory in December mattered little.

"They're No. 1 and we're No. 2, so that was definitely motivation," he said. "We want to be No. 1, but all that really matters is that we get better and better each day and win six straight games in March."

The sophomore guard has elevated her game this season, averaging a team-high 15 points in the Spartans' 9-0 start. Last week she scored a career-high 31 points, including four three-pointers, and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 71-47 thrashing of Buffalo.

The senior forward moved into the No. 2 spot in Minnesota in goals scored by with nine in two games last week. He had four goals in a 5-5 tie with St. Louis Park and tallied five times in a 10-1 rout of Becker/Big Lake. Leafgren has 22 goals and 27 points in 10 games.

No stranger to scoring goals, the junior forward recorded the ninth and 10th hat tricks of his high school career last week, breaking out of a four-game scoring drought. He had three goals in a 4-0 victory over Minneapolis and three goals and four assists in a 7-3 victory over Cambridge-Isanti.