Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week (1/15/2024)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska High School Athlete of the Week for Jan. 8-14. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. Voting will conclude Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com. 

Editor’s Note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll are intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes who receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.

Halle Dolliver – Malcolm Girls Basketball

Dolliver makes it onto the AOTW list for the second time this season following 23 points in a win over Ralston. The Malcolm sophomore hit on 10 of 19 and notched her eighth game of the season with more than 20 points. The season is a little more than half over and Dolliver has already made 100 shots, is shooting 47% and averaging over 23 points per game. In the past five games, she’s had totals of 27 and 33 in addition to the 23 she had in the win over Ralston.

Ashlynn Florell – Overton Girls Basketball

Florell has been on quite the run over the past seven games, scoring double digits in six of them and scoring at or above her season average four times. The Overton senior ended her run of six straight games with 10 or more points on Friday when she had 19, shot 8 of 18 and tied her career-high with seven steals. Florell is a nightly stat sheet filler, averaging 11 points, four rebounds, three steals and 2.5 assists.

Hannah Hilker – O’Neill Girls Basketball

It’s only been 12 games, but it looks like Hilker has the stuff to find herself nominated for AOTW often over the next four seasons. She earns her first nomination this week after 19 points, 6 of 10 shooting and six three-pointers in a win over Ainsworth. The Eagle freshman has eight games with more than 10 points, is hitting 45% from beyond the arc and has 30 made shots from distance. Hilker has three or makes from out there in half of her games.

Ella Holman – Perkins County Girls Basketball

Like many freshmen, Holman often struggles with consistency. But when the rookie is on, it’s clear that there’s a bright future ahead. Friday against Wauneta-Palisade was another big step forward in a performance that included a career-high 19 points. Holman shot 7 of 10, hit 4 of 5 from long range and grabbed six rebounds to go with three steals.

Laynee Lutz – Dundy County-Stratton Girls Basketball

Lutz is no stranger to scoring, but she’s never had a night like on Jan. 11 when the DCS junior put together a career-high 25 points. It was the best scoring night of her varsity career by eight points and included 6 of 12 shooting, 6 of 7 from the free throw line and five rebounds. Lutz will pass 100 points in a season for the first time in her career and could double or even triple her previous best.

Mia McMahon – Skutt Catholic Girls Basketball

Skutt needed a leader to step up and get the Skyhawks back on track following a loss Jan. 6 to top-ranked Bellevue West. With No. 16 Bellevue West on the schedule, there was no relief in sight. But after trailing by four at halftime, McMahon scored 13 of her game-high 17 points in the second half.

Taryn Otteman – Johnson-Brock Girls Basketball

Otteman was a nominee for AOTW back on Dec. 11 following games with point totals of 28 and 27. Since then she’s remained an unstoppable force for the Eagles who are 11-1 thanks in large part to Otteman’s 18 points and eight rebounds per game. This past week she scored 25 in a victory over Tri-County by shooting 10 of 19, went 3 of 5 from the perimeter and grabbed 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.

Isabelle Reichman – South Platte Girls Basketball

Reichman had a stretch of three games in a row earlier this season with a scoring total in double figures. She passed that on Jan. 11 when she scored 21 and made it four games in a row of 10 or more points. Reichman shot 8 of 14, was 5 of 10 from three-point range and swiped away four steals. She has made 28 threes in nine games and has made four or more in five of those.

Avalina Stoner – Mitchell Girls Wrestling

Stoner wrestled in her sixth title match of the season and won her fourth title on Jan. 11 in Gering. The Mitchell junior made it seven wins in a row when she scored three pinfalls and took the gold in a dramatic sudden victory over Bayard’s Carlie McKibbin. McKibbin had denied Stoner a championship at Hemingford and Sidney and had also handed her a loss during a Dec. 7 dual. But Stoner has had the best of McKibbin the last two matches, winning the Garden County Invite 5-4 then at Gering behind a takedown with nine seconds left in overtime.

Doneelah Washington – Lincoln Northeast Girls Basketball

Washington could be on this list every week. For this season, she’s nominated for the AOTW award for the second time thanks to 26 points against Lincoln High and her fifth straight game of more than 20 points. Washington made 10 of 16 shots, hit 6 of her 7 chances at the free throw line and pulled down 16 rebounds. It was Washington’s ninth double-double of the season.

Josh Eakins – Paxton Boys Basketball

Paxton was coming off a blowout loss and needed a spark Friday in a home game against Wallace. Eakins provided that spark when he shot 10 of 13 and scored 24 while leading the Tigers to a blowout win. It was his fifth game of the season with more than 20 points and tied his season-high point total. Eakins is shooting 48% this season and has 789 career points.

Tyson Essex – Loomis boys basketball

Essex had a slow start to the season but has been unstoppable over the past month. The Loomis junior has scored in double figures in seven of the past nine games and is averaging 15 points per game. Friday against Wilcox-Hildreth, he made it five games in a row with 10 or more points and scored a career-high 23 points, hit five three-pointers and handed out six assists.

Wyler Fisher – Morrill Boys Basketball

Fisher had his toughest game of the season on Jan. 9, made just one shot and scored just three points. But Fisher had double-digit points in eight of 12 games and wasn’t about to be held down again Friday against Minatare. The Morrill junior was back on track with 18 points and 50% shooting. He was one rebound away from a double-double and also had five assists.

Cauy Kohl – Sutherland Boys Wrestling

Three pinfalls and a major decision gave Kohl his fourth tournament title of the season on Friday at the Elm Creek Invite. Kohl won the 144-pound championship and kept his record flawless at 23-0. The Sutherland senior pinned two foes in the first period, won in the quarterfinals by pin in the second period after building a 12-3 lead then took the gold by 14-4 decision over an opponent with 18 wins.

Hailey Medina – Gering Girls Wrestling

Medina has a sterling record as the season turns to the second half and has yet to wrestle a full six-minute match. The Gering senior improved to 19-0 and captured her fourth tournament title of the season on Jan. 11 at home. As usual, she was no match for the competition. Medina won four matches by pinfall and now has 16 of those 19 wins by pin. She’s finished off 10 of the 16 in the first period and has yet to wrestle longer than 4:40.

Alex Molzahn – Alma Boys Wrestling

Molzahn has already been in five tournament title matches this year and has amassed 23 wins in the first six weeks of competition. On Friday at Elm Creek, he earned the 165-pound championship and improved his record to 23-3. Molzahn also wrestled for a title at Harvard, Southern Valley, Cambridge and Franklin. He came up short his first three times to wrestlers who have a combined record of 51-6 before tasting gold on Jan. 6 in a 6-5 win against an opponent who came into the match with 23 victories.

Cooper Mroczek – Elkhorn South Boys Basketball

Mroczek has had quite the two-game stretch, scoring nearly the same total points he has had in the previous 10 games. In a Jan. 6 game against Westside, Mroczek had one of the highest totals anywhere in Nebraska when he scored 32 and hit seven three-pointers. Five days later, Mroczek struggled to hit shots but earned his way to the free throw line enough to go 7 for 7 and score 18 points, his second-highest total of the year.

Derek Rollins – Millard North Boys Basketball

Rollins was instrumental for Millard North in a top-five overtime win against Gretna on Thursday. The Mustang junior topped 20 points for the fourth time this season and also had his seventh double-double on three offensive and eight defensive rebounds. Millard North has played six opponents in the SBLive Power 25 already this season, and Rollins is averaging over 20 points per game in those high-level matchups.

Adam Searcey – Lincoln Pius X Boys Basketball

Searcey had his best offensive game of the season on Thursday when he and the Thunderbolts earned a revenge win over Lincoln Southeast. The Pius senior scored his highest total of the season and tied his second-best total of his career with 16, hit three three-pointers and made 5 of 6 at the free throw line. His 15 points were a game-high during a win that avenged a HAC Tournament final loss 11 days earlier.

John Sims – Omaha Westview Boys Basketball

Sims had his best two-game scoring stretch of the season recently when he had 11 and then a career-high 21. The Westview junior shot 9 of 15 and hit three from beyond the arc while also swiping away five steals and grabbing five rebounds during his 21-point effort against Omaha South. Since a three-game stretch early in which Sims was off and scored a total of just 18 points, he's averaging over 13 points per game in the last seven.

Ayden Zikmund – Central City Boys Basketball

Zikmund put together his sixth game of the season with 20 or more points on Thursday when he had 24 in a win over Ravenna. His 24 points included three makes from beyond the arc and a perfect 7 for 7 at the free throw line. Zikmund has had at least 11 points in every game this season, is averaging over 18 points, has 33 makes from the perimeter and is on pace for his second straight 500-point season of his career.