Julia Robinson photo

Yvonne Anderson arrived at Hickman in 2006 with great expectations and didn’t disappoint. In two seasons, she scored 1,301 points and earned 2008 Miss Show-Me Basketball honors.

She arrived in Missouri as the reigning 6A girls basketball player of the year in Alabama and the daughter of Missouri men’s basketball Coach Mike Anderson.

Before she heads off to the University of Texas on a basketball scholarship, Hickman senior Yvonne Anderson will have gained another title: Miss Show-Me Basketball.

Today, on the same campus where her father coaches, Anderson will be honored as the state’s top senior girls basketball player during the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Academic All-State Banquet.

"I tried this year to work really hard to get it," Anderson said of the annual award. "I didn’t think I was going to get it this year because our team didn’t do as well as we could have, but I wanted to be recognized as the best senior in Missouri."

Anderson came to Columbia two years ago from Hoover High School in Alabama when her father got the Missouri job.

"Everyone was just like, ‘Oh, that’s Coach Anderson’s daughter. She’s a basketball player.’ That’s what they knew me as," Anderson said. "I had to live up to the expectations. It kind of made me work harder so I could live up to everyone’s expectations."

The hype was right.

In her two seasons in Columbia, the 5-foot-7 guard led the Kewpies to a 49-9 record and scored 1,301 points to tie Jodi Bolerjack for second place on Hickman’s all-time scoring list. Anderson led the Kewpies in scoring both seasons, setting the season mark for points as a junior (664) and establishing a new standard for scoring average (23.6) as a senior.

After leading the Kewpies to a third-place Class 5 finish as a junior, Anderson pushed Hickman to a 20-7 mark in her senior campaign by leading the Kewpies in rebounding, steals and assists.

"The last two years, she’s been the best player in the state of Missouri," Hickman Coach Tonya Mirts. "Her body control for a girl - her ability to get hit and continue to finish - you just don’t see it. That’s what separates her. She plays much more like a guy as far as athleticism."

Among Anderson’s more memorable performances this season was a 20-of-23 shooting performance against Mustang, Okla., during the KTXR Lady Classic in Springfield in which she scored a school-record 47 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

If that wasn’t her best game as a Kewpie, her final high school game was. In a 52-50 district-championship loss to eventual state champion Rock Bridge, Anderson shot 16 of 23 from the field and 9 of 10 from the foul line to score 43 of her team’s points. Anderson scored every one of Hickman’s first-half points, attempting all but three of her team’s shots to give the Kewpies a 22-21 edge at halftime.

"She just kept us in the whole way," Mirts said. "She competed incredibly."

Now that she’s conquered Alabama and dominated in Missouri, Anderson has set her sights on taking over Texas when she begins her college career with the Longhorns next fall.

"That’s the goal," Anderson said, smiling. "I would like to take over the world, but that’s going to take a lot of hard work."

Advertisement

13 weeks for $13 | Sunday & Wed In your beach bag, in your car, take it with you this summer