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2009 Girls Basketball All-Star Team

Madison Parrish of Hanford High is The Bee's Player of the Year for 2009.

Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 | 07:00 PM

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All that’s left for Madison Parrish is the picture.

It’s the one that high school basketball teams traditionally take at center court at Sacramento’s Arco Arena after winning state championships.

It’s the one she remembers her sister, Amy, being a part of after Hanford High captured the Division II title in 2001.

Madison was 8 years old.

“I don’t remember the game at all,” she says, “but I remember them taking the picture.”

An indelible snapshot, and that’s all that’s left for Parrish.

Only a sophomore, she’s won everything else in only two years: 51 games, two West Yosemite League championships, two Central Section titles, two WYL co-Player of the Year awards, a Bee All-Star and All-State Underclass as a freshman, and now The Fresno Bee’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Yet, she says: “There’s a lot of things I still need to accomplish.”

Mainly: “I would like to win state.”

She would also like to play college, and that blueprint has been drawn for the section’s premier point guard, who, at 5 feet 9 inches, averaged 12.3 points, 7.4 assists, 3.5 steals and 2.7 rebounds for the 26-5 Bullpups, who finished ninth-ranked in the state — losing only to No. 1 Brea Linda-Brea (three times), No. 2 St. Mary’s-Stockton and No. 6 Cajon-San Bernardino.

Her 10-point, seven-assist performance in a 63-59 win over Clovis West on a neutral court in early December ultimately gave her the edge over Golden Eagles teammates Morgan Hatten and Brianna Orlich for The Bee POY award.

“When you coach a kid for a long time, you always wonder if they will get better,” says Tom Parrish, Madison’s father and also her coach since she was 6. “And she did get better.

“Sometimes I hope that she’s not having success too early to become content. But she’s a competitor, and she’s good enough right now to play lower-level D-I college. We’ll see how much better she is in two years.”

Meanwhile, while the game has progressed wonderfully for his daughter, dad has a concern.

“Sometimes I think I’ve been coaching her too long and wonder if I should get out and let someone else coach her,” he says. “I have thought about it because I want her to be able to take instruction from somebody else, and she’s never had to do that.”

Madison responds: “I like him being my coach. It helps me a lot when we go home and he tells me what I did wrong. I think I have an advantage that way, even though he’s really hard on me.”

Dad’s not going to bolt, no way, not while still in pursuit of the ultimate goal — a state title (Dwayne Tubbs was the coach for Hanford's 2001 run to the state crown).

However, Tom Parrish did speak in perhaps more realistic terms of Madison eventually playing for Fresno State, where older sister Amy is an assistant.

“I’d love it, I really would,” the father says. “I know they have a big-time interest in her. And I’d only have to go 30 minutes to see her play.”

Madison has reservations: “That might be a little weird. My sister and I have a really good bond and I don’t want to break it.”


The reporter can be reached at aboogaard@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6336.

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