MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &045; Three area girls basketball players were selected as all-state honorable mentions.

Seniors Alison Anderson and Traci Nelson of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva and Albert Lea sophomore Hali Hendrickson all received the honor.

Anderson finished the season averaging 14 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Nelson led the team in scoring at nearly 17 points per game and nine rebounds.

Hendrickson averaged over 14 points a contest while leading the team in 3-pointers made and rebounds.

Jenna Smith gets her cell phone taken away for text messaging in class just like the next girl at Bloomington Kennedy High School.

She doesn’t get any special treatment just for being a key cog in the Eagles’ girls basketball state championship in 2005 or their second-place finish in 2006. It’s only fitting that Smith would have to hand over her cell phone for a day, since she hasn’t been handed anything she’s attained in her three years under coach Percy Wade.

Smith leaves Kennedy this spring as arguably the best girls player in the school’s history. As a senior this year, Smith averaged 21.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 3.5 steals per contest. Smith shot 55 percent from the floor and 53 percent from the three-point line, while her scoring average was fourth in the metro area and her rebounding average was 10th.

The result was a second-place finish at state for the Eagles, and for Smith personally it led to being voted the Associated Press girls’ basketball player of the year for Minnesota.

&8220;All the awards I won individually, I wouldn’t have gotten without my team,&8221; Smith said. &8220;All the work I put in was with my team.&8221;

Smith was the runaway choice for this year’s award. She’s joined on the AP’s all-state first team by Breanna Salley of St. Francis, Jillian Schurle of Class 4A champion Hopkins, freshman Tayler Hill of Minneapolis South and Cory Montgomery of Class 2A champion Cannon Falls.

Because of Smith’s savvy on the court, Kennedy’s girls’ basketball program went from doormat to powerhouse in just a few years. It’s an accomplishment that gives Smith and her teammates an incredible sense of pride.

Smith’s success was enough to even get her named homecoming queen as a senior.

&8220;You’ve really got to be popular to be homecoming queen at 6-foot-3,&8221; Wade said.

Smith will take that frame and her talent to Illinois next season, where she will play basketball for the Fighting Illini. Smith drew interest from several schools &045; including Minnesota &045; but decided she wanted to experience something new, away from home. Illinois fit because of the campus, the coaching staff, and the future teammates she met on her visit.

Wade then sees the WNBA in Smith’s future, but Smith said she wants to get a feel for college basketball first before even thinking about a professional career in the sport. For now, it’s enough to think about to keep that cell phone in her possession.