2 weeks Ago
Mead girls basketball coach Mike Ward described Madi Clark as a bit quiet off of the court. Her game on it was anything but.Throughout her sophomore year, the young shooting guard was fearless, fast and could break through any defense to get to the rim.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t well-rounded, though. She made that very clear in the Mavericks’ second game of the season against Lutheran, during which she shot 5 of 8 from behind the arc and finished with 26 points and seven rebounds.“That’s just kind of how I play, is more of being aggressive and attacking the basket,” Clark explained.
“This year, I think I added on being more versatile with shooting and everything else. I think from last year to this year, I’ve just gotten, I guess, faster and better at attacking the basket.“I think that once the other team realized that I get most of my points off of going towards the basket, it helped me create opportunities for my teammates and also (gave me) more opportunities on the perimeter with shooting threes.
”By the end of the winter slate, Clark was averaging 12.9 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, and earned the Times-Call player of the year for her talent and basketball smarts.
She played a massive role in helping the Mavericks reach the Class 5A final four, where they fell to Mullen by a 44-30 score.Ward said she possessed a confidence and court IQ that not many girls her age are graced with.Mead’s Madi Clark, left, collides with Frederick’s Avery Salisbury, right, in a Class 5A semifinal game at the Denver Coliseum on Friday, March 7, 2025.
(Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)“I think as a freshman, she had a lot of raw talent and this year, I think she is developing into a true basketball player,” Ward said. “It’s just gone from trying to keep up to now dictating the pace. .
.. It was her ability to see angles and things like that, when she could attack, when she couldn’t attack.
Teams recognize that if they’re going to jump up on her to take away the three, she has the ability to get downhill, go get an and-one, because she can finish around the rim really well and get to the free-throw line, where she shot it at a really good clip.”Clark was first off the bench during her freshman campaign and averaged 8.2 PPG and 3.
5 RPG, and said that the exit of then-senior Gianna Wurth forced her to step into more of a leadership role this year. With Darby Haley now heading for the exit, much of the onus of that leadership will fall directly onto her shoulders when she returns as a junior.Ward has no doubt she’ll continue to shine.
“She’s very humble off the court and she understands that she not only represents us on the court, but she represents us off the court,” Ward said. “She’s a quality person on the court and off the court, which you don’t see that composure from a lot of younger kids. Determined, competitive — that is who she is.
She kind of flips that switch.”View a list of Prep sports and high school teams we cover..
