Sitting in his classroom at Eau Claire North, the Spanish teacher and 12th-year Huskies girls basketball coach was studying statistics and shot charts. His team was embarking upon its biggest week of the regular season: a Tuesday game against Eau Claire Memorial and a Friday game against Hudson.

LaBarbera was nearing two hours into his work when a custodian sauntered into his room to empty his wastebasket.

"Knock, knock," she said.

Startled, LaBarbera nearly spilled the can of Diet Coke resting near his mouse pad.

"Hi," he said. "I didn't think anyone else was still here."

The custodian laughed softly and then asked, "What are you doing here?"

LaBarbera explained himself.

"You coach girls basketball here? I have a daughter who's friends with one of your players," the custodian said. "From what my daughter says, she's the nicest person in the world."

"Really? Who?" LaBarbera asked.

"I'm not sure what her name is," the custodian said. "Lisa? Is there a Lisa …?"

"Larissa. Larissa Parr," a nodding LaBarbera said as a broad smile spread under his push-broom mustache. "Everybody likes Larissa Parr. She's everybody's friend."

"The friendships," Parr said without hesitation when asked what she cherishes most about her recently completed prep basketball career, capped with her being selected the Leader-Telegram's 2000-01 All-Northwest Player of the Year.

"I mean, basketball is something I love to do," she continued. "It's fun and challenging, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get better at it.

"But basketball's not who I am. … You forget scores and how many points you had or whatever. What you remember are the people that you shared everything with."

With her unselfishness as much as her skill and insatiable desire to succeed, Parr played the lead role this season in helping North post a 19-3 record and win its first Big Rivers Conference title since the 1993-94 season.

"(Parr) played hard and played well in all aspects of the game," said Hudson coach Dave Johnson, whose team had its string of six straight Big Rivers titles halted this season. "She's definitely a big-game player."

The four players who join Parr on the First Team of this season's All-Northwest girls squad also were members of successful teams and widely were recognized for their unselfish play and leadership traits: Gilmanton junior Rachel Becker, Eau Claire Memorial senior Joanna Leafblad, Chippewa Falls senior Angie Ott and Flambeau senior Alyssa Verdegan.

Ott is the lone repeat selection from last season's First Team, and Parr and Verdegan were Second Team honorees in 1999-2000. Becker and Leafblad gained honorable mention last season.

"On and off the court she's always there for you," North guard Lindsey Rongstad said of Parr, who this season averaged 13.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.

Highlighting Parr's season was a 36-point showing Dec. 8 in North's 52-49 overtime win over Memorial. For the season the Old Abes permitted an average of 37.6 points per game.

"She's an incredible player, but she's not cocky," Rongstad said. "She always puts her teammates and friends ahead of herself. I've learned a lot about the game from playing with her.

"And if someone's hanging their head and feeling bad, there's Larissa -- she's right there to pick you up."

Sometimes literally. And it's not always a teammate.

Take, for instance, the Huskies' BRC-clinching win over Menomonie on Feb. 16. Indians point guard Jackie Dummer missed what would've been the tying shot at the final buzzer, and she ended up flat on her stomach in the lane, crying and pounding the floor in dismay.

Parr broke from the Huskies' celebration, helped Dummer get to her feet and consoled her.

"That's the way she's been since I met her," Dummer said.

That meeting came when they were fourth-graders. While playing against each other in a basketball game, Dummer twisted her ankle and limped off the court.

"So Larissa, who I didn't know, comes over to our bench and gives me this ankle brace she had on," Dummer said. "She says, 'Here. I don't need it. Maybe it'll help you.' I'm, like, who are you?"

Parr's helping hands extend beyond her teammates and opponents. She currently is a volunteer coach for a sixth-grade girls basketball team in the Eau Claire Volunteers program.

"You see those kids' faces light up when Larissa works with them," North coach Dan Sippel said. "It's really special to see Larissa, someone who's been a pillar in our program, give back to the game the way she does.

"She's a tremendous ambassador to the game. She's become a leader in everything she does."

Rachel Becker

As a service to prep basketball followers who missed most of Becker's starry three-season career with Gilmanton, the 5-foot-9 junior guard earlier this month provided a clear, concise synopsis of what she's about.

In the Panthers' four games in the sectional and state tournaments, Becker's statistical line was 113 points, 35 rebounds, about 2,000 hugs and enough happy tears to float a small boat.

Becker willed Gilmanton (23-4), a team that failed to receive a vote in The Associated Press state poll all season, to the WIAA Division 4 championship -- the first state title for the 70-student school.

For the season Becker averaged 21.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 4.5 steals per game. She had game highs of 26 points and nine rebounds in the Panthers' 49-45 win over Randolph in a state semifinal at the Kohl Center, and she duplicated those numbers in Gilmanton's 58-50 win over Pecatonica in the Division 4 final.

All from a player who says shooting is her last-resort option when she gets the ball.

"In my 16 years in the Dairyland Conference, she is by far one of the finest players I've seen," Independence coach Kevin Larson said of Becker, who has scored 1,364 career points.

Joanna Leafblad

In the giddy aftermath of the WIAA Division 1 Menomonie Sectional final on March 3, Leafblad appeared uncomfortable.

Eau Claire Memorial had defeated Merrill 38-30 to advance to the state tournament, and Old Abes coach Steve Smith tried handing the sectional plaque to his sharpshooting 5-foot-9 senior guard.

Leafblad didn't want to take it.

That is, not until teammates Amanda Buchholz and Becca Carstensen arrived on the scene. The three seniors, with plaque in hand, then merrily raced across the gymnasium and disappeared in an avalanche of joyous classmates who were chanting "We're going to state!"

That sequence spoke volumes about Leafblad, the Abes' reluctant but deserving leader, who saw herself as a team member and not a star. If there was a limit on using "we" and "our" and "us" in postgame interviews, Leafblad would've eclipsed her season quota by December.

In helping Memorial (22-4) reach the state tournament for the first time since 1993, Leafblad averaged 15.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She converted 66 of 157 3-point shots, scored in double figures in 21 games and was the Abes' top scorer in 17 games.

"You had to account for Leafblad on every possession," Hudson coach Dave Johnson said, "or she'd burn you every time. That team got to state because of her."

Angie Ott

Go ahead. Present Ott with a challenge. Better yet tell the Chippewa Falls senior guard something can't be done.

Then step back and watch the sparks fly.

"She always came through when the chips were down," Cardinals coach Jeff Olson said of his 6-foot bundle of fireworks, who this season averaged 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game and converted 53 percent of her 3-point shots.

A four-year starter, Ott had a seismic impact in resuscitating a Chippewa Falls program that before her arrival had a three-season record of 7-56. Ott, who led the Big Rivers Conference in scoring as a junior and senior, helped the Cardinals post 14-8 records in back-to-back seasons.

Both of the past two seasons were especially noteworthy for Ott because of the obstacles she surmounted.

In 1999-2000 a season-ending injury to fellow standout Becca Spaeth put all opponents' defensive focus on Ott. This season, with six newcomers in the Cardinals' lineup and stalwart scorer Natalie Licht shelved by injury, Ott was forced to step up her already stepped-up leadership abilities for Chippewa Falls to compete in a conference top-heavy with veteran, state-ranked teams.

Along with being arguably the BRC's best defensive player, Ott scored in double figures in 20 games this season, with six games of 20 or more points, and finished with 1,029 career points.

Ott gained an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. More challenges await at Wright State, considering the Raiders are coming off a 6-22 season and their coach, Lisa Fitch, resigned two weeks ago.

If Ott's no-mountain-high-enough determination is contagious at college, expect Wright State to qualify for the NCAA tournament by the 2003-04 season -- if not sooner.

Alyssa Verdegan

Perhaps the truest testament to an exceptionally good team is its losses are much easier to recount than its wins.

Such is the case with Flambeau, which with Verdegan in its lineup blossomed into a state powerhouse with a four-season 100-4 record. Three of those losses came in WIAA state tournaments.

As impressively, in the three seasons Verdegan started at point guard, the Falcons fashioned a 75-2 record. Both of those losses came in state tournaments -- a double-overtime verdict to No. 2-ranked Potosi in a 1999 Division 4 semifinal and a 67-66 decision to Brillion in a Division 3 semifinal earlier this month.

In between those defeats, the 5-foot-9 Verdegan led Flambeau to an unbeaten 1999-2000 season and a Division 4 state title.

In finishing her prep career with 1,320 points, Verdegan this season averaged team highs of 15.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. She gained an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., becoming the first Flambeau student to gain an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship.

"She's big-time," Eau Claire Regis coach Chuck Morning said.

Second Team

- No official statistics exist to quantify the patience and resolve Jackie Dummer displayed this season.

The 5-foot-9 Menomonie senior point guard was faced with leading a team with one returning letterwinner besides herself into shark-infested Big Rivers Conference waters.

Despite a rocky start to their season, Dummer helped ensure the Indians (8-13) were at their best by February. They came within three points of ending BRC champion Eau Claire North's 11-game winning streak, defeated Chippewa Falls in a Division 1 regional final and took eventual sectional champion Eau Claire Memorial into overtime in a sectional semifinal.

"You put three people on her, and she still finds openings to shoot and pass," North coach Dan Sippel said of Dummer, who had 965 career points and 402 assists. "She's very skilled -- a special player and a great kid with a lot of class."

A three-year starter and four-year letterwinner, Dummer averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game this season and converted 76.3 percent of her free throws. She scored a career-high 27 points against defending sectional champion Hudson on Feb. 12.

Dummer hopes to play college basketball but hasn't decided where. She's had a recruiting visit to the University of Wisconsin.

- Amigos. Musketeers. Stooges. Blind mice.

Joining the list of notable threesomes this season were Altoona seniors Yasmin Johnson, Sarah Langworthy and Angie Hong -- the most balanced and potent scoring trio on one team in 2000-01 area girls basketball.

With that troika leading the way, the Railroaders starred in a Cinderella story. Picked to finish fifth in the Western Cloverbelt Conference standings by league coaches, Altoona (20-4) won its first conference crown in more than 25 years, won its first playoff game in four years and claimed its first-ever regional championship -- all while playing under a first-year coach and having been moved up from WIAA Division 3 to 2.

Johnson averaged 13.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. After averaging 9.0 points per game as a junior, the 5-foot-9 forward scored in double figures in 18 games this season.

"A slasher," is how Altoona coach Bill Perry described Johnson, who plans to attend UW-La Crosse, "and very unselfish."

So unselfish that midway through the season Johnson humbly declined when asked to come up with a nickname for the Railroaders' high-energy trio.

"Let Angie do it," Johnson said. "She's the creative one."

"Oh, right. Whatever," Hong said. "I don't know. How about 'The Three Goofballs' …?"

How about "Perry's Angels"?

- As Ashley McInnis listened to "The Star-Spangled Banner" before games this season, she often had difficulty standing still.

The Fall Creek senior guard wasn't nervous. She was trying to harness her high-watt energy.

A three-year starter and four-year letterwinner, the 5-foot-6 McInnis was the driving force behind the Crickets' 21-4 record and WIAA Division 3 regional championship.

For the second straight season McInnis led Fall Creek in scoring and reached double-figure point totals in 18 games. She averaged 13.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists, converted 80 percent of her free throws and always was assigned to curtail the opponent's top-scoring guard.

McInnis regularly played her best when the stakes were high, including her 21-point showing in the Crickets' 54-52 win over Eau Claire Regis and her 24-point outing in Fall Creek's 65-60 win over Boyceville in a sectional semifinal.

"Ashley is the best overall player in our conference," 20th-year Fall Creek coach Arnie Skrukrud said, "when you take into account defense, shooting, ball handling, competitiveness, creating your own shot and free-throw shooting."

- If Annie Nelson hadn't been in Hudson's lineup for this season's first 10 games, coach Dave Johnson estimates the Raiders would've been 1-9.

"If we were lucky," he said.

Johnson credits his 6-foot-1 junior forward for spurring Hudson's gallant attempt at claiming its seventh straight Big Rivers Conference title.

Though the Raiders (16-5) fell one win short of meeting that goal, Nelson emerged as one of the area's most feared under-the-basket players. A force at both ends of the floor, she averaged 14.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 3.1 blocked shots per game. Nelson's 65 blocks are a single-season team record.

With Nelson in the lineup, Hudson has a 56-13 record.

"She's a warrior," Johnson said of Nelson, who scored in double figures in 19 games this season. "The expectations were so high for us, and teams came at us -- came at Annie -- hard. She never backed down to anyone."

- Considering her father has a black belt in tae kwon do, it makes sense Kricket Whyte has become a master in the art of defense.

The list of players the 5-foot-9 Eau Claire North senior forward curtailed this season reads like a Big Rivers Conference who's-who roll call.

Among Whyte's notable conquests:

She limited Eau Claire Memorial's Joanna Leafblad to seven points on Jan. 26 and five points on Feb. 24. She held Chippewa Falls' Angie Ott scoreless through three quarters on Jan. 12 and scoreless over the game's final 15 minutes on Feb. 10. She held Hudson's Annie Nelson to two field goals on Jan. 30 and kept Rice Lake's Holly Olson without a field goal through three quarters on Jan. 23.

Of those six games, North won five. Whyte also averaged 8.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, shot a team-best 52.1 percent from the floor and was "our glue," says teammate Larissa Parr.

"I'm sure you'll raise some eyebrows (having Whyte on Second Team), considering her scoring compared to (other players)," Hudson coach Dave Johnson said. "But match (Whyte) against (those players), and see how many points they'd score."

Beaudry can be reached evenings at 833-9212 or (800) 236-7077 or at steve.beaudry@ecpc.com.

2000-01 All-Northwest Girls Basketball

The Leader-Telegram's 2000-01 All-Northwest girls basketball honorees were selected by Steve Beaudry after consultation with area high school coaches. Players are listed alphabetically on each team.

First Team

Name, school Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG

Rachel Becker, Gilmanton jr. 5-9 G 21.5

Joanna Leafblad, Eau Claire Memorial sr. 5-9 G 15.1

Angie Ott, Chippewa Falls sr. 6-0 G 16.0

Larissa Parr, Eau Claire North sr. 6-0 F 13.9

Alyssa Verdegan, Flambeau sr. 5-9 G 15.3

Second Team

Name, school Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG

Jackie Dummer, Menomonie sr. 5-9 G 14.6

Yasmin Johnson, Altoona sr. 5-9 F 13.3

Ashley McInnis, Fall Creek sr. 5-6 G 13.3

Annie Nelson, Hudson jr. 6-1 F 14.3

Kricket Whyte, Eau Claire North sr. 5-9 F 8.9

Third Team

Name, school Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG

Erin Churchill, Plum City sr. 5-9 G 21.3

Justina Dakins, Barron jr. 5-8 G 10.2

Tess Fanning, Eau Claire Regis jr. 5-9 G 13.2

Racey Gasior, Gilman sr. 5-10 F 15.1

Kari Score, Boyceville soph. 5-10 F 16.7

Fourth Team

Name, school Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG

Amanda Geissler, Thorp jr. 5-8 G 11.8

Melissa Haley, Chip. Falls McDonell sr. 6-0 F 15.7

Karyn Halida, Gilman sr. 5-4 G 12.8

Sarah Langworthy, Altoona sr. 5-10 F 12.1

Amanda Meyer, Somerset sr. 5-5 G 12.9

Fifth Team

Name, school Yr. Ht. Pos. PPG

Amanda Buchholz, Eau Claire Memorial sr. 6-1 F 9.9

Kelly Hallberg, Unity sr. 5-5 G 14.2

Angie Hong, Altoona sr. 5-10 G 11.6

Lauri Saul, Lincoln sr. 5-9 F 12.6

Nikki Wilson, Bloomer soph. 5-8 G 12.2

SPECIAL MENTION

Altoona: Paige Larson, sr. Baldwin-Woodville: Lindsay Rasmussen, sr. Barron: Ashley Fall, soph.; April Severson, sr. Black River Falls: Brianna Kappen, sr. Bloomer: Kaejan Hebert, soph. Boyceville: Carly Score, soph. Chippewa Falls: Danni Borneman, sr. Chippewa Falls McDonell: Katie Moga, sr. Clayton: Mindy Allee, jr. Clear Lake: Kate Juedes, sr. Colby: Sheena Cole, sr. Colfax: Jenna Albricht, jr. Durand: Heather Poeschel, sr.; Katie Richardson, sr. Eau Claire Memorial: Jess Huettl, soph.; Molly Menard, jr. Eau Claire North: Lindsey Rongstad, sr. Eau Claire Regis: Katie Ryan, soph. Eleva-Strum: Stacy Teigen, sr. Elk Mound: Sara Kopp, sr. Fall Creek: Shelby Krueger, soph.; Sara Rutschow, soph. Flambeau: Sarah Kochevar, soph.; Lindsay Starkey, sr. Greenwood: Claire Gregorich, sr. Hudson: Emily Anderson, jr.; Megan Hanson, jr. Lake Holcombe: Jennifer Kuc, sr. Lincoln: Megan Leis, soph. Loyal: Kristin Weiler, sr. Melrose-Mindoro: Shanna Koss, sr. Menomonie: Amanda Martin, jr. Mondovi: Ashley Williamson, jr. Osceola: Heidi Evenson, jr. Osseo-Fairchild: Erica Lundberg, sr. Plum City: Jana Benitz, soph. Prescott: Sarah Butler, sr.; Shannon Huppert, jr. Rice Lake: Holly Olson, sr. River Falls: Ashley Magee, sr. St. Croix Falls: Mere Nelson, soph. Shell Lake: Stephanie Williams, sr. Somerset: Ann Schachtner, sr. Spring Valley: Kelli Keehr, jr.

HONORABLE MENTION

Alma: Lindsey Ledbury, soph. Amery: Abby Ward, sr. Augusta: Jamie Kaeding, sr. Baldwin-Woodville: Krystal Peterson, sr. Barron: Kristi Mandel, jr. Blair-Taylor: Lisa Massman, sr. Bloomer: Megan Gumness, sr.; Chelsea Meier, jr. Boyceville: Carla Carlson, soph. Bruce: Meagan Kempen, sr. Cadott: Jami Buetow, sr. Cameron: Emily Dexter, sr.; Kayleigh Lutz, fr. Chippewa Falls: Natalie Licht, jr. Clayton: LeAnn Erickson, jr. Cochrane-Fountain City: Janine Schmidt, jr. Colby: Brittani Calmes, soph. Colfax: Laura Schindler, jr. Cornell: Katie Keller, jr. Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran: Heidi Porath, sr. Eau Claire North: Amanda Eisold, soph. Eau Claire Regis: Jena Meinholz, sr. Eleva-Strum: Laura Berge, sr. Elk Mound: Erin Cyr, jr. Ellsworth: Laura Halverson, jr. Flambeau: Kim Galetka, sr. Gilmanton: Sarah Marum, sr.; Amie Walsky, jr. Glenwood City: Renae Ohman, soph. Greenwood: Sonia Rohde, sr. Hudson: Molly Simon, sr.; Jess Syfko, sr. Independence: Heidi Helgeson, sr. Ladysmith: April Mabie, jr. Lincoln: Michelle Clark, jr. Luck: Sarah Miles, jr. Melrose-Mindoro: Sara Craig, sr. New Auburn: Belinda Sweeney, sr. New Richmond: Erin Timm, jr. Northwestern: Liz Eldred, soph. Osceola: Jenny Wolter, jr. Osseo-Fairchild: Missy Fremstad, fr. Owen-Withee: Tanya Weiler, sr. River Falls: Jackie Obermueller, sr. St. Croix Falls: Grace Anderson, sr. Shell Lake: Casey Bruce, soph. Weyerhaeuser: Crystal Jackson, sr.