Snelling and Lau earn All-State recognition

Two area girls have been selected to All-State teams following the 2016-17 basketball season.

Clear Lake senior Emily Snelling, who missed the final games of the regular season and all of the post-season, was a First Team selection to the Iowa Newspaper Association’s 2017 All-State Girls Basketball team for Class 3A.  Snelling was selected as a utility player.

Snelling was also named to the Iowa Girls Coaches Association’s All-State Class 3A Team.  Snelling was a Third Team choice for the IGCA, as was Hannah Lau, a senior from Garner-Hayfield-Ventura.

Snelling, who was the Lions’ leading scorer with an average of 19.4 points per game, shot with 48.8 percent accuracy.  She was 52/71 from the free throw line (73.2 percent).

Lau was the only player in school history to lead the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.  She averaged 18.9 points per game and 10.1 rebounds.  She also averaged two steals a game, three assists and 2.3 blocked shots a game.     Another feat she accomplished this season was having 10 double-double games.

Pocahontas Area’s Elle Rufridge was named as Miss Basketball by the Iowa Newspaper Association. The four-time all-stater led her squad to state finals three times in her career, including state titles in 2016 and 2017.  She finished her career as the all-time leader in Iowa in points scored with 2,951, three-point field goals made with 466 and assists with 802 for the Indians.  Ruffridge will continue her basketball career at Missouri State University next year.