Southeast Missourian girls basketball player of the year: Notre Dame's Allyson Bradshaw served as the team's floor leader

Allyson Bradshaw's final game as a Notre Dame basketball player was a 56-52 loss to Dexter in the district championship game.

But the final score of that game tells so little of the story of the Bulldogs' season and even less of the story of Bradshaw's basketball career.

In a year where Notre Dame's depth already was depleted, the Bulldogs played the championship game without two starters, who also happened to be two of their four leading scorers.

"I did not take her out that entire game," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "She was 6 for 6 from the free-throw line. We were down by 17 in the third quarter and we got it back within two in the fourth because of Allyson. That's when you talk about someone who was a leader, that was exemplified. And even after that game, she said, 'You know, coach, I should be upset, but I know I gave it all I had. We gave it all we had.'"

Bradshaw finished the game with 31 points and led the fourth-quarter comeback.

Notre Dame's Allyson Bradshaw finished her high school career with 1,308 points. (Kristin Eberts)

"Even though it was a loss, I think it was a nice way for Allyson to end her career because she totally put us on her shoulders," Peters said. "There was nothing else that child could do."

Bradshaw's ability to carry her team helped make her the Southeast Missourian girls basketball player of the year.

Bradshaw and the Bulldogs reached the state championship game her junior season before saying goodbye to Jane Morrill, a 6-foot-1 post player who went on to play at Division I Arkansas State, Meghan Dohogne, a 5-11 rebounder, and two other senior contributors.

"This year we pretty much relied on Allyson," Peters said. "She had the ball in her hands the majority of the time whereas last year she was able to give it up more, to run plays, to cut whereas this year she was the one that we wanted the ball in her hands the majority of the time. Down the stretch last year when teams were looking to foul us, we would get it in Jane's or Allyson's hands. This year it was Allyson. I think she had to reach out of her comfort zone."

Peters actually demanded that she step out of her comfort zone.

"As a coach, and I told them, it's like being a parent," Peters said. "I can't always be your friend. A mother can't always be a friend. Sometimes you have to be a mother. Well I can't always be your friend. I have to be a coach and this is what I'm seeing, and Allyson, if we're going to go any further, you need -- not to put the responsibility on you, but I guess I am -- you're the one with the most experience, you're the gifted athlete, you're the one that all these younger kids are looking to, so how you go is how our team goes. Attitude, ability, everything. And she embraced that and she realized it."

Bradshaw, who was a four-year starter for Notre Dame, averaged 11 points, 3.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds during her all-state junior season. This season she averaged 17.1 points, 3.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds in another all-state year.

"My freshman year I was really immature," Bradshaw said. "If I would mess up, I'd get so upset. And last year I had a couple games where I was so mad at myself because I was doing everything wrong. I had this huge attitude. You could tell. This year I talked to the coaches before. I was like if I do any of that, you've got to tell me because I can't do that if I'm going to be the senior leader."

As Peters put it, it was time for Bradshaw to grow up.

"It was really hard because I guess I always felt like I had to carry the team," Bradshaw said. "So if something wasn't going my way and if somebody else was having an off game and they could show their emotions, show they're not playing well, I felt like if they can do it why can't I? It was hard. But by the end of the season, I wasn't even thinking about it anymore."

Notre Dame finished the season 16-10 and won the Show Me Center Holiday Classic for the third time with Bradshaw on the floor.

"I think I took more pride in it than it scared me," Bradshaw said about her role as the team's focal point. "At the beginning of the season I was like, 'Oh, God. This is going to be a long season,' but I don't know. I guess I felt kind of special to be put in that place."

Bradshaw acknowledged that the Bulldogs "beat some really good teams and also lost to some not-so-good teams" during the course of the season.

"When the end of the season came, I was really proud of our team," she said. "We did really good. A lot of people were saying even before the season started, 'Oh, should we even bother coming to districts this year? Are we going to suck?' and all this stuff. I think it just motivated us even more."

Bradshaw signed to play at Southeast Missouri State next year under coach John Ishee, who later was dismissed and replaced by Ty Margenthaler on Thursday.

"I'm super nervous," Bradshaw said before Margenthaler was hired. "I'm always nervous going to a new coach because some people like the way you play, some people don't. That's why it's like Ishee may have liked the way I played and this new coach, he might hate me for no reason. But now I feel like I have a really good chance because I know all the other girls are older than me, but they have to prove themselves to the new coach just as much as I do."

Bradshaw finished with 1,308 points in her career, which is the fourth most in Notre Dame history, while also helping the school's volleyball team reach back-to-back final fours in the fall and starting for the soccer team in the spring.

"I'm going to miss Allyson," Peters said. "Her work ethic, her commitment -- I could speak for hours about Allyson. She's a wonderful role model. I've got a 12-year-old daughter, and my daughter looks up to her and to me that speaks volumes. Because when a parent has someone like Allyson that you want your daughter to be like, I think that's one of the highest compliments you can give someone."