ROSENDALE — The senior class for the Laconia girls basketball team has had a special run. They won a silver ball as freshmen and back-to-back gold balls in their sophomore and junior years.
Now this year, they're looking to three-peat and celebrating milestones along the way: One of their best players, senior guard Tierney Madigan, just broke the program's all-time scoring record.
"You put a ball in her hands and she's able to do things pretty easily,” Spartans head coach said of Madigan.
The players in Laconia's senior class have proven that they're winners - and Madigan says winning is what drives her.
"I don't like when people beat me and stuff and I feel like (that) just always pushed me to try and be better than everyone else,” she said.
A three-sport athlete, playing varsity basketball since her freshman year, Madigan has been the Spartans' top scoring option since her sophomore season.
"When we were freshmen a lot of the seniors now had to play JV because there wasn't enough people in the program, so we would play a half of JV," Madigan reflected. "And then midway through the season, we were starting on varsity, so that was just insane."
This year, she's averaging 19 points and 8 rebounds. Morgan calls her a "silent assassin," saying she she always around the basket and using her athleticism to get rebounds and points.
"It gets to the end of the game and all of sudden she's got 20-25 points,” he said. "That's the thing about her, she quietly does it in a quiet fashion a lot of times."
The "silent assassin" wasn't so silent a few weeks ago. She became the school's all-time leading scorer in their win over Winnebago Lutheran on January 14, passing Kiarra Otto's 1,401 points set in 2019.
"They announced it and I didn't know it, because I didn't think i was scoring that many points in the middle of the game and when they announced it I was super surprised,” Madigan said. “It was just super cool to realize I actually did it and all the hard work I put in paid off.”
Tierney isn't the only Madigan to hold a record. Her brother Cormac, holds a few rushing records for Ripon College's football program.
While she's proud of her accomplishment, Madigan says winning another title and being a role model means more.
"I'll know that all the kids that are coming up to high school - and even the younger kids right now - will always look up and think of just playing hard," Madigan said. "It doesn't matter how much skill you have, just work hard and you'll meet your goals."
Laconia is 14-2 this season and 9-0 in conference play. After winning back-to-back WIAA Division 4 state championships, the Spartans will compete in Division 3 this postseason after being moved up due to the WIAA's new competitive balance plan.
