Player of the Week: Emily Olson

Woonsocket’s Emily Olson has already earned a number of individual awards.

This past Thursday in a 70-16 win over Iroquois, Olson notched another.

She scored 14 points in the win — including the 1,000th of her career — to become the first Woonsocket girls’ basketball player since Shelly Ogle in 1994 to accomplish the feat.

Olson also scored 23 points in a double-overtime loss to Aberdeen Roncalli on Saturday.

With the week Olson put together, she has been named The Daily Republic’s athlete of the week. The weekly award is voted on by the newspaper’s sports staff.

“Seeing her get her 1,000th point was pretty exciting,” Olson’s head coach Rod Baruth said. “She has been a very steady player and continues to improve every year.”

Just a week before in a win against Kimball, Olson set Woonsocket’s career record for 3-pointers made. She now has made 107 3-pointers.

During her sophomore year, Olson hit six 3-pointers in a game to set the single-game record.

Even with all of the milestones Olson has earned, only one stat really matters to her.

“When it happens, it’s always an accomplishment,” Olson said. “I’m not ever thinking I need to get it. It’s more important to me if the team wins.”

Olson began her high school career with Woonsocket when she was in eighth grade. She was the first one off the bench that year. As a freshman, she was in the Redmen’s starting lineup. The past two years, she has been Woonsocket’s captain.

“She is our leader; she doesn’t get worked up or show a lot of emotion,” Baruth said. “She just continues to work hard and lead by example. She is a player all coaches would love to have.”

The Redmen are 4-2. The other loss was to 4-2 Mount Vernon. Woonsocket is in District 9, while also includes 6-1 James Valley Christian. Undefeated Mitchell Christian and Mount Vernon are also in the same region, which makes it a tough road for Woonsocket to make it to the state tournament.

“We are working hard on what we need to do go get better, and hopefully we are tough at district time,” Olson said. “If we work hard and play our top game, I think anything can happen.”

Tags: catching up, our towns, emily olson, sports, woonsocket