WL’s Kara Beth Addison signs with Southwest hoops

Published 5:01 pm Saturday, April 1, 2023

One of the all-time greats in West Lincoln basketball history is headed to Summit.

Senir guard Kara Beth Addison recently inked a letter-of-intent to continue her career with the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears.

Addison was a difference maker at West Lincoln from a young age as she led the junior high team to a title as an eighth grader.

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In her four year career on the varsity, West Lincoln won four straight Region 7-2A championships.

WL went 23-2 this season as Addison, the region MVP, averaged 19.6 points per game along with 6.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 4.1 steals per night.

The 6-foot Addison is a versatile player that can handle the ball as a point guard or play off-ball when needed.

Her versatility was on display whenever West Lincoln took the court. She’d often start games in a facilitator role and then begin to score more as her team needed.

As a freshman and sophomore, WL ran more zone defense under then coach Brooks Smith. Addison would play at the top of the zone and lived off using her length and quickness to get into passing lanes and convert steals to easy layups.

Over the last two years, the Bears have played more man-to-man defense and Addison has showed the ability to guard forwards when needed thanks to her size.

She was part of a decorated senior class from West Lincoln that’s also made up of Ta’Kyla Brothern, Ramsey Hall, Mary Claire Johnson, Mailey Kate Young and Madilyn Case.

Her head coach, Allissa Adams, was a point guard for SMCC coach Brent Harris during her career playing for the Bears. Adams signed with Southwest after playing at Hancock Central. Her first coaching job was at Amite School Center, before she was hired to lead the program at West Lincoln.

Last season, Adam’s first with the team, West Lincoln made it to the 2A semifinals. This season the Bears were eliminated in the quarters by the Lake Hornets, who went on to win a second straight MHSAA 2A state title.

West Lincoln a combined 80-23 during the four-year varsity career of Addison. She finishes her career with 1,642 points, 404 rebounds, 345 steals and 69 blocked shots.

Addison also ends her career with a varsity on-court record of 31-2 against the combined coemption of Lincoln County rivals from Bogue Chitto, Enterprise and Loyd Star.

Southwest finished 17-11 last season, the 11th for Harris to coach in Summit.