BOYNE CITY — When people think of contact sports, girls basketball might not be one of the first that comes to mind.
Unless you pick the brain of Boyne City junior Addy Burns. She’s all about it.
“It’s a contact sport. You’re going to get hit and you’ve got to be ready for it,” Burns said about the game she excels at.
Over the course of the 2025-26 season, Burns proved she was ready for whatever came her way, showing huge gains in being strong with the ball in her hands driving to the rim, along with a lethal shot.
“I think it’s really important,” Burns added on working on that part of her game. “I like to drive, but I’ll also take the three if it’s there.”
Knowing when to do either was another big growth part for Burns during her junior campaign, which helped her become a household name for basketball fans around the area and now earn her Petoskey News-Review Player of the Year honors.
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When it was all said and done, it was a season Burns could be proud of and again a step in the right direction after two previous varsity seasons.
“I was actually really proud of myself. I put a lot of work in and I was really happy with the result,” Burns said. “I couldn’t have done it without any of my teammates. I look up to all of them. They’re who I strive to be.”
She stepped up her game right from the start, showing that offseason work. Not surprising, a lot of it came in one particular area.
“Mostly just finishing through contact and a lot of shooting,” she said. “Just being in the gym really helped and just getting a lot of shots up.”
The end result was an average of 15.9 points a game, 8.6 rebounds and 3.8 steals, while getting her long arms in passing lanes often, averaging 5.1 deflections a game. She also shot from 3-point range at 30.3 percent.
Boyne City coach Mike Wilson wasn’t surprised at all by the leap from Burns.
“I’d like to say that surprised us, but we’ve come to expect that now,” Wilson said during the season. “She was one we had high hopes for (this season). She put in a lot of offseason work. A lot practice and a lot of camps and just doing the small things. She’s really come along.”
While it was often Burns leading the offseason charge in the gym, she was motivated every time she was joined by teammates, being fueled to make them great as well.
And it’s not like Burns’ schedule isn’t already filled.
A standout multi-sport athlete, Burns excels on the volleyball court in the fall and soccer field in the spring at Boyne City. Basketball is a first love for Burns, though.
“Honestly, I have a lot of fun when I play,” she said. “My teammates, they make it a blast and we’ve got a really good coaching staff. It’s like a community and it’s honestly just a lot of fun to go out there and play ball.”
The good news for her – bad news for opponents – is that another year awaits ahead.
There will be a lot of work for the already talented shooting guard, some of it the same, though she’ll also push herself to see where she can improve and attack opponents from other ways.
“You can never be too good,” she said. “I’m definitely going to try to work more on my left hand. I think that would be a big thing for me. But once again, just shooting, working through contact. All the basics.”
She’s not likely to catch anyone off guard in her final campaign. Those days are likely over.
But as long as she’s on the court, focused on improving and hopefully gaining the interest of college coaches, she’s just fine with the challenge.
“That’s my goal, to be able to keep playing the game as long as I can,” she added.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boyne City’s Addy Burns is News-Review’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year
Reporting by Drew Kochanny, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
