Maddie Koolbeck has not written a story about herself yet, but maybe she should.

Koolbeck was the leading scorer on the Cedar Rapids Jefferson basketball team this season and was a unanimous selection on the all-Metro and all-Mississippi Valley Conference squads, one of only four girls who were unanimous picks on both clubs.

She ranks No. 1 academically in her junior class with a straight-A average, serves as co-editor of the school newspaper, plays on the Jefferson softball team and somehow finds time to work on service projects in the community.

Maybe she's too busy to write about herself. More accurately, she's too modest. And needless to say, time management is a crucial part of her success.

"I really try to use my time wisely," she said. "If I know I have something coming up, I try to make sure I do whatever I can beforehand.

"During the basketball season I try to limit the number of service projects I do or the number of stories that I do for the newspaper so I can be sure I'm focusing on my sport and still getting my schoolwork accomplished."

It's not easy, especially during the long basketball season. Sometimes she'll be sitting in class and her mind turns to the upcoming game that night.

"Most of the time I find my mind drifting off," she acknowledged. "On game days, I have problems with getting stuff done. I try to get my stuff done days before, because I know on game days I'm not going to be completely focused on schoolwork."

Koolbeck, a 5-foot-11 center, averaged 10.4 points during the first 14 games of the season and was having a solid campaign, but then a series of injuries decimated the J-Hawks as Taylor Jacobson, Rachel Broghammer and Kaitlyn Davidson all had to stop playing.

With three starters unable to perform, Koolbeck absorbed an increased role and averaged 20.1 points in the final nine games of the season, nearly doubling her production. She finished the season at 14.2 points per contest.

Some players might have packed it in for the season when Jacobson, Broghammer and Davidson stopped playing, feeling the situation was hopeless. Not Koolbeck.

"I was just really determined," she said. "One thing my dad would always say before the game is, 'Nobody gets in your way tonight.' I tried to think of that and I tried to do anything I could to help my team succeed.

"If I wasn't scoring, if I wasn't getting opportunities, I'd try to find the open person. And with the three girls out I got a lot more opportunities to score."

Koolbeck made news on the basketball court this season and also reports the news for The Outlook, the excellent school newspaper, although she obviously doesn't write about herself. She enjoys journalism as much as she does sports.

"I like making connections with different people. I like to interview different people in the community," she said. "The main thing is, I like knowing the facts about what's going on so I can clear up rumors that might be floating around, because I've talked to the people who are either organizing it or know the facts."

Journalism runs deep in the Koolbeck family. Her father, Jeff, served as editor-in-chief of The Outlook when he was a student at Jefferson, and her older sister, Allie, also served as editor. Her uncle, Mike Koolbeck, is vice president and co-owner of the Metro Sports Report, and her brother Jake also writes for the Metro Sports Report.

Koolbeck is starting to think about college and what she might want to pursue after high school. Her stock has risen dramatically as a basketball player, and there are many colleges that would love to have a straight-A student who's also an all-conference performer.

"I know that I'm going to look academically first and I know I'm definitely considering playing basketball, and that's one of the things I'm going to keep in mind," she said, "but the academics will come first for me."

Jefferson finished with a 9-14 record this season and reached the semifinals of the Class 4A regional tournament. Koolbeck, Jacobson, Broghammer and Davidson were all juniors this year and could form the nucleus of a strong club in 2012-13.

All four girls averaged in double figures. In fact, there were no seniors on the team this season so nobody graduates.

"I think we have a great opportunity and I think we're really going to work and make the best of our senior season," said Koolbeck. "I think as long as we work hard and work together, we can go far next year and have a good record and hopefully we'll get into the state tournament."

If that happens, maybe Koolbeck will write the story.