A fifth grader from Jefferson is one round away from competing in the National Elks Hoop Shoot Contest.

Samantha Pedersen won the 10-11 year-old girls division at the state contest in February and advanced to the regional competition where she will be facing the other state champions in the 10-11 year-old girls division from Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that she was counting the number of shots that the girl before her had made and missed and she knew the number of free throws she had to make to put herself in good position to win and move onto the regional contest.

“The first girl was really good. She would be going on runs, but she missed a couple, but she made 18 (free throws), and I was determined to beat that. And when I made 20, I could not stop smiling, but I tried to not like look at her or else it would make her feel sad. So I just tried to keeping the smile (to myself). And the person that went after me she made 16 and I made friends with her. Her name is Elizabeth, she’s really nice.”       

Pedersen attributes the development of her basketball skills to her parents, Keith and Mary, who both played basketball in college, for their time and devotion to where she is today.

“They set up kind of like a little program where they have sixth and seventh graders, and we do practices that include drills, shooting, and dribbling, everything you really need to know about basketball.”      

Pedersen is heading to Iowa City for the North Central Region 3 contest and if she wins, Pedersen will advance to the National Elks Hoop Shoot Contest for a chance to win a $25,000 college scholarship and her name on the marque of the NBA Hall of Fame.