All-Metro Sports Awards Girls' Coach of the Year: Alexis Gray-Lawson, St. Paul Como Park basketball

St. Paul Como Park basketball

Why she won: The former WNBA player is a perfectionist, with high standards for herself and her players. Gray-Lawson guided a young squad to a 23-3 season, the losses against teams that finished first through third in the Class 3A tournament. She has made even a greater impact off the court. Her players have raised their GPA significantly under her guidance. One of her players said: "She teaches us life lessons, how to be a woman, a leader and how to communicate with others."

What she said: Some of the loudest cheers of the night came when Gray-Lawson took the stage, thanks to her team screaming for her. "To see that they were excited and happy — I know that they were exhausted because we had practice this morning — so to be ready for this, for them to be excited, it was the cherry on top."