Any all-area, all-state or All-America team is all about personal achievement.

This year’s Post-Tribune Girls Basketball All-Area team is no exception, though three members of our first-team helped their schools reach heights they hadn’t seen in a while.

The Post-Tribune Player of the Year, Cassie Kerns, stepped up her scoring and rebounding after the Vikings’ leader in both those categories a year ago (Lindsay Humes) was lost for the season. She led Valparaiso to the Warsaw Semistate before the Vikings lost a heartbreaking, yet thrilling, overtime game to Warsaw.

Julie DeMuth transferred from Highland to Merrillville this season and led the Pirates to their first Duneland Conference girls basketball title since 1988. Coincidentally, her father, Dave, was the head coach of Merrillville when that last sectional title was notched.

After averaging double figures as a freshman, Sharon Houston exploded for a monster sophomore season to lead Lew Wallace to its first sectional title since 1995.

She had a pair of triple-doubles on the season, including one against East Chicago Central on the road in which she had 12 blocked shots.

The other two members of the P-T first-team excelled individually even though their teams had tough losses in the sectional.

Dee Dee Jernigan proved she is one of the most talented all-around players in the area. And the E.C. Central guard will only get better as a sophomore.

Crown Point’s strength this season was its guards, and the best of those floor leaders this season was Cassie Pruzin. A year after making the P-T second team with all-around numbers, she almost doubled her points output (8.8 to 17.0 ppg) while leading the area in steals (5.9) and second in 3-pointers made (49).

This is the second straight season the area’s underclassmen have stepped up with only one senior on the first-team.

The coach of the year award could have been split between at least four coaches in a season of first-time accomplishments by several teams.

With Valparaiso only one basket away from making its sixth trip to the state finals, Greg Kirby could have been a good choice.

Joe Pokraka of Whiting would have been a very good choice. The Oilers won its first girls sectional title ever despite having four of its top six players go down with injuries at some point during the season.

In Tim Powers first season at the helm for Wheeler, the Bearcats also captured their first ever sectional title after losing its second-leading scorer in Ali Roper with two weeks to go in the season.

But our choice was someone whose team didn’t win a sectional title, yet before the season started, the outlook for his squad was pretty bleak.

Mike Urban’s Highland Trojans notched another Lake Athletic Conference title, and added the LAC Tournament trophy, despite losing 83 percent of its scoring and rebounding from last season to graduation or transfer.