This girl dunks: Meet the Missouri player who is one of the top basketball recruits in the country

By Dennis Evans

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    RIVERSIDE, Missouri (KMBC) — With a basketball in her hand, Addison Bjorn is the definition of the pursuit of perfection. The Park Hill South junior is a top 10 basketball prospect in the class of 2026, with a list of accolades as long as the range on her jumper and an even longer list of recruiters.

Yet she works out like she has so much to prove.

“I get up at 5:30, I go get up 300 balls, and I’m, well, 300 makes, and then 200 free throws,” Bjorn said.

And then there are the weekly private workouts, a travel basketball team that takes her to Iowa, and hard work in pursuit of a basketball dream that began on the court with her twin brother.

“I think they were 4 years old. We still have videos of the two of them, Carson and Addison, you know, at the YMCA, dribbling, Carson guarding Addison, and then, you know, making shots,” Darren Bjorn, Addison’s father, said.

“They were all boys except Addison. And some of the moms were like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a girl on the team.’ And I always thought, just give her a minute. She’s going to be running circles around these boys,” Karie Bjorn, Addison’s mother, said.

But after running around and dribbling through the boys, her parents say that around fifth grade, it was time to test her skills out on an all-girls team.

“I think that’s when it really hit me that, like all the preparing with playing with Carson and how they’re bigger, stronger, faster. It kind of made me, like, a step faster than all the girls,” Addison Bjorn said.

That skill caught the attention of local coaches who began recruiting Addison for travel teams and earning her invitations to college camps. Her first was at the University of Louisville, barely a teen and still in seventh grade, a meeting that changed her life.

“We’re sitting in Coach Norman’s office, and she spoke about Addison’s game and what she saw, and then she followed it up with, ‘And, you know, it’s because of this that, you know, we’re going to offer you a scholarship to the University of Louisville today,'” Darren Bjorn said.

“I was speechless at the moment. I could feel my face get red, and then even walking away after that visit, I was still like, ‘Can I post this? Like, what does this even mean?'” Addison Bjorn said.

It meant that Addison’s basketball career was taking off. She would hit the Adidas summer circuit and compete against the best players in the country. She would also earn a spot as a member of the U.S. basketball national program, her name and face now known everywhere.

“It’s a lot, it’s a lot of stress. But I think it all comes with it. It comes with being great. So I mean, I just try to stay humble and continue to grow, because I know that there’s people always on my back trying to, just still compete and get better,” Addison Bjorn said.

Addison’s goal is to be the best. Her recruitment now includes offers from pretty much every major college program in the country. She has narrowed her list of schools down to her version of a Sweet 16.

“I’m still trying to figure everything out right now,” Addison Bjorn said.

“I feel confident that when it’s time to make a decision that she’ll know her gut, her heart will tell her that, in the relationship that she’s built,” Karie Bjorn said.

The Bjorn family is becoming experienced in choosing colleges. Addison’s twin older brother, Carson, is drawing attention as a pitcher at Park Hill South, and older brother Jack is a junior tight end at Iowa State. But Addison’s process is different. Being a top recruit is now a business with hundreds of thousands of dollars and, in some cases, millions on the table.

The family says in the midst of all of that, their focus is on just finding the best fit.

“We had no idea, you know, so we’re learning too, you know, along the way. But we’re confident all of it will come together for her,” Karie Bjorn said.

For now, the focus is on enjoying a summer filled with more travel and sharing the spotlight with the biggest names in women’s basketball.

“The relationships that I’ve created through players, college players, WNBA players, college coaches all around just have kind of opened up a new part of me, I guess, like just you run into these people all the time now. But I would also say just winning. I love to win. I love to compete,” Addison Bjorn said.

Addison hopes her senior season will include competing for what has been an elusive state championship and one more thing: a second dunk in a game, this time with proof.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s the goal. I was disappointed and bummed that it wasn’t on tape, but I think it just kind of shows like just women in general are growing. And even when I went up for it, I really had no regrets. Even if I were to make it or miss it. Because you don’t find girls trying to dunk in general. So yeah, my goal is to get one soon.”

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