Name: Linnea Popp

School: Geneva, junior

Sport: Girls basketball

What she did: In the Class 3A Dixon Regional, Popp hit a game-winning shot with 4.6 seconds remaining in a 48-46 victory over Kaneland, and also led the Vikings with 13 points and six assists in a 49-40 victory over top-seeded Dixon to win a regional title.

Popp was selected as the Athlete of the Week based on an online vote.

Here is her Q&A with sports reporter Joel Boenitz.

How do you feel you performed on the court last week?

Popp: I was proud of my performance. Those are two tough games and I knew I had to step up. So I guess I was just trying to help in any way I could.

You had the game-winning shot against Kaneland. What was going through your mind during the play?

Popp: That’s just one of our set plays, but we didn’t draw that up. It’s one of those things where you just need to get to where you need to be. I’m not an option on that play, it’s supposed to go out for a 3-pointer. I just saw empty space and I was able to execute on it, and it was a great pass.

After losing in a regional semifinal last year, what was the feeling of getting a win in the playoffs?

Popp: It was huge, especially since we’re aiming much higher this year. We knew that it was disappointing to get out at that point last year, so it was a good confidence boost to get that win.

That confidence surely rolled over into that game against Dixon. How did you guys game-plan for that matchup?

Popp: We had a pretty intricate scout for them. And the more that we saw of them, the more that we thought that we could beat them, but we also knew we couldn’t take them lightly. We have always been good at defense. And so I think we take a lot of pride in our defense, and it’s important that we got that done. And then when you execute on defense, all you need to do is just execute on offense.

This is Geneva’s first year in Class 3A, but you played a majority of 4A teams in the regular season. Do you think that’s helped you prepare for the postseason?

Popp: Oh for sure. I know our record isn’t phenomenal, but we were looking at it and we played three of the top-10 teams in Class 4A, as well as a tough conference schedule. Class 3A isn’t anything to be taken lightly, but it’s nice to have that kind of background and that base of games. It’s good to have that kind of experience under your belt because it helps everyone.

You were 0-7 to start the season. Did you think you’d have a regional championship at the beginning of the year?

Popp: We knew we had the talent, it was just getting it all together. We were super young and inexperienced, including myself. We knew that there was going to be some growing pains, but I think it was around like Christmas that we kind of felt that we could feel things turn around.

Any superstitions?

Popp: I always eat a granola bar or a fruit strip in the locker room, I’ll have like half of that. And then I always have to put BioFreeze on my right knee.

Favorite pre-game music?

Popp: I’d say something like country. But we have a little AirPod speaker that we got from Five Below that we listen to songs on as a team.