(Terry Raiche photo) Norway junior Lauren Adams (3) fires a 3-point shot over Carney’s Jenah Ernest (10) to reach the 1,000-point career scoring mark in Norway on Jan. 23.

NORWAY — Simply put, Norway junior Lauren Adams is a coach’s dream. She’s talented, she’s driven, she’s mentally tough and she has a mature understanding of the game for a 17-year-old.

And she has to be, in a way. For her coach is her father, Brian, who played at Norway High School. Plus, her mother, Carli, played at Jeffers High School and Finlandia University and is highly involved in her daughter’s education as a basketball player.

Adams has taken all her parents’ instruction, combined it with her own ambition, and become one of the best players in the U.P. Recently, the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters selected Adams to be a member of the Dream Team, meaning that they deem her to be one of the five top players in the U.P.

The state sportswriters felt the same. In the Associated Press postseason poll, Adams was named to the Division 4 first team, one of 13 players to be so selected.

Her statistics speak volumes. This season, Adams averaged 19.7 points per game, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. The 5-foot-7 guard also became a 1,000-point scorer for her career and currently sits 1,322, just 56 points behind Norway girls basketball’s all-time leader scorer Jordan Kraemer, who compiled 1,378.

Adams has also led Norway to two district titles, including this season when the Knights advanced to the regional final where they lost to eventual Division 4 runner-up Ewen Trout Creek 54-44.

Adams recently sat down with the Daily News and talked about all of this and more as she heads into the spring AAU season then into the summer, when she works to improve her already impressive game.

Q: How did you find out you were selected to the all-U.P. Dream Team and what was your reaction?

A: I found at home, in the kitchen. My mom told me. I remember my freshman year I was told that I was second team all-U.P. and I was happy for about three seconds and then I said that wasn’t enough. So the next year I got first team all-U.P. and the whole thing just happened again.

This year the Dream Team. I was happy but it’s not enough. Because I have one more step (to be Miss U.P. Basketball).

Q: Where does this ambition come from?

A: I’ve grown to love basketball. It’s a hard sport. It’s a mental sport for sure. And it’s very physical. (Plus) my parents push me to be the best. And when you’re good at something, you can love it.

Q: When did you realize that you were good?

A: Sports have always come easier to me, I don’t know why. But freshman year when I was playing on varsity, it kind of hit me, “I’ve got this. I’m playing at the next level.”

Q: This season started poorly for the team with five straight loses to begin? When did your team turn things around? (in addition to the district title, the Knights won 16 of their last 21 games.)

A: It was after spring break when we got rolling. I remember we had this one practice. We looked up at the boards (of past district champions) and we were like, ‘We can get up there again.” And that became the goal.

Q: So how did that play itself out on the court?

A: When we play with energy, we are a totally completely different team. And it’s amazing how that can change everything

Q: Was there a certain game when this started?

A: When we played Forest Park for the second time (on Feb. 17). We lost to them the first time. We said in the locker room before coming out that it’s time we become who we need to be and who we should be and who we can be and that’s what we did.

We played with unbelievable energy and after that game (a 61-42 victory), we had it from there.

Q: You improved your game again this year. What did you do for that to happen?

A: Actually, for me, it was mental. I would sit down with my mom and she would just read me this book about having mental toughness for basketball. And for me, that’s what it was. For me, like if I have confidence, I’m a completely different player.

Q: Could you describe these mental training situations with your mom?

A: She would read it to me while I was laying in my bed. I would just take it all in and try to put that into my perspective. Then we would talk about it and she would explain it more to me.

Q: You give an incredible amount of energy during games to where you’re beet red afterwards. What is that like for you?

A: There are times when I’m in pain, I can’t breathe. It’s crazy. When a timeout is called, I can really feel it. But when I go back out there, it goes away. I’m so focused on everything else that I don’t really have time to really think about the pain.

Q: When does it hit you?

A: Oh, right after the game, as soon as that buzzer sounds.

Q: I’m going to ask you to self-scout, in other words come up with a scouting report about yourself. What would you say?

A: I would say don’t let her shoot; she can shoot. She can drive and finish both left and right. Play her head on because I will go left, so you can’t force me that way, you can’t force me right.

I would say, defensively, you can catch me off guard if I’m off the ball. That I struggled with, I know that for sure.

Q: Do you have to love basketball to be good at it?

A: I would say you have to love it. Because there was a point in time during my freshman year when I didn’t know if I loved it. And I couldn’t not love it because my parents drove me to love it.

So, my sophomore year is when I really started loving it. And this year now. I think you have to love it because loving it gives you the extra drive.

Q: What would you say to younger players who may ask they can achieve that you have?

A: Actually, I’ve had that. I just tell them, number one you have to believe. This sounds weird, but dream about it. This has been a dream for me since I was their age And I tell them that they have to actually work for it.

Q: What is it like playing for your dad?

A: He’s an intense coach. And he is a coach that if you’re going to be coached by him, you have to be mentally tough.

Q: What is your future in the game?

A: I want to play in college. If I don’t play basketball in college, who am I? I have all these little girls looking up to me.

Q: Where would you like to play?

A: It’s hard because I don’t want to go far. Like at all. I like to be home a lot. Like traveling for AAU, I get really homesick.

Q: Do you think you’d like to coach?

A: I do actually. But I see myself coaching here, not in a college. I’m coming back home.