Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Skylar Diggins

Indiana standout named nation’s top high school performer

SOUTH BEND, Ind., March 18 /PRNewswire/ — In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with ESPN RISE, today announced senior guard Skylar Diggins of Washington High School (South Bend, Ind.) as its 2008-09 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Diggins as the nation’s best high school girls basketball player. A national advisory board comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from around the country helped select Diggins from more than 449,000 high school girls basketball players nationwide. Diggins is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year Award, to be presented at a special afternoon ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The 5-foot-10 senior guard led the Panthers to a 26-1 record and a runner-up finish in the Class 4A state tournament, where they fell to the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, Ben Davis of Indianapolis, 71-69. This season, Diggins averaged a state-best 29.0 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.2 blocked shots. A two-time Gatorade Indiana Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Diggins led the Panthers to state championship games in four consecutive years, including Washington’s title-winning season of 2007. A McDonald’s All-American Game selection, she finished her career with 2,790 points–the third-highest girls’ scoring total in Indiana history–for an average of 25.9 points per game. Also a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American Game invitee, Diggins holds school records in career points, single-season points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

On the international scene, Diggins was a standout for the USA Women’s Under-18 National Team, starting all five games at the 2008 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and leading the United States to a perfect record and gold medal. Diggins averaged 10.8 points on 50-percent shooting from the field, 3.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2 steals in 23.2 minutes per game and ranked among the top 10 in the entire tournament in scoring (10th), field goal percentage (7th), assists (2nd), steals (8th), and assist-to-turnover ratio (2nd).

Diggins has maintained a 3.91 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society and a peer mentor at Washington High, she has served as a physician’s-assistant intern in her school’s Medical Magnet Program. Diggins has also volunteered with the national Young Life ministry, and has participated in youth empowerment, leadership and educational-enrichment programs on behalf of her school’s Girlfriends Group, as well as the national Educational Talent Search and Project Excel programs.

“Everyone talks about Skylar’s offensive ability, but she’s like Michael Jordan,” said Dominic Ball, head coach at rival Penn High. “He was a great defensive player, too. And she’s a heck of a defender. I saw her block three shots in a matter of 15 seconds. She can get up, she can block shots, she can rebound. When she wants to put the clamps down, you’re not getting around her.”

Diggins has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at the University of Notre Dame this fall.

“Without question, Skylar is deserving of recognition as the nation’s best high school girls basketball player based on her statistics on the court and the impact her play had on Washington’s success,” said Gatorade Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jeff Urban. “But she is also a shining example to peers and aspiring young players of what a leader and a student-athlete should be. She represents everything we hope for in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient.”

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information and lists of past winners and future announcement dates, visit gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.

        ALL-TIME GATORADE NATIONAL GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

    Year        Name                High School                   Status
    2008-09 Skylar Diggins  Washington/South Bend, IN           High School
                                                                  Senior
    2007-08 Nneka Ogwumike  Cy-Fair/Cypress, TX                 Stanford
                                                               University
    2006-07 Maya Moore      Collins Hill/Suwanee, GA            Univ. of
                                                               Connecticut
    2005-06 Tina Charles    Christ the King/Middle Village, NY  Univ. of
                                                               Connecticut
    2004-05 Abby Waner      ThunderRidge/Highlands Ranch, CO    Duke Univ.
    2003-04 Candace Parker  Naperville Central/Naperville, IL   Los Angeles
                                                                 Sparks
    2002-03 Candace Parker  Naperville Central/Naperville, IL   Los Angeles
                                                                 Sparks
    2001-02 Ann Strother    Highlands Ranch/Highlands Ranch, CO Atlanta Dream
    2000-01 Shyra Ely       Ben Davis/Indianapolis, IN          Chicago Sky
    1999-00 Shereka Wright  Copperas Cove/Copperas Cove, TX     WNBA Free
                                                                  Agent
    1998-99     Nicole      Sachem North/Lake Rononkoma, NY     Professional/
              Kaczmarski                                           Europe
    1997-98 Tamika Williams Chaminade-Julienne/Dayton, OH       Connecticut
                                                                    Sun
    1996-97 Nikki Teasley   St. John's at Prospect              Atlanta Dream
                              Hall/Frederick, MD
    1995-96 Jamie Walz      Highlands/Ft. Thomas, KY            Highlands HS
                                                                   Coach
    1994-95  Stephanie      Seeger/West Lebanon, IN               Univ. of
              McCarty                                          Toledo (Coach)
    1993-94 Monick Foote    Samford/Wilmington, DE              Professional/
                                                                   Israel
    1992-93 La'Keshia Frett Phoebus/Hampton, VA                   Univ. of
                                                                   Georgia
                                                                   (Coach)
    1991-92 Katie Smith     Logan/Logan, OH                     Detroit Shock
    1990-91  Michelle       Central Catholic/Allentown, PA      Univ. of S.
             Marciniak                                           Carolina
                                                                  (Coach)
    1989-90 Lisa Leslie     Morningside/Inglewood, CA           Los Angeles
                                                                   Sparks
    1988-89 Lisa Harrison   Southern/Louisville, KY             Retired from
                                                                   WNBA
    1987-88 Vicki Hall      Brebeuf Preparatory/                Professional/
                             Indianapolis, IN                      Europe
    1986-87 Kris Durham     Union Catholic/Scotch Plains, NJ     Seton Hall
                                                                 Univ. Grad.
    1985-86 Susan Anderson  Mt. Baker/Deming, WA               Univ. of Texas
                                                                    Grad.

SOURCE Gatorade