{"id":375985,"date":"2024-03-14T11:01:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T12:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=375985"},"modified":"2024-03-14T13:02:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T13:02:05","slug":"three-finalists-named-for-the-gatorade-national-girls-basketball-player-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=375985","title":{"rendered":"Three finalists named for the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award announced on Thursday that it is down to three finalists for the most recognizable award in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>And this year, the award has a very Big Ten flavor with two of the finalists set to play in the conference next season.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the award <a href=\"https:\/\/playeroftheyear.gatorade.com\/winner\/juju-watkins\/39554\">was won by Juju Watkins<\/a> of Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, California). As a senior in high school, she averaged 28.1 points and 14 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n<p>Her freshman year at <a href=\"https:\/\/trojanswire.usatoday.com\/\">USC<\/a> was no letdown, with Watkins going <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/womens-college-basketball\/player\/_\/id\/5175946\/juju-watkins\">for 27.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here are the three finalists for the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Jaloni Cambridge\u00a0<\/b>(Montverde Academy; Montverde, Florida) &#8211; A class of 2024 guard, Cambridge is committed to play at <a href=\"https:\/\/buckeyeswire.usatoday.com\/\">Ohio State<\/a>.\u00a0 A complete player, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maxpreps.com\/news\/f-n8DoV7uUGJWGPD3zVYUA\/jaloni-cambridge-named-2023-24-florida-maxpreps-high-school-girls-basketball-player-of-the-year.htm\">Cambridge went for 20.4 points<\/a>, 8.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds her senior season.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kennedy Smith<\/strong> (Etiwanda; Rancho Cucamonga, California) &#8211; A USC commit, Smith can score in bundles (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maxpreps.com\/ca\/etiwanda\/etiwanda-eagles\/athletes\/kennedy-smith\/basketball\/girls\/stats\/?careerid=kvoblfmice3dd\">20.1 points per game<\/a>) and is a very strong rebounder (7.5 rebounds per game). Can also be a tough, tenacious defender on and off the ball.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Joyce Edwards<\/strong> (Camden; Camden, South Carolina) &#8211; Heading to South Carolina this summer, Edwards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maxpreps.com\/news\/BJcW6hjHEUyNenE-7fAL1A\/joyce-edwards-named-2023-24-south-carolina-maxpreps-high-school-girls-basketball-player-of-the-year.htm\">is coming off a year<\/a> where she had 31.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game. A very strong defender, Edwards is developing a very nice inside\/outside game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>USC is one of four new members heading to the Big Ten this fall as part of a dramatic shake-up in conference re-alignment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award announces three finalists.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375986,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375985\/revisions\/375986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/286601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}