Megan Walker Named Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year

University of Connecticut recruit Megan Walker has been named the Gatorade Player of the Year

In its 32nd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced Megan Walker of Monacan High School (North Chesterfield, Va.) as its 2016-17 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Walker was surprised with the news by 2015 WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne.

“It was exciting for me to be able to surprise Megan with the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, especially because she is such a deserving student-athlete,” said Delle Donne. “Megan is a well-rounded individual who has already accomplished so much on and off the court, so it’s an honor for me to welcome her into the prestigious Gatorade Player of the Year family, and I’m looking forward to following her career at UConn and beyond.”

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 Walker as the nation’s best high school girls basketball player. A national advisory panel comprised of sport-specific experts and sports journalists helped select Walker from nearly 429,000 high school girls basketball players nationwide. Walker is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard led the Monacan High Chiefs to a 30-0 record and a third straight Group 4A state championship this past season. Walker – who is Virginia’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year – averaged 25.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 steals, 1.2 assists per game and 1.1 blocks per game, and she capped off her year with 35 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and five steals in a 60-59 win over King’s Fork High in the state final. A McDonald’s High School All-American Game selection and a two-time Group 4A Player of the Year, Walker was a member of the USA Basketball Women’s National Team that won the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Women’s Championship. Rated as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2017 by Blue Star Basketball Report, she concluded her prep basketball career with 2,062 points.

A member of the Monacan High Healthy Allies, a booster group that supports the school’s Health and Physical Therapy Specialty Center, Walker has volunteered locally at a daycare center and as a youth basketball coach. She has also donated her time as part of multiple community-service initiatives through her church youth group and has maintained a 3.83 GPA in the classroom.

“Megan Walker possesses a college-ready frame and she can create for herself and others everywhere on the floor – off the dribble, around the rim and beyond the arc,” says Chris Menning, National Evaluator for BlueStar Basketball. “Her hard work makes it all look effortless. She represents everything that Gatorade Player of the Year has always stood for – a high quality student-athlete both on and off the court – and she’s very deserving of this honor.”