STANFORD, Calif. – Incoming freshman Jenna Brown has been named the National High School Senior Girls' Basketball Athlete of the Year by the National High School Coaches Association.
The award is the latest in a laundry list for the five-star recruit. In addition to appearances at the McDonald's All American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic, Brown was voted to the Naismith High School Girls' All-America first team, the ALL-USA Girls Basketball All-America second team, earned WBCA High School Coaches' All-America honorable mention accolades and was the Gatorade State Player of the Year in Georgia.
Brown, who maintains an A-average, is the third Georgia girls' high school basketball player to win the award. Maya Moore of Collins High School won in 2007 and Alison Thomason of Pickens County High School picked up the honor in 2000. She is the second Cardinal to win, joining Chiney Ogwumike out of Cy-Fair High School in Texas in 2010.
This the 19th year straight year the NHSCA will honor achievers in the high school athletic community nationwide with its Athlete of the Year Award in 20 boys' and girls' sports.
After missing her junior season recovering from a torn ACL, Brown averaged 24.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.4 steals in leading The Lovett School in Atlanta to a 25-5 record, a perfect 14-0 mark in in Region 5-AAA and the quarterfinals of the GHSA Class AAA State Tournament.
As a sophomore in 2015-16 she played in all 30 games and averaged 18.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.3 blocks to help her team to an 18-12 record and state tournament appearance. She started 28 games as a freshman with averages of 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals. The Lions went 21-9 record and advanced to the semifinals of the state tournament.
A USA Basketball veteran, Brown won bronze alongside current Cardinal Maya Dodson at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Cup in Zaragoza Spain.