PRESS RELEASE

CHICAGO (March 8, 2019) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Darian White of Mountain View High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Idaho Girls Basketball Player of the Year. White is the second Gatorade Idaho Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Mountain View High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes White as Idaho’s best high school girls basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, White joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Maya Moore (2005-06, Collins Hill High School, Ga.), Rashanda McCants (2004-05, Asheville High School, N.C.), Candace Parker (2001-02, 2002-03 & 2003-04, Naperville Central High School, Ill.), Diana Taurasi (1998-99 & 1999-00, Don Antonio Lugo High School, Calif.), Shyra Ely (1999-00, Ben Davis High School, Ind.), Katie Smith (1991-92, Logan High School, Ohio) and Lisa Leslie (1988-89, Morningside High School, Calif.).

The 5-foot-6 senior guard led the Mavericks to a 25-1 record and the Class 5A state final this past season. White averaged 15.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 3.2 assists per game. The 5A Southern Idaho Conference Player of the Year, she was also named the Idaho Press Player of the Year.

White has volunteered locally providing support for cancer survivors. “Darian White is a great all-around player who gives 100 percent effort on both ends,” said Andrew Jones, head coach at Timberline High School. “She can penetrate, she’s a good passer and she’s become a good 3-point shooter—and she will just wear out your point guard with her defense.”

White has maintained a B average in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at Montana State University this fall.

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. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

White joins Gatorade Idaho Girls Basketball Players of the Year Melody Kempton (2017-18, Post Falls High School), Tori Williams (2016-17, Centennial High School), Destiny Slocum (2015-16 & 2014-15, Mountain View High School), and Leah Bonner (2013-14, Skyview High School) as athletes who have recently won the basketball award.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” White also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. She is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.