CHICAGO (March 13) — In its 32nd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, has announced Myah Selland of Sanborn Central/Woonsocket as its 2016-17 Gatorade South Dakota Girls Basketball Player of the Year for South Dakota.
Selland, the daughter of Brett and Kelly Selland of Letcher, is the first Gatorade South Dakota Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Sanborn Central/Woonsocket.
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 Selland as South Dakota’s best high school girls basketball player.
Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award announced later in March, Selland joins an elite alumni association of past state girls basketball award-winners.
Those winners include, Maya Moore (2005-06, Collins Hill High School, Ga.), Rashanda McCants (2004-05, Asheville High School, N.C.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central High School, Ill.), Diana Taurasi (1998-99 and 1999-2000, Don Antonio Lugo High School, Calif.), Shyra Ely (1999-2000, Ben Davis High School, Ind.) and Lisa Leslie (1988-89, Morningside High School, Calif.).
The 6-foot-1 senior guard has led the Blackhawks to a 22-1 record and a berth in the Class B State Tournament at the time of her selection. Selland averaged 19.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 59 percent from the inside the arc through 23 games. A two-time First Team All-State honoree and the 2016 South Dakota Sportswriters Association Prep Female Athlete of the Year, she has scored 2,218 points in her high school career.
A member of the National Honor Society as well as her school’s concert band and chorus, she has served as the president of the student council and has volunteered locally as a vacation bible camp mentor. “Myah Selland is a difficult matchup for opposing teams because she can post up, hit the perimeter shot and is often leading our fast break,” said Sanborn Central/Woonsocket High Head Coach Tim McCain. “Her overall strength is her willingness to make others around her better. She is a team player in every sense of the word.”
Selland has maintained a 4.09 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at South Dakota 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. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Selland joins recent Gatorade South Dakota Girls Basketball Players of the Year Brianna Kusler (2015-16, Aberdeen Central High School), Sydney Palmer (2014-15, T.F. Riggs High School), Macy Miller (2013-14, Mitchell High School), Kerri Young (2012-13, Mitchell High School), Heidi Hoff (2011-12, Brandon Valley High School), Alex Kneeland (2010-11, Summit High School), Shaunteva Ashley (2009-10, Roosevelt High School), Sam Ostarello (2008-09, Stanley County High School), Alexis Yackley (2007-08, Sully Buttes High School), and Jill Young (2006–07, Mitchell Christian High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Myah will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. Twelve spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.