ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. – Already named an All-American by two organizations and Kentucky’s Miss Basketball winner, Elizabethtown High School’s Erin Boley received the most prestigious honor of her senior year Wednesday.
The 6-foot-2 Boley has been named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year. WNBA star Maya Moore was scheduled to present the award to Boley during a ceremony scheduled for 10:50 a.m. at E’town High School.
Boley becomes the third Kentuckian to win the Gatorade national award in its 31-year history, joining Southern’s Lisa Harrison (1989) and Highlands’ Jaime Walz (1996).
A Notre Dame signee, Boley averaged 24.2 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.7 assists this season as the Panthers finished 30-5 and reached the quarterfinals of the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual champion Butler.
Boley joined the E’town varsity squad as a seventh-grader and finished her career as the program’s leader in points (3,325) and rebounds (1,431).
She is one of 24 girls who have been selected McDonald’s All-Americans and one of five members of the Naismith All-American first team. She was named Kentucky’s Miss Basketball during a ceremony last week in Lexington, Ky.
Boley has a busy few weeks ahead of her, as she will play in the McDonald’s All-American Game on March 30 in Chicago and the Jordan Brand Classic on April 15 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Along with athletic excellence, the Gatorade award recognizes academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the court. Boley has a 4.0 grade-point average and is ranked No. 1 in her class at E’town. She also is the vice president of the senior class.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.