Published Mar 6, 2020
Princess Anne's Clinton Named Gatorade VA Girls Basketball POY
Classic Super Publisher  •  VirginiaPreps
Publisher

CHICAGO (March 6, 2020) — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Jasha Clinton of Princess Anne High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Virginia Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Clinton is the second Gatorade Virginia Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Princess Anne High School, following former Duke standout Elizabeth Williams of the WNBA.

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 Clinton as Virginia’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, Clinton 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, 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-8 senior guard led the Cavaliers to a 24-1 record and a berth in the Class 5 state tournament quarterfinals at the time of her selection. Clinton averaged 14.5 points, 4.8 assists, 3.9 steals and 2.7 rebounds through 25 games. The 2019 Class 5 Region A Player of the Year, she is a four-year starting point guard and won state championships each of her first three years at Princess Anne.

Clinton has volunteered locally on behalf of multiple fundraising campaigns to benefit breast cancer research and has donated her time as a youth basketball coach.

“Jasha is a very crafty, high IQ player who makes her teammates that much better,” said Darryl Moore, head coach of Kempsville High. “Her court vision is off the charts. She is definitely the engine for her team.”

Clinton has maintained a 3.13 GPA in the classroom and represents one of the state’s top academic candidates in meeting the Gatorade award’s broad criteria. She has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball on scholarship at Temple University beginning 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 and 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.

Clinton joins Gatorade Virginia Girls Basketball Players of the Year Ashley Owusu (2018-19, Paul VI Catholic High School), Samantha Brunelle (2017-18, William Monroe High School), Megan Walker (2016-17 & 2015-16, Monacan High School), Taja Cole (2014-15, L.C. Bird High School), and Dorothy Adomako (2013-14, Cosby High School) as athletes who have won the basketball award since its inception in 2007.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Clinton 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. ***