FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ashley Ginascol (312-729-3622)
CHICAGO (March 8, 2012) — In its 27th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPNHS, today announced
Maddie Stock of
St. Joseph's Academy (St. Louis, Mo.) as its 2011-12 Gatorade Missouri Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Stock is the third Gatorade Missouri Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from St. Joseph's Academy.
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 Stock as Missouri's best high school girls basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award announced in March, Stock joins an elite alumni association of past state girls basketball award-winners, including Candace Parker (2003-04, 2002-03, & 2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Diana Taurasi (1998-99 & 1999-00, Don Antonio Lugo HS, Calif.), Maya Moore (2005-06 Collins Hill HS, Ga.), Rashanda McCants (2004-05, Asheville HS, N.C.), Shyra Ely (1999-00, Ben Davis HS, Ind.) and Lisa Leslie (1988-89, Morningside HS, Calif.).
The 6-foot-1 senior guard averaged 17.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.0 steals, 3.2 assists and 2.3 blocks per game this past season, leading the Angels (25-6) to the Class 5 state quarterfinals. A three-time Class 5 All-State selection and a three-time St. Louis Post Dispatch All-Metro pick, Stock connected on 99 attempts from 3-point range as a senior. She concluded her prep basketball career with 1,800 points.
Stock has maintained a 3.88 GPA in the classroom. A member of the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honor society, she has volunteered locally at an area food bank and as a youth counselor.
"Everyone knows they have a shot to beat St. Joe's if they can stop Maddie Stock and nobody can stop her," said Paul Stoecklin, head coach at Visitation Academy. "Maddie is the best shooter I've seen in 24 years of high school coaching."
Stock has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on an athletic scholarship at the University of Missouri 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 ESPNHS and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, 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.
Stock joins recent Gatorade Missouri Girls Basketball Players of the Year Shelby Winkelmann (2010-11, Hermann High School), Jazmin Hitchens (2009-10, Incarnate Word Academy), Katherine Harry (2008-09, Rock Bridge), Kathleen Scheer (2007-08, New Haven), Tyra White (2006 – 07, Hickman Mills), Erneisha Bailey (2003-04, Pembroke Hill), and Claire Coggins (2002-03, Lee's Summitt N.) among the state's list of former award winners.
To keep up to date on the latest happenings, become a fan of Gatorade Player of the Year on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners, and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.
