Nia Irving of Lawrence High School has been named the 2015-16 Gatorade Maine Girls Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight year.
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 Irving as Maine’s best high school girls basketball player, according to a Gatorade news release.
Irving, who is headed to Boston University next fall to play basketball, is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award, which will be announced later in March.
A 6-foot-1 senior center and a member of the Bangor Daily News All-Maine first team, Irving averaged 25.6 points and 21.1 rebounds per game while shooting 57 percent from inside the arc this past season. She led the Bulldogs of Fairfield to the Class A North championship before they fell in the state final to York.
Irving is a finalist for Maine’s Miss Basketball award and collected 1,761 points and 1,206 rebounds in her high school career and is a four-time Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
A member of the National Honor Society, she has volunteered locally on behalf of a homeless shelter, as a peer tutor and as a youth basketball coach.
“The hard work and commitment Nia Irving has made to her game has been incredible,” said Tim Scott, head coach at Hampden Academy. “She has become a very hard-working and special teammate for the Lawrence team. She has deserved all the accolades that have come her way. She is not only a great player but also a highly respected opponent. She plays the game the right way.”
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.
Two-time winner Irving joins Gatorade Maine Girls Basketball Players of the Year Allie Clement (2013-14 and 2012-13, Catherine McAuley), Meghan Gribbin (2011-12, Windham), Niki Taylor (2010-11, York), Nicole Taylor (2009-10, York), Morgan Frame (2008-09, Waterville), Rachael Mack (2007-08, Cony), and Ashley Cimino (2006–07, Catherine McAuley) among the state’s list of former award winners.