Newark Academy’s Jocelyn Willoughby is Gatorade New Jersey Girls Basketball Player of the Year

LIVINGSTON –In its 31st year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, announced Jocelyn Willoughby of Newark Academy as its 2015-16 Gatorade New Jersey Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard led the Minutemen to a 20-6 record and the state Non-Public B North quarterfinals this past season. Willoughby averaged 21.9 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.9 blocks, 3.8 assists, and 3.1 steals per game. She is a two-time First Team All-State and All-County selection.

Willoughby, a resident of East Orange, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at the University of Virginia this fall.

Willoughby has maintained an A average in the classroom. A peer leader in her school, she has participated in service mission trips to Guatemala and New Orleans.

“Willoughby is one of the best girls basketball players I’ve ever seen,” said Dave Drechsel, head coach at Millburn High. “She’s a dynamic scorer and she can do it in multiple ways. I was most impressed with her unselfishness and her ability to make everyone around her better.”

Willoughby is the first Gatorade New Jersey Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Newark 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 Willoughby as New Jersey’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, Willoughby joins an elite alumni association of past state girls basketball award-winners, including Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Diana Taurasi (1998-99 and 1999-00, Don Antonio Lugo HS, Calif.), Maya Moore (2005-06, Collins HIlls 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 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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.

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