High School

Aaliyah Chavez wins Gatorade National Player of the Year: Nation's No. 1 women's basketball recruit takes top honor

After recently winning Texas Gatorade Player of the Year and Naismith Girls Basketball Player of the Year awards, Lubbock Monterey senior phenom takes home another prestigious national honor

Levi Payton

After a historic season, Lubbock Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez has been named 2024-2025 Gatorade National Player of the Year for high school girls basketball.
After a historic season, Lubbock Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez has been named 2024-2025 Gatorade National Player of the Year for high school girls basketball. / Angela Piazza/USA Today Network via Caller-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the famed words of musician DJ Khaled, "Another one."

That's probably what Aaliyah Chavez is thinking about now. With a trophy case that's already loaded with about every award a high school basketball player can dream of winning, Chavez added the final infinity stone to her gauntlet on Wednesday.

On the heels of one of the biggest seasons any prep girls basketball player has had in history, Chavez was named Gatorade National Player of the Year for girls basketball mere days after also winning Texas Gatorade Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Chavez is the first Texas girl to win the award since Manvel's Brianna Taylor took the honor in 2014. Taylor went on to a fantastic career at Notre Dame, was drafted in the first round of the WNBA Draft. She now plays alongside Caitlin Clark with the WNBA's Indiana Fever.

No pressure, Aaliyah.

Still uncommitted, that won't last long as Chavez is expected to announce her college commitment at 2 p.m. on March 25, where she's expected to choose either Texas, South Carolina, Texas Tech or Oklahoma.

Aaliyah Chavez
Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez shoots a basket during the Class 5A Division II state championship girls basketball game on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at The Alamodome in San Antonio. / Angela Piazza/USA Today Network via Caller-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Speaking of the WNBA, Chavez wasn't the only star in attendance at Wednesday's announcement. Nine-time WNBA All-Star Nneka Ogwumike, who has become close with Chavez due to their Texas and AAU ties, surprised her with the award at Monterey High School.

"I've always been described as a player that doesn't have any mustard on her hot dog and then Aaliyah has a lot of mustard on her hot dog," Ogwumike told Sports Illustrated in an interview Wednesday. "So I will say that about how she plays, it's a lot of fun to watch."

Read more stories about Aaliyah Chavez's historic career here.

Ogwumike isn't the only one who feels that way. Chavez was often spotted lingering long after games meeting and greeting fans, signing autographs and taking photos. After Monterey won the Class 5A Division II state championship this season, a game in which Chavez was named finals MVP by the UIL, an empty concession area was opened and a line that wrapped down two hallways formed with eager fans wanting to meet the phenom.

Despite the stardom and constant pressure, Chavez has seemingly accepted it with a smile.

To list Chavez's accomplishments is akin to reading off her stat sheet: There's a lot to see and they're all impressive.

On the court, she began the season 16th all-time in single-season scoring after netting 1,324 points in her junior season. She's now occupying two spots on that list - No. 10 and No. 17 - after scoring 1,451 points and leading Lubbock Monterey to its first girls state basketball championship since 1981.

She finished her career at Monterey with 4,796 points, placing her 14th all-time in career scoring. She surpassed Delta Academy’s Lindsay Roy (Marks, Miss., 2008-2012), per MaxPreps records. The final stats from her final game have yet to be officially added to her overall stats on MaxPreps.

It is of importance to note Chavez's stats from her final game were never added into her overall numbers on MaxPreps, which still shows her having scored 34.9 points per game as a senior. Adding in those final stats actually brings her numbers down, despite scoring 19 points, to 34.5 points per game in 42 games in 2024-2025 and 31.9 in her career over 150 career games.

Weeks after the championship run, she was named Texas Gatorade Player of the Year for the second time while simultaneously being named a finalist for the overall award. She also was named to the preseason Naismith Girls Basketball Player of the Year watch list, was named a Naismith finalist in December and won the overall award earlier this month. She was named Texas Miss Basketball twice.

Oh, she's also a McDonald's All-American. That's another big one. She'll play for the West team in the McDonald's High School All-American game on April 1, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Aaliyah Chavez
Monterey senior Aaliyah Chavez receives her McDonald's All-American jersey at a pep rally Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at Monterey High School. / Stephen Garcia/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But winning Gatorade National Player of the Year might be the highlight of them all.

"Sophomore year I realized this is something I wanted," Chavez told SI. "So I worked a little bit [extra] hard my junior and senior year to win it. And then winning national means a lot because that's more than Texas. Obviously there's great girls in Texas, but this means nationally. It was something that means a lot to me."

Aaliyah Chavez
Lubbock Monterey guard Aaliyah Chavez (2) celebrates the team's 64-35 Texas UIL 5A Division 2 State Championship victory over Liberty Hill at The Alamodome in San Antonio, March 1, 2025. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Chavez joins Ogwumike among a star-studded cast of former Gatorade National Player of the Year winners, including JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers, Kiki Rice, Breanna Stewart, and Candace Parker.

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

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