High School

Big news for Texas native and nation's No. 1 girls basketball recruit Aaliyah Chavez

Lubbock star named one of country's top players to watch by Naismith Awards

Levi Payton

Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez receives the Naismith girls high school all-American first team and the Texas Girls Coaches Association girls basketball 5A/6A player of the year awards, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at Monterey High School. The Naismith Awards have named Chavez to its midseason Player of the Year watch list for the 2024-2025 season.
Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez receives the Naismith girls high school all-American first team and the Texas Girls Coaches Association girls basketball 5A/6A player of the year awards, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at Monterey High School. The Naismith Awards have named Chavez to its midseason Player of the Year watch list for the 2024-2025 season. / Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Lubbock Monterey Lady Plainsmen and star senior point guard Aaliyah Chavez have been doing a lot of winning this season.

On the backs of Chavez and junior stars Ambrosia Cole (guard, 18.8 points per game) and Ari Johnson (forward, 12.1) the Lady Plainsmen have won their last six games and are off to a 28-4 start.

Speaking of backs, Chavez has helped carry the squad on hers this season.

She scored 1,000 varsity points. Then she did it again her sophomore year, and junior year, and already again this season. She's won about every major award an amateur girls basketball player can win and has been named to the top of every list.

But on Wednesday, she got another when the Naismith Awards named Chavez to the Girls' High School Player of the Year Midseason Team watch list for the 2024-2025 season on Wednesday, Jan. 15.

Earning her place on the prestigious midseason list should come as no surprise. The 5-foot-11 point guard - who is chasing 5,000 career points – entered her Jan. 14 game against Caprock averaging 36.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 3.6 steals and 1 block per game through 30 games, and proceeded to drop 42 in an 83-28 victory.

She scored 124 points earlier this season at the Caprock Classic – adding to her eight career 50-point games with a 53-point performance in the opener of that tournament.

She won MVP at the second Mamba League Invitational last summer and hasn’t stopped picking up hardware along the way.

The consensus 5-star recruit has also been moving up the nation’s scoring lists. She currently has 1,128 points through 31 games and has 4,473 through 139 career games (32.1 average).

While she has her pick of just about any college she wants to attend, Chavez has the country awaiting her final choice between six colleges – Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, UCLA, LSU and South Carolina – that she has announced as finalists for her services.

Which Texas freshman could become the next Aaliyah Chavez? Three names to watch

Does LSU have a real chance to sign No. 1 recruit Aaliyah Chavez?

Published |Modified
Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

Levi’s sports journalism career began in 2005. A Missouri native, he’s won multiple Press Association awards for feature writing and has served as a writer and editor covering high school sports as well as working beats in professional baseball, NCAA football, basketball, baseball and soccer. If you have a good story, he’d love to tell it.

Home/Texas