High School

No. 1 women's recruit Aaliyah Chavez named Gatorade National Player of the Year finalist

Phenom joins fellow McDonald's All-Americans and Naismith honorees Jasmine "Jazzy" Davidson and Sienna Betts as Gatorade finalists

Levi Payton

The same day she was named Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, Aaliyah Chavez has been named a finalist for the overall award along with two other All-American phenoms in Jasmine "Jazzy" Davidson and Sienna Betts.
The same day she was named Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, Aaliyah Chavez has been named a finalist for the overall award along with two other All-American phenoms in Jasmine "Jazzy" Davidson and Sienna Betts. / Angela Piazza/USA Today Network via Caller-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The same day she was named Texas Gatorade Player of the Year for girls basketball for the second year in a row, Lubbock Monterey senior phenom Aaliyah Chavez, has been named one of three finalists for the overall Gatorade Player of the Year award.

She’s in steady company too, as she’s joined by Clackamas High School’s Jasmine “Jazzy” Davidson (Clackamas, Oregon) and Grandview’s Sienna Betts (Aurora, Colorado).

Chavez, who is uncommitted, is scheduled to announce a commitment between Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma on March 25, while Davidson is committed to USC and Betts is headed to UCLA.

While Gatorade credited Chavez with eight 50-point games in her career, an astonishing fete, she actually had nine. Perhaps they overlooked the ninth, which came this postseason in a win over Fort Worth Brewer – a victory that helped propel the Lady Plainsmen to the Class 5A-II state championship, their first in 44 years, and Chavez the finals MVP award.

Aaliyah Chavez
Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez shoots a 3-pointer against Frisco Memorial in a Class 5A Division II state semifinal girls basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Mabee Athletic Complex in Abilene. / Stephen Garcia/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While she’s got solid competition in Davidson and Betts, Chavez is likely the favorite going in. And that’s no slight toward Davidson or Betts. Chavez simply had a season unlike many have in the history of high school girls basketball – one that earned her the 2025 Naismith Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award just last week.

She finished her career at Monterey with 4,796 points, which places her 14th all-time nationally in career scoring. She surpassed Delta Academy’s Lindsay Roy (2008-2012, Marks, Mississippi), per MaxPreps records.

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

After moving into 16th all-time in single season scoring with 1,324 points as a junior last season, she bumped herself down to 17th by easily surpassing that mark this year. She finished the 2024-2025 campaign with 1,451 points, good for 10th all-time – bumping Southeast Lauderdale’s Monique Horner (Meridian, Mississippi, 2000-2001) to 11th.

She’s the only player to crack the top 20 in all-time single season scoring since Bishop’s Destiny Littleton (La Jolla, Calif.) scored 1,366 during the 2016-2017 season.

Chavez is also one of five players to appear more than once in the top 20, joining Geri Grigsby (McDowell, Kentucky, 1976-1977), Adriana McGowen (Goodrich, Texas, 2004-2005), Victoria Vivians (Scott Central, Forest, Mississippi, 2013-2014) and Mary Katheryn Govero (Mt. Salus Christian, Clinton, Mississippi, 2005-2006).

Davidson and Betts, meanwhile, are also highly decorated and were Naismith Player of the Year Award finalists.

Girls basketball photo, Clackamas Oregon
Jazzy Davidson (33) has averaged 29.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.3 steals, 2.6 assists and 1.9 blocks for Clackamas as a senior this season. / Photo: Dan Brood

The No. 2 player in the country, Davidson, a 6-foot-1 shooting forward, is a three-time Oregon Player of the Year. A dynamic scorer, she is coming off a 26-point performance with 10 rebounds and four assists as she guides Clackamas – riding a 29-game winning streak – through the OHSAA 6A state playoffs.

This season she is averaging 29.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.3 steals, 2.6 assists and 1.9 blocks.

Betts, who will join her sister, Lauren, with the Bruins, is a dynamic 6-foot-4 post who not only dominates in the paint, but is also lethal from long range.

Through 26 games this season she’s averaged 23.2 points and 16.8 rebounds to go along with 5.0 assists, 2.2 steals, 3.5 blocks.

In 103 games across her career, Betts averages 19.3 points, 14.4 boards, 4.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 3.1 blocks per game.

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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.

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