Seattle Storm Point Guard Sue Bird Surprises Winner with Honor

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — In its 37^th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Kiki Rice of Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. is the 2021-22 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Rice won the prestigious award for her accomplishments on and off the court, joining an impressive group of former Gatorade National Girls Basketball Players of the Year who have combined for nine WNBA MVP awards, 53 All-Star appearances, 15 WNBA championships, 15 WNBA first round draft picks and two became Hall of Famers.

Seattle Storm point guard Sue Bird virtually surprised Rice with the news, while her family, coaches and teammates showed up with the trophy at school. Check out a video of the announcement here.

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 Rice as the nation’s best high school girls basketball player. The Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others to evaluate candidates, selected Rice from nearly half a million other student-athletes who play girls basketball nationwide.

Competition for the national award was fierce. Rice topped the list of state winners in girls basketball who collectively boast an incredible list of accomplishments, including six returning state Gatorade Players of the Year, 31 with a GPA of 3.75 and above and 33 with signed National Letters of Intent or verbal commitments to play basketball at Division I colleges/universities.

“Kiki is a do-it-all guard who brings a dynamic combo-guard presence to the floor that allows for versatility within offensive schemes,” says Shane Laflin of Premier Basketball/ESPN HoopGurlz. “She excels in the transition game and creates well off the dribble. Sidwell Friends lined up an impressively competitive schedule this season and Rice has led them to an undefeated season in dominant fashion.”

The state’s 2019-20 Gatorade Player of the Year, the 6-foot senior guard had led the Quakers to a 28-0 record and the DCSAA Tournament title this past season, earning her squad the nation’s No. 1 national ranking by MaxPreps. Rice averaged 15.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game and also lifted Sidwell Friends to the ISL Division AA tournament championship. A member of the 2021 USA Basketball U18 Junior National 3×3 Team that won a gold medal at the World Cup in Hungary, Rice also won a gold medal with the U16 National Team at the 2019 FIBA Americas Championships in Chile. She is a McDonald’s All-American Game selection and won the 2022 Naismith Award.

Also the 2018-19 Washington D.C. Girls Soccer Player of the Year, Rice has volunteered locally with So Others Might Eat and as a mentor to younger Sidwell Friends students. She has also donated her time as a veteran leader in the Sidwell Friends Athletic Leadership Academy.

Rice has maintained a B-plus average in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball on scholarship at UCLA this fall.

“Former POY winners go on to become national champions, first round draft picks and even Hall of Famers,” said Gatorade Senior Vice President and General Manager Brett O’Brien. “With all Kiki Rice has already achieved before high school graduation, we have no doubt she is headed toward a lifetime of similar accomplishments and success on and off the court.”

Each year, a selection committee evaluates the nation’s top talent to choose one state winner from each of the 50 states as well as Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In all, 608 athletes are honored each year. From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports.

Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable lifelong skills on and off the court. Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators. Previous winners include a distinguished list of athletes, such as Peyton Manning, Abby Wambach, Jayson Tatum, Elena Delle Donne and many other sports icons.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.

About Gatorade

The Gatorade Company, a division of PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP), meets the needs of consumers who participate in sports and fitness, through brands that include Gatorade, Propel, Muscle Milk, and Evolve. The solutions they provide are driven by a deep understanding of the unique occasions and needs across athletic activity. Gatorade, their marquee brand, is underpinned by a 56-year history of studying the best athletes in the world, and sports nutrition research by the Gatorade Sport Science Institute, allowing it to provide scientifically formulated products that meet athletes’ needs both on and off the field. For more information and a full list of products, please visit www.gatorade.com.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

SOURCE The Gatorade Company