Hook Repeats As Gatorade POTY

CHICAGO (March 11, 2010) — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Morgan Hook of Rogers High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Arkansas Girls Basketball Player of the Year.  
 
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 Hook as Arkansas’ best high school girls basketball player.  Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award announced in March, Hook 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 & 1999-00, Don Antonio Lugo HS, Calif.), Maya Moore (2005-06 Collins Hill 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 state’s returning Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Hook led the Mounties (22-7) to the Class 7A state tournament semifinals this past season, averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game.  The 5-foot-11 senior guard has been an All-State selection each of the past two seasons.
 
Hook has maintained a 3.27 GPA in the classroom.  She has volunteered locally on behalf of the Special Olympics and a summer basketball camp for elementary school girls.
 
“She’s a dominant player and she’s playing as well as she ever has,” said Rickey Smith, head coach of rival Northside High. “She’s a tremendous perimeter shooter and she’s just so hard to guard. She’s very unselfish too, and always finds the open man.”
 
Hook has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at the University of Oklahoma this fall.
 
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 ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, 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.
 
Hook joins recent Gatorade Arkansas Girls Basketball Players of the Year Shekinna Stricklen (2007-08, Morrilton) and Whitney Zachariason (2006-07, Central Arkansas Christian) among the state’s list of former award winners.
 
To celebrate the award’s 25th anniversary, Gatorade wants you to vote for the All-Time Greatest Players of the Year at gatorade.com/POY25. To keep up to date on the latest happenings, become a fan of Gatorade Player of the Year on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners, and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.