Westlake (Ga.) High School guard Raven Johnson has been named the 2021 Naismith Girls High School Basketball Player of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Johnson has averaged 15.3 points and 5.7 assists per game this season with career totals of 1,623 points and 425 assists in 110 games. Her defensive stats are also impressive with 3.7 steals per game in the 2020-21 season and 409 steals in her career. Westlake is currently 19-0 and slated to play for a Georgia 6AAAA championship on Friday.
Johnson joins 2014 winner A’ja Wilson as just the second Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Girls Player of the Year winner to go on to play at the University of South Carolina.
“I am so proud to have won the Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Trophy,” Johnson said. “It means the world to me. I would like to share a quote from Kobe Bryant that I try to live by, ‘Great things come from
hard work and perseverance. No excuses.’ I have worked hard to try to become the best player for my team. Thanks to all who have poured into molding me to be able to receive this award.”
The Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Trophy for Player of the Year was first presented in 1987, and the winners are selected by a group of basketball journalists from around the country who form the Naismith Awards national high school voting academy. The selections were based on outstanding performances during the 2020-21 high school basketball season.
Past notable girls winners have included Lisa Leslie (1990, Morningside High School, Inglewood, Calif.), Chamique Holdsclaw (1995, Christ the King, Middle Village, N.Y.), Candace Parker (2003, Naperville Central, Naperville, Ill.) and Maya Moore (2006 and 2007, Collins Hill High School, Suwanee, Ga.).
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