6'3" Spartan superstar a runaway winner for prestigious award
Homestead High School senior Ayanna Patterson was named Indiana Miss Basketball on Friday, adding the state's highest individual hoops award to her long resume of honors.
The "best is yet to come for this generational athete," read the headline in the formal announcement from The Indianapolis Star, which presents the award based on voting of varsity coaches and members of the media across the Hoosier State. Ayanna easily ran away with the the award given to the state's top senior girls player.
Ayanna herself learned of the honor Tuesday, when she surprised with the Indiana #1 jersey by her high school coach, Rod Parker.
"I started crying," Ayanna tells Parkview Sports Network. "That's what I've worked for my whole high school career. For it actually to come true has come full circle." Winning Miss Basketball was kept secret until 10 a.m. Friday.
As a senior, Ayanna averaged 25.8 points on 60.5 percent field goal shooting, 11.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 per game. All while leading Homestead to three Summit Athletic Conference championships and a four-peat of sectional titles over her four seasons.
She leaves Homestead with 1,912 career points points and career averages of 18.2 points and 9.6 rebounds in 105 games.
Ayanna committed to UConn nearly a year ago, and signed her national letter of intent with the Huskies in November. She will enter college basketball as the #3 recruit nationally in the Class of 2022, as ranked by ESPN.
She is also a Naismith All-American, a FIBA U18 world champion with Team USA, and a gold medal as part of USA Basketball's 3x3 U19 roster.
She heads to Storrs incredibily grateful to be part of an exclusive group of women to earn the distinction of Indiana Miss Basketball. She joins fellow Spartan Karissa McLaughlin (2017) and Snider's Tiffany Gooden (1994) as Fort Wayne girls basketball standouts who won the award. Ayanna is the first Miss Basketball to play at UConn.
"I'm going to be joining elite company. To be thought as one of the best players in Indiana means a lot," Ayanna adds.
As important as improving her on-court game has been, Ayanna stresses her commitment to getting her body and mind right partially through her training through PSM Performance and sports performance specialist Tyler Palmer.
"We work on my body and my mental, and all parts of the game," Ayanna says. "Tyler's preparing me for that physicality at the next level. Just getting that extra leverage means the world."
"One of PSM Performance's motto is do the simple things exceedingly well," Tyler says. "We started with the foundation and building her base. Now, we've basically got to the peak. We didn't skip any levels. We did all the basics; and she got really good at them. That's what's made her as great as she is."
As Indiana Miss Basketball, Ayanna will lead the Indiana All-Stars against Kentucky's All-Star team this summer. The remaining Indiana All-Star teams for both girls and boys, including Mr. Basketball, will be announced at a later date.