HHS's Webb named Gatorade Player of the Year

In its 28th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, announced Marqu'es Webb of Hoover High School as its 2012-13 Gatorade Alabama Girls Basketball Player of the Year on March 14. Webb is the third Gatorade Alabama Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Hoover High School.

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 Webb as Alabama’s best high school girls basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award announced in March, Webb joins an elite alumni association of past state girls basketball award-winners.

The 6-foot-1 senior forward and center led the Buccaneers to a 28-4 record and their second straight Class 6A state title this past season. Webb averaged 15.1 points, 11 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. A two-time First Team All-State selection and a 2013 Alabama Miss Basketball nominee, she recorded 29 points and 22 rebounds in the Class 6A state final, leading Hoover to a 66-55 victory over Blount High.

Webb has maintained a 3.48 GPA in the classroom. She has volunteered locally on behalf of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Montgomery Zoo and as a youth basketball camp counselor.

“Marqu’es Webb has mastered the ability to be an intense competitor while maintaining a professionalism that is beyond her years,” said Hoover High head coach Tiffany Frederick. “She encourages all of her teammates, and she is the first to help a fallen competitor off the floor. She leads her team with a big heart for both the game of basketball and her peers.”

Webb has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on an athletic scholarship at Vanderbilt University this fall.