Future South Carolina Gamecock Joyce Edwards of Camden High School in Camden, SC was surprised by two-time WNBA All-Star and Dallas Wings forward Satou Sabally with the 2023-24 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award.
Joyce Edwards, @GamecockWBB commit, winning the 2023-24 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award is dope because she REALLY encapsulates on and off the court excellence. @Gatorade POY is the top honor in HS sports & she joins an ELITE roster that preceded her. pic.twitter.com/glRCWyJkLm
— Arielle (Ari) Chambers (@ariivory) March 28, 2024
Gatorade Player of the Year has a nearly 40-year legacy of celebrating the next generation of top talent in the earliest stages of their greatness. Previous winners include USC’s JuJu Watkins, UCLA’s Kiki Rice and UConn’s Paige Bueckers, just to name a few.
The award itself is a tremendous honor, but it was the way it was presented to Edwards that took her by surprise. Edwards said:
So I was coming back to Camden High School just to get some light shots up for the McDonald’s All-American game that’s coming up. And I see all these people, cameras, news, all my classmates and my teammates. I was like, “What’s going on?” And then I see her (Satou Sabally) with the trophy and I was speechless. I set my phone down, my keys down and I couldn’t… I had no words. I was just gasping for air.
Sabally discussed what it was like to hand out this prestigious award to Edwards.
I’m honored. I mean, she’s such an amazing player going into college, and I feel like that’s just a great honor. So, me just standing there handing over the award and seeing how she felt since then and I’m happy that her game is being seen and acknowledged. It’s a really big thing. And I think she can be really proud of that. And just seeing also the joy of the family, the joy of the teammates. You can really see how proud they are of Joyce and how much love she’s surrounded by. It’s really great.
Edwards dominated her final year of high school play, averaging 31.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game for Camden. She is keeping her talents in South Carolina, joining head coach Dawn Staley’s squad next season. Edwards discussed that while this award is a tremendous honor, this is just the beginning. Entering such a competitive environment at South Carolina, where this season’s Gamecocks are undefeated as they progress through the NCAA Tournament, Edwards has a pretty clear answer on what she has to do to get prepared:
Yeah, just work. I mean, there’s nothing much to it, just putting in the work. Obviously, I have games coming up, All-Star games: McDonald’s, Jordan Classic and Nike Summit. But just heading into college, just realizing that none of those awards mean anything. I mean, you’re coming in, starting back at the bottom and you have to work your way up back to the top. So just having that mentality and never being satisfied, no matter who presents awards or what award you get until I make it to where I want to be, it all really doesn’t matter.
This mentality seems like a good one to have heading into such a competitive environment, and the top talent evaluators in the sport rank Edwards highly. “If you wanted to build a women’s basketball player from scratch, she would look like Joyce,” said Kevin Lynch, Senior National Talent Evaluator for Blue Star Report. “Great size, speed, strength and skill. I think she’s the most physically talented player in this class. Her high basketball IQ and instincts will have an immediate impact at the collegiate level.”
It will be a few more months before Edwards begins her college career, giving her more time to prepare for the moment and relish in her 2023-24 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year Award.
