The postseason accolades continue for Sidwell Friends’ point guard Kiki Rice.
On Thursday, the all-everything player for the 28-0 Quakers found out she was named Gatorade’s National Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
According to The Washington Post, Rice and her teammates gathered for what they thought was a photo shoot. But instead, a Zoom call began and Sue Bird of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm appeared to give Rice the good news.
“Not only are you the state player of the year, you’re the Gatorade national player of the year,” Bird said on the Zoom call. See the video below:
Rice has been one of the District’s top athletes since she started her Sidwell Friends career as a ninth grade soccer star. She scored 42 goals in the 2018-2019 school year and was named Gatorade’s District player of the year.
Gatorade congratulated Rice in social media posts Thursday, saying Rice won the award due to her “dominating on-the-court skills and impactful off-the-court influence.”
.@kiki_rice0 couldn’t be beat this year. Literally. 😤A perfect 28-0 season and a NPOY trophy? What can’t Kiki do? (Lose, apparently). pic.twitter.com/y8YxDOy3Ok
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) March 17, 2022
When she accepted the award, Rice said she had dedicated so much time to basketball.
“I’ve been working for it for, like, so much of my life,” Rice said.
Some of the top women’s basketball players of all time have won the award in the past.
“Just to be in the same kind of company is an honor,” she said.
Rice plans to attend UCLA when she starts college later this year.
