Grandview’s Betts Named Gatorade Colorado Girls Basketball Player of the Year

CHICAGO — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Sienna Betts of Grandview High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Colorado Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Betts is the third Gatorade Colorado Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Grandview High School.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the court, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Betts as Colorado’s best high school girls basketball player and she’s also been selected as a finalist for the distinguished Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March. With her selection, Betts joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Candace Parker (2002-03 & 2003-04, Naperville Central High School, Illinois), Paige Bueckers (2019-20, Hopkins High School, Minnesota) and Joyce Edwards (2023-24, Camden High School, South Carolina).

At the time of her selection, the 6-foot-4 senior power forward averaged 23.8 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 3.5 blocks and 2.3 steals this past season, leading the Wolves (23-3) to the Class 6A state tournament quarterfinals. Ranked as the nation’s No 2 recruit in her class by both 247 Sports and espnW, Betts is now a three-time Gatorade State Player of the Year as well as a 2024 Naismith Award finalist. Also a 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup gold medalist, she recorded a double-double in every game as a senior and will graduate as the leading prep rebounder—boy or girl—in state history.

A peer tutor supporting freshman and sophomores, Betts has volunteered locally on behalf of Unified basketball, which joins people with and without intellectual challenges on the same team. She has also donated her time at the Ronald McDonald House and by assisting at youth basketball camps. “Sienna is the definition of a great player,” said Jerry Knafelc, head coach at Arapahoe High School. “She can score the ball nearly at will, block shots better than anyone, talks on defense and has a great work ethic. What makes her truly great to me is that she makes everyone else on her team better and genuinely embraces this role. I’ve coached against a number of very good players, some of whom have won the Gatorade Player of the Year award. None of them did it better than Sienna.”

Betts has maintained a 4.2 weighted GPA in the classroom. She has signed a written letter of athletic aid to play basketball at UCLA this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Three-time winner Betts joins recent Gatorade Colorado Girls Basketball Players of the Year Lauren Betts (2021-22 & 2020-21, Grandview High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.