Jezelle “GG” Banks, the freshman basketball sensation from Ursuline Academy, has been named the Delaware girls 2023-24 Gatorade Player of the Year. Banks is the seventh Raider to be selected in the 39 years of the Gatorade honors.
The award recognizes the nation’s top high school athletes for performance on the court, in the classroom and in the community. Banks, a 5-8 guard, led the Raiders to an 18-6 record and the program’s 18th state championship, which they won on March 9 over Caravel Academy. She averaged 22.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 3 assists this season, and she hit the game-winning free throw with 1.9 seconds to go in the state championship final. In the title game, she finished with 29 points.
“GG Banks controls the whole game,” said St. Elizabeth girls coach Tye Taylor. “Rebounding, assists, scoring, defense. She usually guards the opposing team’s best player regardless of position.”
Off the court, Banks has volunteered as the manager of the Ursuline lacrosse team, and she has donated her time as a youth basketball coach and counselor. She maintains a 3.98 grade-point average.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track, as well as boys and girls basketball. It also awards on national player of the year in each sport. The selection committees include coaches, scouts, media and others.
The most recent girls basketball honorees are Emma Kirby, Tatnall (2022-23); India Johnston, Caravel (2021-22 and 2020-21); and Allie Kubek, Sanford (2019-20).
Each winner receives a grant to donate to a “social impact partner,” according to Gatorade. To date, winners’ grants have totaled more than $4.9 million across more than 1,600 organizations.
The Gatorade Player of the Year for boys basketball will be announced next week. Delaware’s all-state basketball teams, chosen by coaches and media who regularly cover the sport, will be released the afternoon of March 18.
