CHICAGO (March 13, 2025) — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Kate Harpring of Marist School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Georgia Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Harpring is the first Gatorade Georgia Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Marist 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 Harpring as Georgia's best high school girls basketball player, and she 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).
The 5-foot-10 junior guard averaged 32.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game this past season, leading the War Eagles (29-3) to the Class AAAA state semifinals. Harpring also averaged 5.1 steals, 3.7 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. A Naismith Award semifinalist, Harpring was named MVP at the Army National Guard Next Generation Camp last July. She is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2026 by 247Sports and concluded her junior year with 2,533 points in her prep basketball career. Harpring has volunteered locally with the Sandwich Project, which distributes meals to food-insecure people in Atlanta, and she has donated her time to multiple community service initiatives through her church. “Kate has been outstanding this season,” said Kyle Snipes, head coach of St. Pius X High School. “She has elevated her game so much between her sophomore year to her junior year. Kate makes that team go. Her basketball IQ is really next level for a kid in high school.”
Harpring has maintained an A-minus average in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school 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.
Harpring joins recent Gatorade Georgia Girls Basketball Players of the Year Danielle Carnegie (2023-24, Grayson High School), Courtney Ogden (2022-23, Westminster School), Sydney Bowles (2021-22, Woodward Academy) and Raven Johnson (2020-21, Westlake 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.
