Future Stanford Cardinal named a finalist for Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year

The extended Cardinal family received a terrific honor today when Stanford basketball commit Jana Van Gytenbeek of Cherry Creek High School was named the 2019-20 Gatorade Colorado Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She becomes the first player to earn such an honor from her high school.

The full release, found here, also states that Van Gytenbeek is also a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Basketball Player of the Year, awarded later in March. She is the second straight Cardinal to win the award in the state, joining Francesca Belibi as winners as Belibi won the award in Colorado last year at Regis Jesuit.

Selected as the best girls basketball player in her state, Van Gytenbeek led her team to a 22-2 record and into the third round of the Colorado Class 5A state tournament. She averaged 18.3 points, 7.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game and was nabbed as a First-Team All-State selection the past two seasons.

Van Gytenbeek is no stranger to honors for her efforts on the basketball court as she is ranked as the 29th-best recruit this season and has 1,707 career points to date while also setting the Colorado state record with 656 career assists.

Off the court, Van Gytenbeek is also no stranger to honors as she earned a 4.07 GPA in the classroom and has spent time volunteering with Project C.U.R.E., helping raise money to benefit hospitals and clinics in the developing world. She was also a volunteer coach on behalf of the Salvation Army.

Van Gytenbeek has led Cherry Creek to a No. 1 ranking in Colorado according to MaxPreps and are ranked as the 64th-best girls high school basketball team in the country. They’ll be in action tonight against Ralston Valley.

With her track record in high school both on the court and off, Van Gytenbeek seems like a perfect fit for what the Cardinal bring to the table year in and year out. She’ll have at least one more game to showcase her skills before the Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year award is announced.

For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year, check out past winners including our own Belibi at Gatorade.com/POY.