Weeks after leading Waubonsie Valley girls basketball to a third consecutive sectional championship, Waubonsie Valley senior Danyella Mporokoso was named the 2026 Gatorade Illinois Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
A major honor for a major star
Mporokoso becomes just the fourth Naperville area athlete to earn the award, alongside Naperville Central legend Candace Parker, who won three straight awards from 2002-04, Naperville North star Greta Kampschroeder in 2021, and Benet Academy standout Lenee Beaumont in 2023.
The Warrior standout averaged 28.0 points, 3.3 assists, 2.0 steals, and 5.4 rebounds per game this season, leading her team to a 32-4 record and to the IHSA Class 4A Tournament super-sectional round. She tallied 1,007 points in her final year with the green and gold, concluding her prep career with 2,979 points, a Waubonsie Valley record, and the 11th most in IHSA history.
Mporokoso has also been named to the AP 4A All-State first team, while earning the DVC Player of the Year award. She helped the Warriors to the first state appearance in program history as a sophomore in 2024.
Success on and off the court
During her years at Waubonsie, Mporokoso has maintained a weighted 3.93 GPA in the classroom while working with Feed My Starving Children and as a youth basketball coach.
The 5’7 guard will play collegiately at Illinois State University next season.
“Danyella earning Gatorade Player of the Year is an incredible honor and a testament to the record-breaking high school career she put together,” ISU head coach Kristen Gillespie said. “She’s an exceptional talent, but even more importantly, she’s a competitor and leader who represents everything you want in a student-athlete. We couldn’t be prouder of her and thrilled that the first Gatorade Player of the Year in our program’s history is a Redbird.”
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. 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 winners in each sport.
