Arizona freshman Aaronette Vonleh named Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year

Arizona Wildcats freshman Aaronette Vonleh was recently named the 2020-21 Oregon Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year after a stellar season at West Linn High School.

The 6-foot-4 center averaged 28.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 71.1 percent from the floor and leading the Lions to a 13-4 record. Vonleh is the first player to ever win the award out of West Linn High School. ESPN ranks Vonleh, who also goes by “Netty,” as the No. 100 player and No. 9 post in the 2021 recruiting class.

To win Gatorade Player of the Year honors, one must also excel off the court. Vonleh has a weighted 3.35 GPA and has volunteered at homeless shelters, food banks and served as a coach for youth basketball programs.

Vonleh will play alongside Cate Reese, Koi Love, Ariyah Copeland, Lauren Ware and Semaj Smith in Arizona’s frontcourt, which should be one of the best units in the country and a welcome change from the days when UA was undersized. Love (Vanderbilt) and Copeland (Alabama), who transferred in this offseason, were double-double threats at their previous schools.

“The special thing about Aaronette is she’s got very good size. She’s really good around the basket, but she’s got very soft hands,” UA head coach Adia Barnes said in November. “So to have the size and stuff, you usually don’t have the hands and footwork she has. It must be in her genes, because her brother (Noah Vonleh) has the same thing, but she’s gonna be a good player, I think she’ll be a better college player than high school player, I think, because she’ll have so many more resources and just get coached a little bit differently.”