2023 Female DiRenna Award - Grace Slaughter, Grain Valley

2023 Male DiRenna Award - Kyan Evans, Staley

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Male DiRenna Finalists

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Kyan Evans, Staley, is a 2-time DiRenna Finalist who helped lead his team to a 30-2 season while winning both the Suburban Conference Silver regular season title and the Missouri Class 6 state championship. He has received several post season recognitions including being named the Conference Player of the Year, District Player of the Year, Class 6 Player of the
Year, the MO Gatorade Player of the Year and being named the Mr. Show Me Player of the Year. This season he averaged 13.2 points, 4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals and now holds the school record both in career points and career assists. Kyan will continue his basketball career next season at Colorado State.

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Kayden Fish, Staley, played a key role in leading his team to a 30-2 season while winning both the Suburban Conference Sliver regular season title and the Missouri Class 6 state championship. His regular season and post season recognitions
include receiving the Father John Savage Award at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions, 1st Team All-Conference, 1st Team All-District and 1st Team All-State Class 6. He averaged 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal per game and scored
over 1,000 points in his career. Kayden will continue his basketball career next season at Iowa State.

 

Isaia Howard, Plattsburg, led his team to a 31-1 record while winning the KCI Conference title and a 3rd place finish at the MO Class 2 state championship. He averaged 26.4 points, 13.4 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 4.8 assists per game this season. Isaia already owns the school record for career points with 1,969 with 844 of those coming this season. He was named the Class 2 Player of the Year as well as the KCI Player of the Year and District Player of the Year for the 3rd consecutive season. He also was
named 1st Team All-State for the 2nd time. Just a junior, Isaia returns to Plattsburg again next season.

 

Zaxton King, Lawrence, averaged 24.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while leading his team to a 2nd place finish in the Sunflower League. He scored 537 points on the season while averaging 51.3% (2pt) and 37.3% (3pt) from the field. Zaxton
was named the Sunflower League Player of the Year and 1st Team All-State in Class 6A. Just a junior, Zaxton returns to Lawrence again next season. 

 

Grant Stubblefield, Blue Valley Northwest, is a 2-time DiRenna Finalist who led his team to a 21-4 record while winning both the EKL regular season title and the KS Class 6A state championship. He was named both the EKL Player of the Year and the Kansas 6A Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Stubblefield averaged 18.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals this season. He took it to another level during the 3 games at the state tournament averaging 27 points per game along
with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. He finished with 1,052 points in his career. A two-sport star, he was also an all-state football player and a key part of their state championship team. Grant will continue his basketball career with the University of Omaha.

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Female DiRenna Finalists

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Jaliya Davis, Blue Valley North led her team to a 21-4 record and the KS Class 6A state championship. She averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks this season. She has received several post recognitions including being named 1st Team All-EKL and 1st
Team All-State Class 6A and is a member of the Top 15 Players in Kansas All Classes. She has already received interest from several high level DI programs, however, she is only a sophomore and returns to Blue Valley North next season. 

 

Mariyah Noel, Bonner Springs led her team to 17 wins this season while racking up several regular season and career records at her school. Those include Most Field goals in a game (17) and Most Free Throws in a game (14). She averaged 28 points per game which set the school record for most points averaged in a season along the way to setting the school record for career points with 1,350. Mariyah post season recognitions included being name 1st Team All-Frontier League, 1st Team All-State Class
5A, 1st Team All-State All Classes, and was the Sports in Kansas Class 5A Player of the Year. She will continue her career at the University of Mississippi.

 

S’Mya Nichols, Shawnee Mission West is a 2-time DiRenna Award Finalist who averaged 19.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 4.1 steals per game this season. For her career, she has a scored a total of 1,208 points. She has received several recognitions during her career including being named the Sunflower Player of the Year the last two seasons and 1st Team All-Sunflower all four years. In addition, S’Mya was named 1st Team All-State Class 6A (for the 3rd year) and 1st Team All

State All Classes. She was a member of the US 18 National Team in 2022. She will continue her playing career next season at the University of Kansas.

Grace Slaughter, Grain Valley is a 3-time DiRenna Finalist who led her team to a 23-5 record and co-champions of the Suburban White conference. She set the school record for career points with 2,575 and this season averaged 27.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.8 steals. She has received All-Conference, All-District and All-State recognition during all 4 years of her career. This year she was named the MO Class 6 Player of the Year, the Miss Show Me Basketball Player of the Year and was named the MO Gatorade Female Player of the Year. Grace will continue her career next season at the University of Missouri.

 

Jadyn Wooten, Blue Valley led her team to a 16-9 record and a 4th place finish in the KS Class 6A state championship. She averaged 20 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2 steals per game this season. She was named to the 1st Team All-State Class 6A and 1st Team All-State All Classes. Last season she was named the KS Class 6 Player of the Year and the MVP of the Class 6A state tournament. Jadyn already owns several school records including most points in a season (501), most points in a career (1,259), career assists (306) and career steals (166). Just a junior, she has been recruited by several major DI schools but has
given a verbal commitment to Oklahoma State.