Providence Day player named state’s best

A Providence Day player is the Gatorade N.C. Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

Jatarie White, a 6-foot-3 junior forward, earned the award after leading her team to a 27-4 record and an N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 3A state championship this year.

She is a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year award. The winner will be announced later this month.

“I was so happy,” White said. She learned about the award when head coach Josh Springer called her before school March 14. “I was with my mom and I just looked at her and started smiling.”

Providence Day’s Tiffany Mitchell – now at South Carolina – won the state award last year. White was a finalist.

“Last year, I was fine with not getting it because I know Tiffany. She worked really hard and she was that player I looked up to,” White said. “This year, I feel like it was my turn and I felt really good about it.”

White, a three-time All-NCISAA selection, averaged 19 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 1.8 steals per game this year.

Providence Day girls’ basketball players have won the award five times since it was first awarded 1986.

Springer, who has coached the team for six years, said having two players win the award in consecutive years says a lot about the program.

“It means we’ve been really, really fortunate to have some fantastic girls and fantastic basketball players at Providence Day,” he said.

Springer also gave credit to his assistant coaches, who push the best players in practice.

With the graduation of Mitchell, White was forced into a leadership role this year with the Chargers.

“She had to turn in a MVP performance every night out for 31 games in a row,” Springer said.

“I think on one hand as a coach, it’s easy to say we need more from you,” he added. “It’s another thing for the player to go out and do it night after night. I think from the word go she did that.”

Springer told the Observer after the state championship game that he didn’t think the Chargers “were the most talented team in the state this year, to be perfectly honest.”

Providence Day lost to Rabun Gap during the regular season, but won in the championship.

White stepped up in the championship game, scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. The win gave the Chargers a fourth-straight state championship and their eighth in nine years.

“In the biggest game she played the biggest,” Springer said. “She took her game to another level. She took her leadership skills to another level with this group.”

White is the first junior to win the award since Butler’s Cierra Burdick won her first of two in 2010.

“I think it’s pretty special for a junior to win it because obviously there’s a large amount of extremely talented girls around the state,” Springer said.

White is ranked by ESPN as the No. 12 junior player in the country. She participated in the 2012 USA Basketball Women’s U-17 World Championship team trials this past summer and played for the U-16 national team in 2011.

“She’s remained humble yet hungry to continue to get better to be at her best,” Springer said.

After winning the award, White said she was already looking forward to next season.

“I miss the basketball season,” she said. “I’m just ready to win another ring. Hopefully we can get another.”