For a second time in a row, Natrona Junior Kaylee Johnson is Gatorade's Wyoming Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

In its 28th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, announced Kaylee Johnson, a Junior, Natrona County High School as its 2012-13 Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Johnson as Wyoming’s best high school girls basketball player. She's now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award announced later this month.

The 6-foot-1 junior forward and guard averaged 18 points, 13.9 rebounds, 5.9 blocks, three assists and 2.3 steals per game this past season, leading the Fillies (22-4) to the Class 4A semifinals.

The 2011-12 Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Johnson led Class 4A in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.

Johnson has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom. She has volunteered locally on behalf of the Salvation Army and Kids Against Hunger in addition to assisting the elderly at a retirement home.

“Kaylee Johnson is a great teammate, very coachable and an extremely competitive kid,” said Natrona County head coach Doug Diehl. “She has faced multiple junk defenses in an attempt to slow her down and she responded by distributing the ball and being a selfless teammate. Overall, she is a great kid and a coach’s dream.”

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.

The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Two time winner Johnson joins Gatorade Wyoming Girls Basketball Players of the Year Jordan Kelley (2010-11 & 2009-10, Campbell County High School), Jordan Kent (2008-09, Campbell County High School), Kristen Scheffler (2007-08, Lovell), and Hillary Carlson (2006–07, Cheyenne Central) among the state’s list of former award winners.

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For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit www.gatorade.com/poy.

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