NORCROSS, Ga. -- She would have preferred the attention be on her teammates and that the cameras were turned off.
Mikayla Coombs is humble about her accomplishments, but one of the top girl's basketball players in the nation was awarded a prestigious award on Tuesday. A little commotion was necessary to celebrate her success, especially before she leaves for the top women's basketball program in the country: UConn.
Coombs, a senior at Wesleyan, was awarded the Georgia Girl's Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year Award on Tuesday. She was surrounded by her teammates, who won the 1-A (Private) state title this season.
The team has won two state championships during Coombs' time. They came up short in 2016, losing to Holy Innocents Episcopal in the state championship game. The same thing happened in 2014, Coombs' freshman season when they were the state runners up. But the Wolves won the title the following season.
Redemption has been sweet, twice.
"It's amazing. Just winning state this last year, just the comeback we had, just experiencing with the eight seniors we had on this team, it was amazing. It was bittersweet. I'm going to miss them," Coombs said.
After finishing her senior season, Coombs will continue her basketball career under Coach Geno Auriemma. She travels to the northeast with a goal to help the Huskies bounce back after their streak of 111 wins was snapped last season.
"I'm excited to help build a new streak because going to UConn has always been a dream of mine," she said.
But Coombs will never forget who helped her along the way.
"Just Coach Azar [West], she's played a huge role in all the accomplishments that I've had," she said. "To take that to UConn and everything that she's taught me, that's what I'm going to try and do."
The award was presented to Coombs by 11Alive Sports' Kim Smith.
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