Lynnwood’s Pivec named Gatorade Player of the Year for 2nd year in a row

Published 7:52 pm Thursday, March 10, 2016

Lynnwood’s Mikayla Pivec is in elite company.

The senior girls basketball star was named Washington’s Gatorade State Player of the Year on Thursday for a second consecutive season. She joins six others as the state’s only two-time winners of the award.

“I was very excited,” Pivec said of learning she had won the award. “It’s a great honor. A lot of very talented players have won that award in the past. … To be on that list is pretty incredible.”

Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards was pleased to see the star senior honored for not just her basketball skills, but her successes off the court.

“I knew there was a competition amongst some other players and I truly felt Mikayla was deserving of the award, not just for her athletic ability, but also for her academics and being such a nice person and a great leader. I know that there was competition. It’s a prestigious award. I knew it wasn’t a slam dunk, but when I got the notification that she had won it, I was extremely happy for her.”

The award recognizes academic achievement and exemplary character in addition to athletic achievement.

Pivec is just the second player to win the award in the last five years. Mount Rainier’s Brittany McPhee, who now plays at Stanford, won the award for three straight years before Pivec won the most recent two.

“I think it’s great for Mikayla individually and I think it’s great for our team,” Edwards said. “I know Brittany McPhee was the winner of the award the prior years before Mikayla and to have Mikayla be able to win the award back-to-back just shows what a great player she was individually and also for our team. That is an award that isn’t all about basketball. It’s about academics and socially volunteering in the community and I just think that Mikayla does everything at the highest level, so I’m very happy that she was able to win it.”

Pivec, who is also a cross country and track star for the Royals, maintains a 4.0 grade-point average and has volunteered on behalf of Catholic Community Services and EarthCorps assisting families in need and maintaining local public parks and facilities.

Pivec, who averaged 21.7 points, 14.1 rebounds, 4.4 steals and 4.1 assists per game for the Royals this season, won the award for the first time as a junior after leading Lynnwood to its first state championship in school history. This season, after being ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for most of the season, the Royals suffered their first loss in the 3A state semifinals to Bellevue and went on to finish third in the tournament.

“We were pretty devastated after the Bellevue loss, but we came back strong to beat Kamiakin and take home third place and bring home that trophy. It was pretty cool. As a freshman if I was told our team would take home first and two thirds I would have been pretty happy with that.”

After seemingly accomplishing everything a high school player can accomplish, Pivec will join the basketball team at Oregon State University next season.

“It’s cool for people to call me one of the best players in the state,” Pivec said. “All the work that I’ve put in outside of practice is kind of paying off a little bit. I’m looking forward to continuing to get better and going to play at Oregon State sometime soon.”

Shorecrest head coach Dori Monson, who led the Scots to the 2A state championship this season, holds Pivec in the highest regard.

“After our final game against Mikayla’s Lynnwood team this season, I went up to her and told her that in all my years of coaching, she is the finest player I’ve ever coached against,” Monson said in a press release. “For one who is such a fiery competitor on the court, she couldn’t possibly be more sweet and gracious after the game. Pivec is one of the best players to ever come out of Washington.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.