The Miss Show-Me Basketball honor recognizes the top female high school basketball player in the state of Missouri. The name of the award differs from other Miss Basketball awards to reflect Missouri's state nickname, the Show-Me State. The award is presented annually by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association. In order to be considered for the award, nominees must have been nominated by their high school coach, started in 90 percent of all games, must be high school seniors, and must be of "outstanding moral character".[1] Ten girls are selected as finalists after nominations are compiled, and a special committee of assistant college coaches in Missouri choose the winner.
The first recipient of the honor was Janet Clark in 1985, who is the all-time leader in total points scored for the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats women's basketball team with 2,121 points.[2] Two sisters, Lori and Lisa Sandbothe, received the honor in 1986 and 1987 respectively and both went on to play for the Missouri Tigers women's basketball team.[3] In 2015, the honor was shared between Napheesa Collier and Sophie Cunningham, who both played as teammates in the McDonald's All-American Game that year.[4] Five recipients of the Miss Show-Me Basketball honor have been drafted into the WNBA, the highest draft pick being Kristin Folkl with the 1st overall pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft as part of the initial expansion player allocation. Other recipients of the honor have played with professional teams in Europe and Asia, such as Kari Koch and Shakara Jones in Greece, Heather Ezell in Iceland, and Yvonne Anderson in Turkey. Many recipients have also pursued coaching opportunities in high schools and colleges.
Scored 3,211 total points in her high school career (Missouri record until 2010), named on the all-time Ozarks women's basketball team by Ozark Preps Illustrated in 2015
Selected by the Minnesota Lynx in the first round (1st overall pick) of the 1999 WNBA Draft as part of the initial expansion player allocation, All-American her senior year playing for the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team, first-alternate for the United States women's volleyball team during the 1996 Summer Olympics, recipient of the Dial Award for the top female high school athlete in the country in 1994
Played professional basketball in Greece for five years, named on the MVC all-centennial team in 2007, assistant basketball coach for Auburn University
^"Academic All-State Banquet April 21"(PDF). MBCA Newsletter. Vol. 7, no. 3. Missouri Basketball Coaches Association. March 1991. pp. 1–2. Archived(PDF) from the original on February 16, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.