She dominated Idaho for four years. Now she’s the state’s top girls basketball player.
Boise’s Peyton McFarland dominated the paint for the past four years. And she ended her high school career as the state’s top player in all classifications after winning the 2019-20 Gatorade Idaho girls basketball player of the year award.
The 6-foot-4 McFarland — the No. 10 post and 80th-best overall player in the country, according to ESPN — led the Brave to a 17-9 record and the 5A state consolation title this winter. The four-year starter finished her senior year averaging 16.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 60 percent from the floor.
She has signed to play for Utah, choosing the Utes over 13 other Division I offers.
“Peyton is a player that even if you game plan for her, it’s impossible to hold her down,” Meridian coach Stu Sells said in a news release. “The reality is she is a real, legitimate Pac-12 player, and those kids don’t come around that often from this area.”
The award also factors in academics and community service. McFarland has a 3.22 GPA and has volunteered with the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, the Idaho Food Bank, the Idaho Humane Society and as a youth basketball coach.
Recent Idaho winners include Mountain View’s Darian White (Montana State), Post Falls’ Melody Kempton (Gonzaga), Centennial’s Tori Williams (Utah, Colorado State) and Mountain View’s Destiny Slocum (Maryland, Oregon State), who all went on to play Division I basketball.
McFarland is the third girls basketball player in Boise history to win the award, joining Jackie Luna-Castro (2010-11) and Maggie Burkett (2005-06).
The Gatorade Company will reveal the state’s boys basketball player of the year Friday.
This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 3:56 PM.
