MaxPreps Female Athlete of the Year: Chiney Ogwumike

For the second time in three years, an Ogwumike has been selected the national MaxPreps Female Athlete of the Year.

Chiney Ogwumike, an uber-talented basketball and volleyball star at Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas) in the greater Houston area, follows in the footsteps of her sister Nneke, who just completed her sophomore basketball season at Stanford.

Chiney leadership skills stand tall.

Photo by Jamie Harms

Make no mistake. Chiney is no follower. Her greatest trait, teammates and coaches say, is her remarkable ability to lead. 

She did so every day during her illustrious four-year careers on both the basketball and volleyball squads. And she showed she can make a fast impression as she did at the McDonald's All-American basketball game in Columbus Ohio, leading the West to victory.

Karla Gilbert, a West teammate from A&M Consolidated (College Station, Texas), had played against Chiney on both the AAU and high school level. She always admired Chiney from afar, but said she was even more impressive up close.

"Chiney is an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime player," Gilbert said. "She’s very athletic and competitive, but what’s so great about her is that she’s so encouraging to everyone. You have no choice but to love her."

The choices for top athlete among 25,000 high schools are staggering, but on sheer numbers, the 6-foot-2, 170-pound Ogwumike stood above the crowd.

In her secondary sport volleyball, one she just tinkers in the fall, Chiney had a staggering 634 kills, which ranked among the top five nationally, leading her team to a 34-10 record.

In basketball, she scored an unselfish 22.3 points per game along with 8.5 rebounds and 3.2 steals. More impressively, she guided a very inexperienced squad with little expectation all the way to a state title and No. 5 final national rankings.

"Chiney doesn't need a spotlight," Cy-Fair coach Ann Roubique told the Houston Chronicle. "She is a winner, but she doesn't do it alone. She makes her teammates better and they make her better. She is just a team player."

She always has been. Being the younger sister allowed her to study and survey all courts, landscapes and situations. 

The planner

Her mom Iffy said Chiney was a calm, quiet, rather inactive baby. With her deep-set eyes she would stare and study all things, all day, while her 2-year-old sister Nneke would zoom around the house.

Chiney ranked among nation's top 10 with 634 kills.

Photo by Jamie Harms

That thought changed one day when Ify noticed her second of four daughters staring directly at Chiney’s father Peter, who was eating a slice of pizza. She stared and studied and just as her dad looked away, Chiney leapt from her stroller and grabbed the pizza, to the amazement of her parents.

"We’d never seen her even make a sudden movement before," Ify said. "But she wanted that pizza. She watched his every move and at the exact moment the opportunity arose to take it, she took it."

Turns out, Ogwumike was neither inactive nor lazy after all, but rather a plotter, a planner, and studier of all her surroundings.

Turns out also she was neither quiet nor subdued, either. Over the next 16 years, Ogwumike grew into a gregarious and outgoing young woman, bursting with ambition and more so a sense of community.

"She’s always been a networker, a collaborator," her mom said. "She’s a people’s person and loves to communicate and inspire and lead. She loves to involve others."

And when Chiney has a cause – a vision – well, it almost always gets done.

No parade float

Take, for instance, the 2009-10 Cy-Fair basketball team. Two years previous, Nneke, now an All-American at Stanford, and Chiney led the Bobcats to a 5A state championship.

The following year, Cy-Fair reached the state semifinals before losing to eventual champion Summit, 49-39.

With two state appearances, one championship and 74 wins over two seasons, there was a lot to be thankful for, and Chiney, an athletic top recruit, surely was.

Chiney will take her game next season to Stanford.

Photo by Keith Owens

Generally regarded as the top player in her class in the nation and with a full ride to join her sister at Stanford in the bank, she could have rode out her prep days on parade float, waving at her many fans and admirers. Nobody would have blamed her if she spent more time tweaking her straight-A course work or devoted more time to her duties as Student Council President, or Civil Right's Club Vice President.

But Chiney locked down those analytical eyes on her team and started mapping an inspirational plan. Her mom saw it coming – just like her baby plotting out the pizza – and almost dreaded the words.

"She said, ‘People have already written us off, but I think we can do it. I think we can win the state championship,’ " Ify said. "I didn’t want to discourage her but I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be a challenge.’ "

And that it was. But with Chiney pulling the squad together in every conceivable way possible, the Bobcats pulled it off, going 36-1 following a decisive 65-41 win over Hightower in the finals. In the championship game, Chiney had the signature game of her career: 31 points, 18 rebounds, seven steals and three blocks.

She left to a standing ovation from both sides of the stands.

"That was a special moment," Roubique told the Houston Chronicle that day. "It shows something about how important Chiney has been in Houston’s basketball over the last four years."

Team player

Oh, the numbers are quite impressive: 22.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game while being double- and triple-teamed. But it barely scratches the surface of how Chiney contributed to Cy-Fair’s unlikely victory in the star-studded state of Texas.

As many as six Texas squads were ranked this season in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and five standouts from Texas were represented at the McDonald’s All-American Game, two more than any other state. The Bobcats claimed the title with an unyielding belief and camaraderie that dwarfed other, more talented teams.

"The previous year was so painful losing in the semifinals so we just fought back and persevered," Chiney said. "It just came down to, we wanted it a little more."

Chiney insists it was no special doing of her own, even though she's earned at least four National Player of the Year selections. More so, she says, due to players like Cassie Peoples, a 5-9 junior guard who stepped up to average 14.9 points per game, and 5-4 guard Aarika Reyna (13.3). The Bobcats also got huge contributions from Tara Warren and Danika Cervenka, two more junior guards who combined to average almost a combined 15 per game.

Roubique said Chiney’s selfishness and leadership, more than her vast athleticism, was what keyed the title.

It didn’t take McDonald’s All-American co-head coach Cathy Self-Morgan (Duncanville) to see her team was going to be in good shape thanks to Chiney. Again, it had little to do with her top-notch play.

Chiney led Bobcats to second state title in three years.

Photo by Jim Redman

Her numbers in the game were strong – 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, along with three rebounds and two blocks in 17 minutes. But her other contributions were monumental, Self-Morgan said.

"She’s just an absolute joy," she said. "I’ve always wanted to coach her and she was even more amazing than I’ve been told. She’s just so unselfish and brings people together. She epitomizes what this game is all about and represents.

"She sees all."

"She made sure that Odyssey had fun," Self-Morgan said.

It’s not easy for stars from 24 different teams to get together and mesh, but Chiney made sure the West squad stayed together and on task. More than once, when the team or individuals were getting a little selfish, Chiney found a highly evolved way to squelch it.

"She wouldn’t hit kids over the head or demand things," Self-Morgan said. "She just found a way to include that person, to mesh, to bond. She has an amazing gift. And she’s a pretty fair basketball player, too."

The competition

As expected, Ogwumike's competition for the nation's top athlete was fierce. Consider just some of the other top athletes and their accomplishments.

Elizabeth Burchenal (St. Ursula Academy, Cincinnati, Ohio): The University of North Carolina-bound soccer player set school records for goals (104) and assists (50).

Katie Flood (Dowling, West Des Moines, Iowa): The cross-country star placed first in the Nike Cross Country Nationals and eight at the Foot Locker Championships. Also a track star, she recorded the nation's second best 3,000-meter time of (;27.25) and fourth-best 1,500 (4:28.30). 

Emily Gaines (South Laurel, London, Ky.): The record-setting softball player not only blasted 17 homers, recorded a 19-2 pitching record or hit in 52 straight games, but she's also headed to the University of Kentucky on a volleyball scholarship.

Ashton Purvis St. Elizabeth (Oakland, Calif.): The nation's fastest prep female runner, Purvis finished off illustrious high school career in style, winning two more state sprint titles in nationally-leading marks. She won the CIF state-meet 100 in 11.17 seconds - just off Marion Jones' national mark of 11.14 - and the 200 in 22.90.

Kirsten Verdun (Coal City, Ill.): Went 40-0 on the mound leading her team to a 2A state title and first undefeated, untied record in a quarter-century in the state of Illinois.

Ashley Whittman (Shakopee, Minn.): The 6-1 outside hitter led her team to a 32-0 record and third straight state 3A crown with 569 kills and 294 digs.

Rachel Williams (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose, Calif.): The MaxPreps Volleyball Player of the Year led Mitty to a national championship with 387 kills.