Campbell named PA Player of the Year by USA Today
Alli Campbell added another impressive feather to her cap by neing named the USA Today Pennsylvania girls Player of the Year.
April 22, 2019
Bellwood-Antis junior Alli Campbell has been selected as the 2018-2019 USA Today All-USA Pennsylvania Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Alli averaged 29.1 points per game and 9.6 rebounds along with 5.4 assists.
In 2018-2019, Alli lead the B-A Lady Blue Devils to their second PIAA state championship along with the team’s first District 6 championship since 2014.
“I feel honored to have been named the USA Today PA girls Player of the Year,” Alli said. “A lot of hard work went into this award. My teammates and I pushed each other in practice. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Alli’s coach, Jim Swaney, couldn’t have imagined a better player for the award to go to.
“The USA player of the year award is an outstanding award for a tremendous and gracious young lady,” said Swaney. “Alli has spent countless hours becoming the best player she can be and deserves any award that comes her way.”
The first team also included Diamond Johnson from Neumann-Goretti, Kiki Jefferson from Lancaster Catholic, Makenna Marisa from Peters Township, and Olivia Snyder from Southern Lehigh. The team drew players from all classifications.
Alli has scored a total of 2,217 points in her career and is a strong candidate to become the Blair County scoring leader after her senior season, needing around 300 points to break the mark set by former Lady Blue Devil Karson Swogger, who scored 2,520 from 2013-2017. She also has an impressive career total of 358 steals, and 732 boards.
The B-A lady Blue Devils have a record of 81-11 since Alli has entered the program.
Alli has already committed to play for national power Notre Dame, but she feels there is still plenty for her to accomplish in her senior season, starting with team goals.
“I just want to keep getting better every day and ultimately win another state championship. The awards come with that,” Alli said.
Swaney said there is plenty out there to keep Alli motivated.
“On the team side we would love to make history and become the first team in Blair County history to ever win three straight basketball state titles,” he said. “We also have the goals of winning are ninth straight ICC North title and our seventh out of the last nine years overall ICC league title, along with back to back district titles.
“For Alli’s personal goals she will look to accomplish 3,000 career points, become the school and Blair County all time leading scorer, 1,000 career rebounds, 500 career assists and steals are also within reach. So there is plenty of work still to do on the high school level for Alli. I truly think it will be a great time to sit back, watch and enjoy the senior year of one of the best high school athletes Bellwood-Antis or Blair County has ever produced.”
