Pocono Mountain West's Anai'sah Malone voted 2023-24 All-Area Player of the Year
Pocono Mountain West senior guard Anai'sah Malone was named the Pocono Record Player of the Year for girls' basketball.
Six area coaches were responsible for voting for Player of the Year, and Malone received half of the votes. Malone was fourth in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference at 15.81 points per game, which was also the leading scorer among mountain players.
"I feel really, really good," Malone said about receiving the award. "I'm very excited, you know, that everything I'm getting nominated for I wasn't nominated for last year. So it just shows the progress that I've made. And I'm very excited.
I'd like to thank my team, my coach and my parents — they go hard for me every time."
Malone's MVP season was spent under the direction of coach Jim Dempsey, who is in his first year leading the program.
"It's been fantastic," Dempsey said. ""Monday was an optional shoot around, and we had Ani in the in the gym with a bunch of our underclassmen working out, leading by example. That's how it's been all year — she will lead by example on the practice court. She'll take everyone under her wing on the game day and show everyone what it takes to get the job done and wants to compete at such a high level that she's been competing at."
Malone also had some nice words to say about her coach, saying, "he has a very different coaching style that I'm used to. He's helped me with stuff that I've never seen before within the years that I've been playing. So I'm very grateful that he's my coach for my senior year."
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: West's Anai'sah Malone voted 2023-24 All-Area Player of the Year
