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Southwest Florida has enjoyed a number of brilliant girls basketball players over the years.
The last two decades have been kind to the area with strong championship runs from the likes of Barron Collier, Community School, Dunbar, Fort Myers, and Evangelical Christian School.
Plenty of talented players populated those teams as well as other notable athletes who contributed to the area's many successful programs over the years.
As a result, selecting the top 25 girls basketball players of the past 25 seasons was a considerable challenge.
To be eligible for this list, a player had to be on a Southwest Florida high school basketball team between 2001 and 2025.
Consideration was given not only to how they performed at the high school level but college as well.
Here are our selections, presented in alphabetical order.
Kelsey Assarian, Barron Collier The 6-foot-1 Assarian helped lead the Cougars to the 2008 Class 5A state championship and was named tournament MVP.
She made first-team all-state as a senior, leading the Cougars in scoring, rebounds, blocks, and steals and was an Honorable Mention All-American.
A two-time News-Press Basketball Player of the Year, she started for Barron Colliers 2006 state title team.
Assarian played four seasons at Texas A&M.
McKenna Beach, Cape Coral The three-time all-state selection and 2015 News-Press Player of the Year finalist ended her prep career with 1,986 points and averaged 23.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.5 steals, and 3 assists per game as a senior.
She went on to have a standout career at Stetson University, becoming the fourth player in school history to post 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 200 steals.
Rebekah Bergquist, SFCA In 2019, Bergquist was a News-Press Player of the Year finalist in basketball and the overall Female Athlete of the Year for her prowess in basketball, track, and volleyball.
On the hardwood, she became Southwest Floridas all-time girls' leading scorer with 2,672 points.
She also grabbed 1,432 rebounds, blocked 699 shots, and dished out 603 assists in her six-year varsity career.
Tyra Brown, Fort Myers Brown began her high school basketball career at Canterbury, where she was a key contributor to the Cougars' run to the Class 3A title game in 2019.
Brown spent the next four years at Fort Myers, where she continued to be productive in the front court.
She totaled 1,704 points, 951 rebounds, and 477 steals in her career and posted 47 double-doubles.
Brown was named the 2023 Southwest Florida Player of the Year after her senior season where she averaged 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 3.5 steals.
She is currently playing at Morgan State University.
Richelle "Riki" Carach, Gulf Coast Carach scored more than 1,200 points in her career with the Sharks and earned 2010 Naples Daily News Player of the Year honors after her senior season in which she averaged 18.4 points a game.
She played four seasons at Nova Southeastern University and was named Team MVP her senior year.
She finished her NSU career second in program history for games played and fifth in rebounds.
Yasmeen Chang, Gulf Coast Chang made an immediate impact after transferring from Riverdale to Gulf Coast before her sophomore year, helping the Sharks to the state semifinals in 2017.
As a senior, she averaged 17.5 points per game and scored in double figures in 20 of 22 contests against a tough schedule.
She played collegiately at Miami and Florida.
Chaniya Clark, Fort Myers The 6-foot-4 Clark dominated in her career with the Greenies.
She scored more than 1,600 points along with 53 double-doubles.
She averaged double-digit rebounds in three of her high school seasons and scored 21.4 points a game as a senior en route to winning Southwest Florida Player of the Year for a second straight season.
She played college ball at North Carolina A&T, where she averaged 10.2 points and 7.4 rebounds.
Aleisha Curry, Lehigh Curry scored more than 1,000 points in her Lightning career and was a finalist for The News-Press Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons from 2017 to 2019.
As a senior, she averaged 15.2 points and 11.3 rebounds.
She played at Santa Fe College where she earned Mid-Florida Conference Player of the Year and NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American honors before transferring to Valdosta State.
Kiara Desamours, Dunbar Desamours freshman season couldnt have gone any better as she averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and shot 57% from the field to lead Dunbar to the first girls basketball state championship in Lee County.
She scored 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 50-41 win over Jacksonville Ribault in the title game.
She won News-Press Player of the Year honors in 2012 and was a finalist for the award in 2015 before signing with Lamar University.
Autumn Giles, Fort Myers The two-time News-Press first-team All-Area selection was one of the best lockdown defenders Lee County has seen as she could guard any position.
A two-time state champion, Giles averaged 13 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 3 steals as a senior.
She played college ball UMass-Amherst and Nova Southeastern University.
Destanni Henderson, Fort Myers In her decorated high school career, Henderson helped lead the Greenies to three consecutive state titles from 2016 to 2018.
As a senior, she was named a McDonalds All-American, the first Lee County female basketball player to receive the honor, and was also the 2018 Florida Gatorade Player of the Year.
Henderson averaged 16 points, 4.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.9 steals per game and tallied 1,649 points for her prep career.
At South Carolina, she helped steer the team to the 2022 NCAA Womens Basketball National Championship, scoring a career-high 26 points in the title game win over UConn.
Henderson was selected by the Indiana Fever in the second round of the 2022 WNBA Draft.
She is an LCAC Hall of Famer, and her No.
3 jersey has been retired at Fort Myers.
Courtney Jacob, Barron Collier Jacob helped lead the Cougars to the Class 5A state championship in 2006, which was the first Southwest Florida team to reach the mountaintop.
Averaging 17 points a game that season, she was named tournament MVP, a First-Team All-State, and the Southwest Florida Player of the Year.
She went on to play at Long Beach State.
Keri Jewett-Giles, Dunbar Jewett-Giles helped lead the Tigers to a state basketball title in 2012 and to state runner-up finishes twice.
She was a three-time All-State selection and was The News-Press Player of the Year three consecutive seasons.
The point guard put up a career stat line of 14.6 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4.3 steals a night while finishing with more than 1,600 career points.
After playing two seasons at Southern Mississippi, Jewett-Giles transferred to FGCU.
As a junior, she was named the ASUN Tournament MVP, helping lead the Eagles to the conference title and as a senior averaged a team-high 16.6 points per game and was the ASUN Player of the Year.
Overall, she had 1,464 points, 396 rebounds, 414 assists, and 261 steals over 128 career NCAA games.
Kirsti Jones, Naples Jones put herself in the history books at Naples High, scoring more than 1,600 points in her career to become the school's all-time leading scorer.
In her senior season in 2001, she was Naples Daily News Player of the Year and was named to the All-State team after being named to the All-County team all four years of her high school career.
Jones went on to Central Florida Community College in Ocala where she won All-Region honors both years before leaving for Georgia College & State University, a Division-II school where she set records for steals and assists.
Jones coached for six seasons at Lely High School.
Emily Lines, First Baptist Lines was a two-time Player of the Year , amassing more than 2,600 points with the Lions as well as more than 1,000 rebounds.
In her junior and senior seasons, she averaged more than 18 points and more than 11 boards.
Lines was a three-time Florida Association of Basketball Coaches All-State selection and two-time Class 2A Florida Miss Basketball finalist.
She went on to play at New Mexico.
She came back home to Naples and coached at her alma mater for four seasons.
Jamie Navarro, Palmetto Ridge/Community School Navarro put together a memorable sophomore season at Palmetto Ridge to earn Southwest Florida Player of the Year honors in 2005.
She averaged 25.2 points, 6.7 steals, and 8.2 assists with the Bears and posted eight triple-doubles that season, an area record.
Navarro became the youngest Collier County basketball player, boy or girl, to score 1,000 points.
She continued to be a difference maker after transferring to Community School for her junior and senior seasons, helping the Seahawks win a pair of district titles.
Navarro had a productive college career at Georgia Southern and coached at Palmetto Ridge from 2015 to 2018.
Jarya Outten, Fort Myers The two-time News-Press first-team All-Area selection was a key contributor on two Fort Myers state championship teams in 2016 and 2017.
She registered 1,227 points and 328 steals in her prep career before signing with Furman University.
Dekeriya Patterson, Dunbar A scoring threat from wherever she touched the ball on the floor, the 2017 News-Press Player of the Year finalist went through a battle with anemia but still managed to score 1,568 points on 49% shooting for her career.
She signed with LSU before playing at Chipola College and Rust College.
Stephanie Paul, Community School The 6-foot-1 Paul was a two-time Naples Daily News Girls Basketball Player of the Year and was First-Team All-State as a senior.
That season, she helped lead the Seahawks to a 25-3 record and a regional championship, averaging 17.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
Paul finished her high school career with 1,661 career points before playing four years at the University of Georgia.
She was recently named the next head coach at her alma mater.
Addison Potts, Gateway Charter/Bishop Verot/South Fort Myers Potts wore several different uniforms in her high school basketball career, but wherever she went, she produced.
Her career included stops at Gateway Charter and Bishop Verot before she ultimately put together her best season as a senior at South Fort Myers, earning Southwest Florida Player of the Year honors in 2022.
That season, she averaged 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists for the Wolfpack.
She finished her high school career with more than 2,000 points and signed with Purdue.
Nalah Smith, ECS In the Sentinels' 2024 state championship victory, Smith came off the bench for some key minutes as her teammates battled foul trouble.
The 6-foot-2 center hit the ground running from there, averaging 12.4 points and 8 rebounds as a junior and 16.2 points and 11.6 rebounds to earn back-to-back Southwest Florida Player of the Year honors.
She was a formidable rim protector, blocking 174 shots in her high school career.
Smith will continue her basketball career at Brown University.
Christen Spake, Bishop Verot Spake was named The News-Press Player of the Year in 2002 after averaging 15.3 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists as the Vikings went 30-4.
She finished her Viking career with 1,828 points and 1,042 rebounds, both current school records, and was inducted into the Verot Hall of Fame in 2015.
She played college ball at Wingate University.
Ashley Traugott, Cypress Lake From 2003 to 2005, Traugott earned three First-Team All-State selections and was The News-Press Player of the Year in 2004.
That season, she averaged 19.6 points per game and hit 63 percent of her three-point attempts as she led the Panthers to a 22-3 record and conference and district titles.
She played collegiately at Florida International University.
Sarah Wickham, St.
John Neumann Wickham is the Celtics' all-time leading scorer with more than 2,000 points.
For three consecutive seasons, she was Southwest Florida' scoring leader.
During her senior season in 2007-08, she averaged more than 22 points a game.
She went on to play at the University of Tampa for four seasons.
Michelle Woods, Community School Woods led the Seahawks to three straight Class 2A state basketball championship games, winning state titles in 2009 and 2011.
She was named the 2A Player of the Year and the Naples Daily News Girls Basketball Player of the Year both seasons.
In five varsity seasons at Community School, she scored 2,365 points.
Woods played four seasons at the University of Miami and was a team co-captain her senior year.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Here are SW Florida's top 25 girls basketball players of the past 25 seasons.