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Hamilton’s Goligoski Earns Girls Gatorade Basketball Honor

The 5-foot-9 senior guard led the Broncs to an 18-6 record and the Class A state title this past season

By Beacon Staff

Taylor Goligoski of Hamilton High School was named the 2014-15 Gatorade Montana Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

The 2012-13 Gatorade State Player of the Year, the 5-foot-9 senior guard led the Broncs to an 18-6 record and the Class A state title this past season. Goligoski averaged 23.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 1.3 assists per game, including 21 points and three rebounds in the state championship game. A three-time Class A First Team All-State selection and the two-time Southwestern A Conference MVP, she concluded her prep basketball career with 1,715 points.

Goligoski has maintained a 3.89 GPA in the classroom. An accomplished artist, she has volunteered locally as an elementary school teacher’s aide and as a youth coach for basketball, soccer, softball and baseball.

“Taylor Goligoski is a tremendous player who can simply score on any night,” said Meg Murphy, head coach of Butte Central Catholic High. “She draws the best defenders and still manages to get over 20 points a game. She is athletic, quick and without her, the Broncs would struggle.”

Goligoski has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at the University of Montana this fall.

Goligoski is the second Gatorade Montana Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Hamilton High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Goligoski as Montana’s best high school girls basketball player.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.

The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Two-time winner Goligoski joins recent Gatorade Montana Girls Basketball Players of the Year Jill Barta (2013-14, Fairfield High School), Peyton Ferris (2011-12, Twin Bridges High School), Danielle Muri (2010-11, Billings West High School), Lexie Nelson (2009-10, Butte), Joslyn Tinkle (2008-09 & 2007-08, Big Sky), and Kirsten Tilleman (2006–07, Bozeman) among the state’s list of former award winners.