All-Metro girls basketball: Player of the Year

Asya Bussie

Seton Keough

Bussie, who has been one of the area's best post players for four years, is putting an impressive finishing touch on her career. Her aggressive play on both ends of the court led the Gators to the No. 1 ranking after winning the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title and the Bishop Walsh Girls Invitational Tournament championship.

"She had to come into a leadership role, and she hadn't had to do that with all the seniors we had last year," Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell said. "In mid-January, she realized she had to get the team going and get the team to step up and play better. I think she saw if she did that, the other kids would, too. By mid-January, she just took the team on her shoulders."


The 6-foot-4 center, who has signed with West Virginia, had her best performances at the end of the season. In the A Conference final, she had 22 points and 14 rebounds in a 58-38 victory over six-time defending champion St. Frances, which had won both regular-season meetings. Then at the Bishop Walsh tournament - which a Baltimore team had never won - she scored 27 points in the final to avenge a season-opening loss to Elizabeth Seton, 55-43.

She averaged 16 points, 11rebounds and three blocks and has 1,726 points and 1,198rebounds for her career.

"This year for Asya, I thought her post moves were more aggressive and more fluent," St. Frances coach Jerome Shelton said. "Previously, she would kick the ball back out, but this year, she clearly understood that she was the No. 1 option and she had to make a play at the basket."

Bussie will lead the Gators at the National High School Invitational on April 4-5 at Georgetown Prep, where they play against Oak Hill (Va.).