Sioux Falls Washington’s Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda is the 2021-22 Gatorade South Dakota girls basketball player of the year. Mwenentanda is the first Gatorade South Dakota Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Washington 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 Mwenentanda as South Dakota’s best high school girls basketball player. Mwenentanda is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March.

The 6-foot-2 senior guard and forward had led the Warriors to an 19-1 record and a berth in the Class AA state tournament at the time of her selection. Mwenentanda averaged 18 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists through 19 games. A McDonald’s All-American nominee, she is ranked as the nation’s No. 34 recruit in the Class of 2022 by HoopGurlz.

Mwenentanda has maintained a weighted 3.97 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball on scholarship at the University of Texas this fall.

Mwenentanda joins recent Gatorade South Dakota Girls Basketball Players of the Year Haleigh Timmer (2020-21, St. Thomas More High School), Emma Ronsiek (2019-20, O'Gorman High School), Madysen Vlastuin (2018-19, Lennox High School), and Paiton Burckhard (2017-18, Aberdeen Central High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.