Waubonsie Valley's Danyella Mporokoso is the 2024-25 Girls Basketball Player of the Year for Aurora, Elgin, Naperville
Waubonsie Valley junior Danyella Mporokoso plays basketball with a joyous enthusiasm that is matched only by her competitiveness.
Watching the 5-foot-7 point guard in action is witnessing an athlete mastering her craft one play at a time, usually while putting on a clinic. As for the source of Mporokoso's enthusiasm, it's as simplistic as it is contagious.
'I just love the sport,' she said. 'I love playing basketball.
'When I'm on the court, that's when I'm at my happiest. It's just a privilege to be on the court, so I think that's where I get my excitement from, just the love for the sport.'
Mporokoso, the 2024-25 Beacon-News/Courier-News/Naperville Sun Girls Basketball Player of the Year, has used that love to improve not only her game but also her teammates' games. She guided the Warriors (31-2) to a Class 4A supersectional for the second straight season as they set a program record for fewest losses.
Mporokoso, who has increased her scoring every season, averaged 22.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals. She ranks second on Waubonsie Valley's career scoring list with 1,972 points.
Even more impressive is Mporokoso's impact on her teammates. The Warriors' other four starters increased their scoring this season as well.
'She's amazing,' Waubonsie Valley junior guard Maya Cobb said. 'She just creates a lot for our team, defensively too.
'Just seeing her play and getting buckets, steals, all that, honestly feeds us all energy, and also her drive for the game literally motivates all of us to do better and be better.'
The greatest players make their teammates better. Mporokoso has done that despite being the top focus of every opposing defense's strategy.
'When she draws two or three defenders, I see her reads getting better,' Waubonsie Valley coach Brett Love said. 'I see her making those excellent passes, those extra passes when she brings more defenders.
'She's amazing at being able to create space and get her shot, no matter if it's on the 3-point line or getting to the basket. But she's getting everyone involved.'
That has increased the confidence of Mporokoso's teammates while decreasing other teams' abilities to defend the Warriors. The extra pressure doesn't bother her.
'She's used to being pressured,' Love said. 'We work on that a lot. We deny her in practice a lot so she can get used to that because other teams will do it.
'She usually puts the weight on her shoulders and will try to go out there and get it done. She plays at a high level year-round.'
That has rubbed off on the Warriors.
'She makes everyone around her better,' Waubonsie Valley senior forward Lily Newton said. 'Her work ethic is contagious. We have a shootaround an hour before practice, and she's there two hours before, getting her own training.
'She makes everyone around her want to be better, not for her but for themselves. It's players like her that push teams to get to state.'
The Warriors got there last year, finishing fourth and earning their first state trophy. Their bid for a repeat trip fell just short as they lost to Alton 67-62 in the supersectional on March 3 despite 32 points from Mporokoso, who has 16 Division I offers but intends to wait to make a commitment until the fall.
Mporokoso has a shot at breaking Ashley Luke's program and DuPage County scoring record of 2,885 points, although she will probably have to average at least 28 points to do so.
But such honors are not what drive Mporokoso.
'Statistically, I don't really know if I have specific goals, maybe more assists and rebounds, just to round out my game,' she said. 'I want to be successful as a team. It would be so nice to get back down to state. That's really my goal — go to state.'
Love has watched Mporokoso set and achieve goals throughout her career and expects that to continue.
'We lose Lily, which is a big piece, so she (Mporokoso) may have to step up her scoring, or she may have to step up as more of a leader next year,' Love said. 'But whatever she needs to do, she'll do it.'
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