NH POY to be named in Chones’ honor

Kaayla Chones set the standard for girls basketball in The NewsHerald coverage area because of the heights she reached.

Kaayla Chones set the standard for girls basketball in The NewsHerald coverage area because of the heights she reached at the high school, college and professional levels.

Because of that, The News-Herald is proud to announce its girls basketball player of the year award will be known as the “Kaayla Chones Award.”

A North graduate, Chones was co-winner of Ohio’s Ms. Basketball Award in 1999, went on to star at North Carolina State and played professionally for a decade.

Naming The News-Herald’s girls basketball player of the year after Chones follows the naming of the football player of the year (Tony Fisher Award), football coach of the year (Bob Ritley Award) and boys basketball player of the year (Clark Kellogg Award) after legendary figures from the coverage area.

“When I first heard about it, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness!’” Chones said.

“I was happy to have been inducted into The News-Herald and Ohio Basketball halls of fame last year. Those are extremely big honors.

“I remember so much excitement around our teams at North, the North-South games, Euclid, Shaw — everybody,” Chones continued. “The News-Herald always did an amazing job of covering me, our teams and our leagues. Everybody thinks women’s basketball is second-fiddle to men’s basketball, but that was never the case there (in Northeast Ohio).”

Chones scored more than 2,000 points in her high school career and also pulled down more than 1,600 rebounds. She was a three-time Division I AllOhioan and a three-time USA Today All-American.

In her senior year, she led North to a 21-4 record and a regional tournament appearance.

At North Carolina State, Chones was on the ACC AllFreshman team before taking a medical redshirt her sophomore year. She came back and was a Kodak/ WBCA All-American her senior year. When she left, she was sixth on the all-time rebounding list and 11th on the all-time scoring list for the Wolfpack.

Chones was the 13th overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft by the Washington Mystics. She played in Washington two years, then played professionally five years in Europe, with stops in Spain, Italy, France, Hungary and Israel, where she won a league title in 2013.

“I went out a winner,” she said. “My body had enough. It was great to go out on top.”

Chones worked with the Timberwolves for six years, most recently as the director for player programs. She recently look a position with Puma Basketball as a marketing manager.

Chones’ high school coach, Bob Beutel, said Chones’ contributions went well beyond statistics. Work ethic, leadership and attitude all came into play — something else that went into The News-Herald’s decision to name the award after her.

“Even as a high school student-athlete, you could tel Kaayla was destined to be a highly regarded women’s role model,” Beutel said. “Kaayla’s work ethic was second to none. The Chones’ belief was to outwork everyone. Her approach to all things was ‘all in.’

“Kaayla made everyone around her better. She was a true leader.”

Beutel gave The NewsHerald’s announcement a double thumbs-up.

“It is a tremendous honor for a player of the year award to be named after a woman of such high ability and character,” he said.

Because of the threat of spreading the novel coronavirus, The News-Herald’s awards night for basketball, where the Kaayla Chones Award and the Clark Kellogg Award were to have been announced, has been canceled. It was scheduled for March 23 at Hooley House.

The announcements will be made online at NewsHerald.com and in print.

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