Washington’s Tibbs wins 2026 Clutch Sports Media Large School Girls Basketball Player of the Year

She was never a loud, in-your-face type of player but Avery Tibbs was always the most dangerous player in every gym. 

A lights-out shooter and operator of the Washington offense, Tibbs was always at the top of each opponent’s scouting report. Nothing they threw at her ever mattered, as the Washington senior was unstoppable while leading her team to the Class 3A state title and winning Clutch Sports Media’s 2026 Large School Girls Basketball Player of the Year. 

Tibbs was at the forefront of Washington’s success for several seasons, leading them to a 120-16 record, four regional titles, three Mid-Illini Conference titles and back-to-back state trips. 

In her final prep season, she averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.4 steals and was the Illinois media Class 3A Player of the Year, an IBCA Class 3A first team all-state pick and an Illinois Ms. Basketball nominee. 

Despite being a guard, Tibbs was incredibly efficient from the field and made 62 percent of her field goals, 51 percent of her three-pointers and 88 percent of her free throws this past season. She became Washington’s all-time leading scorer during the postseason and finished her high school career with 2,160 points. 

Tibbs took over the game in Washington’s Class 3A state title game against Chatham Glenwood, going on a personal 11-0 run and finished with a team-high 24 points in a 60-45 victory over Chatham Glenwood. She put up 20 points, eight rebounds and five steals in the Panthers’ 55-34 state semifinal win over Arlington Heights St. Viator.

Tibbs' lengthy list of awards include being a four-time first team all-Mid Illini selection, a third-team Class 3A IBCA all-state nod in 2024, a second team all-state nod in 2025 and a first team all-state selection by the IBCA and the Illinois media in 2026. She was a three-time all-tournament selection at the State Farm Holiday Classic and was a two-time all-tournament pick in the Teamworks Shootout Series at the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions. Tibbs picked up first team honors on the first Clutch Sports Media Girls Basketball All-Area team.

Hear more about Tibbs’ season and her career in our interview with her below. Some answers have been minimally edited for clarity.

What have you been able to reflect and look back on since the season has ended? 

“I just reflected how much, honestly, I'm going to miss high school basketball,” Tibbs said. “It's obviously been a month since our last time together so just missing the community and the support and missing being excited to go play basketball after school every day…it's just memories I'll never forget. There’s still people reaching out so it's pretty cool.”

What inspired your love for basketball?

“I think I started when I was around three,” Tibbs said. “There's a little picture of me holding a basketball and I'm [playing] on a mini hoop but I think it drives just from my parents. They always wanted me to play sports as a kid and I tried lacrosse, I tried soccer, I tried these other sports but basketball is just my true love. I just think during COVID is when I really started to fall in love with the game because you couldn't really be around people [but] my dad works at the park district, so we would just go up there and shoot. It was just us and my mom would come too. I think my love really just started during COVID and then I got serious and started playing summer basketball then it just kind of went from there.”

You’ve played in a lot of big games during your career, do you have any that stick with you?

“I think the TOC game will definitely stick with me, the last year being the first one and then this year as well,” Tibbs said. “That's always been such a big boys event but to see girls have little boys cheering for us too, not just the little girls, it was pretty cool in the atmosphere. Obviously, I remember state and just the community, looking up and seeing what felt like the whole town of Washington there. I think I'll remember some of the tough losses too. I remember losing to Morton and Peoria High my freshman year, and just those tough games that really drives us to work harder. Losing to St. Ignatius, that's a big one I'll remember so there are a lot of wins I remember but also the losses, that motivated us to be better. 

What about breaking your program’s scoring record in the playoffs against Galesburg?

“That game really does stick with me,” Tibbs said. “You know, that morning, I didn't even think about the record. No one really talked to me about it. They were kind of just trying to keep it hidden from me but just getting a win like that when we're in the postseason — they were ranked second behind us most of the season — we knew was going to be tough, but going in their house with their crowd, their atmosphere, a mostly sold-out gym, we didn't think it was going to be like that. But once we were in the moment, that's a game all I'll remember for forever, that was a huge momentum-swinger. I think that's really what put teams in the rest of the teams in the state on alert, because they were like, ‘Oh wow, they can do that to Galesburg, then they can do that to us.’”

What’s a motto or mindset you take when you’re competing?

“I would say that I try not to let my past mistakes affect my future,” Tibbs said. “I've struggled with that [in my] freshman and sophomore years, just like I had a bad turnover and then I missed a shot, so I thought I was gonna have a bad game the rest of the time. But just having your teammates that pick you up and just thinking about the future and you can't control the past, so I just kind of went by ‘Control what I can control.’ If the little things aren't going my way, just try to think of the future and tell yourself you're going to make the next shot. I think that's a huge one. If you miss a shot, I tell myself this one's going in and it truly does change the way the ball goes in the hoop.”

Aside from winning, what was your favorite memory of the season? 

“I think it was pretty fun when we went up to Chicago and we stayed in a hotel,” Tibbs said. “It was team-bonding, we were in our rooms, just hanging out, we were in the lobby playing games. We're on the court together so much so it's good to get off the court and bond in other ways so I think that was pretty fun. We played Hersey, and the next day we went out there, and we beat them pretty good so it was just really fun to have that trip together.”

What are your future aspirations and what do you like about McKendree?

“I just liked that coach [Kari] Kerkoff was the first coach to reach out to me when they were able to talk to me, and they've always been present,” Tibbs said. “[For] my future aspirations, I'm going to get a degree in biology and health care management. I want to be a pediatric nurse but they don't have a direct nursing program. My fifth year, I might come back to the Peoria area and I'll go to like OSF and do an accelerated program to get my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. I just want to be a pediatric nurse when I'm older, that's what my mom is so that’s what kind of inspired me to want to do that.”