LaRosa's 2021 Most Valuable Players: Gray of Winton Woods, McMillan IV of Woodward

Two high school basketball All-Americans, Chance Gray of Winton Woods High School and Paul McMillan IV of Woodward High School, have been named  LaRosa’s High School Sports’ MVPs of the Year for the 2021-2022 school year.

Here is a look at their accomplishments:

LaRosa’s Female MVP of the Year:

Chance Gray, Winton Woods

For four years, Chance Gray was one of Greater Cincinnati’s elite varsity basketball players, a McDonald's All-American, who scored 2,237 points in her career, which ranks her 21st on the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s all-time scoring list.

Following three all-star years at Lakota West, Chance joined the Winton Woods team for her senior season and promptly helped turn the team around, leading the team to a 25-2 record, an Eastern Cincinnati Conference championship and a district championship, the first such titles in over a decade.

More: Locals K.K. Bransford, Chance Gray, Kyla Oldacre play in McDonald's All-American Game

Winton Woods had won only six games the previous year but won 25 games with Chance in the lineup. She led the ECC in scoring, averaging 26.7 points per game and was second in the league in assists with 3.5 per game.

Among numerous other honors, she was named ECC Offensive Player of the Year, District 16 Player of the Year and Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year. She was selected to play on the Ohio squad for the Ohio-Kentucky all-star game, in which she led her Ohio team to victory, scoring a team-leading 20 points and was named MVP of the game.

Chance Gray has distinguished athletic bloodlines. Chance’s father, Carlton is a LaRosa’s Hall of Famer who starred in football at the old Forest Park High School and at UCLA. He was a second-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks. Carlton is now the varsity head girls basketball coach at Winton Woods, where Chance’s older sister, Amber Gray, is an assistant coach in the program. Amber, a former high school basketball All-American, is also an inductee into the LaRosa’s High School Sports Hall of Fame.

More: Best 50 Cincinnati female high school athletes, coaches since Title IX began in 1972

Chance is active in community service while carrying a 4.0 GPA. She also plays for the Sports City U club basketball club team and will play beginning next season at the University of Oregon.

“Chance is a tireless worker who is self-driven when it comes to improve her game every year," Carlton Gray said. "She is a very humble kid that is always focused on doing what the team needs.”

LaRosa’s Male MVP of the Year: Paul McMillan IV, Woodward

When you score more points in your high school basketball career than LeBron James did during his high school career, that’s saying something.

But that is exactly what Woodward senior point guard Paul McMillan IV did in a magical moment during this year’s Ohio Division II regional semifinal basketball tournament.  In the game, Woodward beat Roger Bacon and McMillan scored 23 points to move past  James for sixth place on the Ohio High School all-time scoring list.

More: Paul McMillan IV passes LeBron James on OHSAA scoring list as Woodward advances to Elite 8

Paul McMillan IV has been a basketball superstar for quite some time and scored 2,568 points in his great high school career. He is the all-time leading scorer in Cincinnati Public School history and is now the sixth-ranked all-time leading scorer in Ohio high school history.

McMillan had a good senior season, once again leading the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference in scoring, averaging 27.3 points a game, helping his Bulldog team to an undefeated 12-0 record in league play, 23-4 overall. He also averaged 4.6 rebounds per game, 5.2 assists per game (which was fourth in the CMAC), 2.2 steals per game and his 57.9% field goal percentage was also fourth in the CMAC. The Bulldogs were CMAC champions, district champions and regional runners-up.  Big games for Paul included scoring a school-record 41 points vs. Warren Central, 40 points vs. Dohn Prep, 35 points vs. Hughes and 33 points vs. Toledo Scott.

His awards and honors would overflow a trophy case. This past season, he was named Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year, Ohio Division II Co-Player of the Year, Southwest Ohio Division II Player of the Year, plus he is a two-time first-team All-Ohio Division II selection, a three-time CMAC Player of the Year selection and was named a MaxPreps honorable mention All-American. He holds numerous school records, including three-pointers made in a game (8), points in a season (714) and field goals made in a season (243)

A great student (4.0 GPA) who is active in community service, Paul was heavily recruited by big-time college programs but selected to play basketball and study at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey.

“Paul’s work ethic on and off the court is phenomenal," Woodward head coach Jarelle Redden said. "His passion and dedication are unmatched. He’s a winner and a leader by example.”

In addition to recognizing a Female and Male MVP of the Year, LaRosa’s inducted two legendary high school teams into its Hall of Fame: the 2004 Colerain football team and the 1980 Villa Madonna High School girls’ volleyball team.

LaRosa’s Sports Hall of Fame

Five former sports greats and a legendary coach were inducted into the LaRosa’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Tara Boothe (Smith), Highlands High School, class of 2002

Pete Carothers, St. Xavier High School, class of 2004

Jason Druso, Anderson High School, class of 1993

Luke Kuechly, St. Xavier High School, Class of 2009

Orlando Scales, Elder High School, class of 2009

Coach Jerry Doerger, McNicholas/Moeller high schools, 1966-2009

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: LaRosa's names Gray of Winton Woods, McMillan IV of Woodward 2021 MVPs