Blue Valley’s Aidan Shaw and Aquinas’ Beatrice Culliton win 2022 DiRenna Awards
.jpg "The 2022 DiRenna Award winners for their achievements in high school basketball in the Kansas City metro are Aidan Shaw of Blue Valley, left, and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Beatrice Culliton.")
Aidan Shaw and Beatrice Culliton on Thursday night won the 2022 DiRenna Awards as the top boys and girls basketball players in the Kansas City metro area.
Culliton, a St. Thomas Aquinas senior, is pledged to play for Oklahoma next season. She averaged 15.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals for the Saints (23-2), who won the Kansas 5A championship for the sixth straight season.
Culliton was a two-time finalist for the DiRenna Award. She won the 2022 award over Grandview’s Cierra Smith, Shawnee Mission West’s S’Mya Nichols, Grain Valley’s Grace Slaughter and Park Hill’s Kennedy Townsend.
Shaw, a Blue Valley senior, is headed to play at Missouri for new Tigers coach Dennis Gates. He averaged 21.2 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.4 assists this season for the Tigers.
The other boys finalists were Staley’s Kyan Evans, Blue Springs’ Ikenna Ezeogu, Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Damare Smith and Liberty’s Bennett Stirtz.
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 10:23 PM.