Jim Thorpe's Kayley Kovac knows all about being the center of attention.

That comes with the territory when you're an All-State selection as a freshman and top the 1,000-point career scoring mark as a sophomore.But while some players might complain about the attention they get from defenses on the court and others might try to avoid the attention they get from fans off the court, Kovac embraces both.That type of attitude has led to Kovac's growth and improvement between the lines and made her the face of the Olympian program outside the lines."From the time I started playing the sport in third grade, I have loved the game of basketball," said Kayley. "I love practicing the game, playing the game and talking about the game."That's why when I'm on the court. I try to work as hard as I can and stay as positive as I can, no matter who we are playing and no matter what type of defenses I'm dealing with."According to Jim Thorpe coach Rob Kovac, Kayley's father, that's not always an easy thing to do."I think we only played two games the entire season where the opponent didn't give some type of special attention to Kayley," said Rob. "We saw box-and-ones, diamond-and-ones, triangle-and-twos where both girls played Kayley, and even when teams played us man-to-man they constantly gave extra help to the person guarding Kayley."That can be frustrating for a player to deal with. But the attention just made Kayley work harder to get open. She likes the ball in her hands and she likes to score, and she realized unless she worked extremely hard to get open, those things weren't going to happen."Kayley's incredible 24.3 points per game scoring average proves that she was able to get open despite the defensive attention. But a look deeper into the numbers shows that she did a lot more than just score. She also led Jim Thorpe in rebounds (230, 10.5 per game); assists (63, 2.9 per game); and blocks (47, 2.1 per game).Statistics aside, however, one of the best ways to judge a player's growth is by looking at the scoreboard. The best players find a way to make their team and their teammates better.That's something that Kayley did.The Olympians won 12 games this past season and qualified for the District 11 playoffs for the first time in four years."I thought Kayley showed improvement across the board this season as far as her basketball skills were concerned," said Rob. "But I think the biggest difference I noticed was how she tried to get her teammates more involved offensively and how she helped make them better players."She was more of a leader on the court during games and, just as importantly, she was a leader at practice. It's only natural that a practice following a close loss or a humbling loss can be tough. But Kayley never let that happen. She was right back out the next day encouraging her teammates and being positive. That's huge, especially when you're a young team."Kayley's outstanding sophomore season has earned her the 2015-16 Times News Girls Basketball Player of the Year award. Earlier this week, Kovac received more recognition when she was named to the Class AAA All-State team for the second time in two years.As the individual awards continue to fill Kayley's plate, her hunger for team success grows."I was proud of our improvement this season, but I'm not satisfied with just making the district playoffs," said Kayley. "We want to contend for Schuylkill League and District 11 championships."Coach Kovac thinks Kayley has the Olympians headed in that direction."As her father and her coach, I couldn't be more proud of what Kayley has accomplished," said Rob. "But it's not just what she has done on the court."Kayley helps out with our elementary program and is extremely popular with the young girls. They look up to her and she always makes time to talk with them and work with them. She has become the face of our program."That might be a title your normal sophomore would be uncomfortable holding.But not Kayley Kovac.Because one thing that Kayley knows how to deal with is being the center of attention - both on and off the court.