Jim Thorpe junior Kayley Kovac has all the numbers and the accolades needed to be an outstanding basketball player.

She averaged 25.95 points per game on the season and is closing in on the Olympians' all-time scoring mark currently standing at 1,647 points. She needs just 44 more to surpass the record.A season ago, she was named the Times News Girls Basketball Player of the Year and was honored with a Class 3A All-State First Team selection.Kovac is helping to make the Olympians better, as they finished with one more win this season, going 13-10 and qualifying for the postseason for the second consecutive year after a four-year hiatus.Kovac certainly has the résumé to qualify her as a Most Valuable Player candidate. But what truly sets Kovac apart is herdrive."I try to give 100 percent all the time into anything that I do. I believe that you can't be successful if you do things halfheartedly," she said.Kovac's competitive nature and tenacity on the hardwood, along with her tremendous offensive production in the 2016-17 season, has once againearned her the Times News Girls Basketball Player of the Yeartitle.Averaging close to 26 ppg might have been enough to garner thehonor, but for those who have never seen Kovac play, it's pretty hard to understandwhat kind of player she truly is. Every team has a player that does all the dirty work, but rarely is that person the team's leading scorer.That competitive edge and toughness was instilled in Kovac from a very young age."I just think it was the way I was raised, my parents always taught me to never give up, to never quit, and to always give everything I had," said Kovac. "It all started in youth soccer when I was 4 years old, and it's continued all the way until now."Kovac's head coach and father, Rob Kovac, added that it was important to teach toughness at a young age."I look back now and Kayley was playing youth soccer at a young age and she didn't play well and she didn't play hard. Needless to say, it was a quiet ride home and I was even kind of tough on her then," he said."I don't know if she's ever not played her absolute hardest in any sport she's competed in since then. She's just a fierce competitor and a really tough kid."Kovac is consistently the first player to dive on the floor or out of bounds for a loose ball, but her true niche is her ability in the open court. If Kovac gets the ball in transition, pretty much anywhere on the floor, good things are bound to happen for the Olympians.Because of Kovac's athleticism and ability to get to the rim in the fast break game - she got to the foul line264 times, converting 177 points from the charity stripe - she averaged almost eight points per game from the foul line."I wouldn't be able to get to the basket in transition if my teammates didn't make great passes to me throughout the season," said Kayley. "We play an up-tempo system where we try to push the ball, and I've worked hard to get better in the open court every season. All of our players did a great job running the floor this season."Kovac is not only a fierce competitor on the court, she's also just as competitive in the classroom.Kovac is ranked first in her class, balancing a full-time basketball schedule with academics. Because of her academic and athletic success, Kovac is in the running for some pretty impressive scholarship offers fromacademic institutions."She looks at academics like a competition. She wants to be the best," said coach Kovac. "She took four advanced placement courses this year and balanced that with a lot of basketball. Grades always come first with us, and that goes for our team as well. We really have a lot of good student athletes on our team, and that's something we're very proud of."Next up for Kovac will be AAU basketball during the spring and summer.She hopes to make a decision on where she'll go to college during that time frame, but the most important thing is to get better for her upcoming final season as an Olympian."I played with a lot of great players last season in AAU, and I played against great competition. I think it made me a better player in every part of the game, and the goal is to continue to do that," said Kovac."I just have to keep working hard in the gym and in the classroom."