2026 WPIAL Girls Basketball Player of the Year
Oumou “Mimi” Thiero
School: Quaker Valley
Position: Guard
Class: Senior
Trying to prepare to play the Quaker Valley girls basketball team in recent years was always a challenge.
“When developing a game plan to play QV and Thiero, the importance of understanding she is a duel threat on the perimeter and in the paint on offense as well as an inside and outside presence on defense,” Our Lady of the Sacred Heart coach Don Eckerle said. “In my 23 years of coaching high school basketball, she is one of the most skilled players we have played against.
“Her future is bright.”
For the second year in a row, Mimi Thiero is the Trib HSSN Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Every opposing team facing Quaker Valley has one common goal; try to slow down No. 0 in black and gold.
Yet nearly every game, she is piling up points and rebounds in an effort to give the Quakers a chance to win.
“Her approach and demeanor are a constant every day and I think it prepares her for whatever we and she are going to face,” Quaker Valley coach Ken Johns said. “I think it speaks to just how good she has been for us when you get to see how much attention she gets every game.
“Box and one, triangle and two with two players bracketing her, just constant attention and not a lot of space to operate has been the norm for her and for us as a team for the past three years. For her to do what she has done game in and game out facing an onslaught of pressure and different defenses has been not only pretty amazing, but fun to watch.”
This season, Thiero finished 28 short of 800 points scored with 424 rebounds, 118 blocks, 92 steals and 80 assists.
“Mimi’s outside shooting really improved from last season to this,” Johns said. “It had been pretty good, but that for sure is the area she improved the most. It is something that she worked extremely hard on last summer and you could tell right from our preseason workouts and throughout the season.
“Her fitness is another thing too. She got stronger from last year to this and that really allowed her to play at a high level every minute she was on the floor, and she was on the floor a lot.”
On a Quakers’ team that had only three seniors and is littered with freshman, Thiero also stepped up off the court, embracing a leadership role that she has had for most of her scholastic career.
“She has really grown into being a vocal leader, but one who understands what and how to say things to get her teammates motivated, feeling challenged or in need of encouragement,” Johns said. “That can be hard to give and even harder to receive as a teammate at times, but I think she really grew into that role over the past few years. With all of the attention she gets on and off the floor, it would be easy for someone to separate themselves from the team or her friends. I don’t see that at all with Mimi. She is present and stays connected. It is one of many things that make her special.”
Thiero will continue her career later this year at Maryland.
She concluded her high school career with 2,021 points scored, 1,340 rebounds, 388 blocked shots, 304 steals and 253 assists.
Johns was asked what’s the one thing he would take away from coaching Thiero in her four years at Quaker Valley?
“That’s a great question,” he said. “There are so many things that come to mind. But if you’re making me pick one thing I would have to say I have really enjoyed watching her grow as a player and a person. To think back on the conversations we’ve had, watch her work so hard and achieve so many things, and to know that she’s stayed true to herself all the way through it has been great to see.
“That to me has been as impressive as anything she’s done on the basketball court. It is hard to find things that haven’t been said about her as a great player, but all of those things can apply to her as a person too. To get to know her as a person and see that growth up close has been really wonderful.
“One more thing, Mimi is a great example of taking what you are gifted with, working hard on top of that and taking nothing for granted. She works hard when no one is watching so she can shine when people are. That’s a great quality to have no matter what you do.”