The only freshman from the Central Coast Section to be selected Honorable Mention on the All Bay Area News Group Girls Team is now the Prep2Prep Central Coast Section Freshman of the Year, and every deservingly so, after helping lead Menlo to a 26-5 record and a CIF Division II state championship.

Despite being a just a freshman on a pretty young team the 5-10 Nejad was the Knights center and a model of consistency all season.

It wasn’t her biggest game of the season but her 12 points and 10 rebounds with two blocked shots against Rolling Hills Prep-San Pedro in a 70-63 victory in the CIF Division II state championship could not have come at a better time, and she did it matched up in the post against Rolling Hills 6-4 sophomore center Clarice Akunwafo.

The way Menlo Coach John Paye described her performance in the post game press conference one might have thought he was describing a seasoned senior when talking about the consistency in the game of Nejad.

“Sharon Nejad has scored for us inside all season,” Paye remarked. “Her double-double is indicative of what she’s done for us this season.”

All Nejad did last season was to average a team second-highest 12.3 points per game while shooting 51-percent from the field, a team-high 9.6 rebounds per game, plus she was tied for third with 1.7 assists per contest.

Sharon served notice right out of the box when in her first varsity game she had 21 points and eight rebounds in a win over Urban-San Francisco. Her top performance was a double-double 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 71-65 victory over Eastside College Prep.

“I’ve worked with Sharon since the sixth grade and knew what she was capable of,” Paye said. “She’s just a real force on defense, long with impeccable timing on rebounding.”

Nejad had nine double-doubles on the season including one in the CCS Open Division consolation matchup with Eastside Prep where the Knights girls lost. Where she really came on was down the stretch when Nejad had double-doubles in five of the last six games and in the Northern Regional Division II 53-38 title-game victory over Enterprise-Redding, which was the one of the six games where she didn’t double-double, she just missed with 15 points and nine rebounds.

“Sharon is very seasoned and very bright on and off the court, and she’s great teammate, a quiet leader and the kids like her,” Paye said. “She has a lot on her plate but she’s very disciplined and structured.

A lot on the plate of the 3.5 GPA student-athlete, and that’s a solid GPA at academically challenging Menlo, is obviously in the classroom, but there’s more.

While most of her teammates were getting ready for the basketball season Nejad was playing volleyball for the Knights as a middle blocker on a team that went 22-12. She isn’t a big star yet but second on the team in blocks and fifth in kills.

If that isn’t enough Nejad just finished a track season that saw her compete in the high jump and shot put.

Paye feels academics will definitely play into Nejad’s future and potential at the next level.

“She’s at such a high level academically so it gives her a wide cache of schools,” Paye remarked. “She’s going to the Yale and Columbia camps this summer and someday I see her playing in the Ivy League.”

There were a handful of freshmen in the CCS with double-digit scoring averages but none played anywhere near the competition level Nejad faced. As a result, with everything she did in all aspects of being a student-athlete, we’re proud to congratulate Nejad on being selected Prep2Prep Girls Basketball Freshman of the Year.

NOTE: We would like to thank our media partners, coaches, parents, players and fans for contributing photos for our all-section features. We salute all of the players that have made this a wonderful season of CCS basketball.