Female Athlete of the Year: Gigi DiGrazia

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Gigi DiGrazia has a picture of herself at 3 years old holding a golf club at a driving range hanging in her bedroom.

‘‘It reminds me of where I come from and where I started,’’ said the Driscoll standout, who won the 2008 Class A girls golf championship. ‘‘I love that picture.’’

Where DiGrazia started was Links & Tees Golf Facility in Addison. Where she is going is Iowa on a golf scholarship. Add a girls basketball state championship and All-State honors for her guard play to her resume, and DiGrazia is a more-than-worthy choice for this year’s Sun-Times Female Athlete of the Year award.

‘‘She’s a girl with great motivational skills and great desire to get better,’’ Driscoll girls basketball coach Steve McCuiston said. ‘‘She expects to perform higher than others. She is extremely dedicated to being the best at what she does.’’

Multiple titles make for many memories, but two in particular stick out for DiGrazia: winning Driscoll’s first girls team state title in any sport and sinking an 18-foot putt on the 18th green at the golf finals.

‘‘It was the first time a girls team at Driscoll did anything,’’ said DiGrazia, who made a key three-pointer in the Highlanders’ 40-35 victory over West Hancock in the 2A state championship.

As far as the putt, if DiGrazia would have missed, it would have taken several more miscues to lose the title, which she won by five strokes. The memorable part was ‘‘atmosphere’’ around it.

‘‘My family, friends and coaches were all surrounding me,’’ said DiGrazia, who played all four years on Driscoll’s boys golf team. ‘‘It wasn’t the physical making of the putt. It was more of the atmosphere around it. I was thinking this is going to be my last putt at Driscoll. It was everything that it signified.’’

With Driscoll closed, DiGrazia’s memories come with an added perspective — one she wishes she could do without.

‘‘To be the first and last girls team to do anything at state means so much,’’ DiGrazia said. ‘‘Driscoll will always be remembered as one big family. Although the physical school is not there, we will always have our relationships.’’

Like the picture hanging on her wall (which will join DiGrazia at Iowa), the championships are a reminder of where she is from, but the hard work she put into winning those titles is testament of where she is headed.

‘‘If there is one thing I learned, it’s to stay within yourself,’’ DiGrazia said. ‘‘And just know you can do it.’’