The winners of the boys and girls player of the year awards, as well as Mr. and Miss Basketball, will be announced Thursday at the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s basketball awards banquet in Montgomery.

Dallas County as a whole could be one of the biggest winners.

Keith’s Harriet Winchester, fresh off leading the Bears to the 1A state championship, is up for 1A girls player of the year and Dallas County’s Jerrod Moorer is among the three finalists for 5A boys player of the year.

The winners of Mr. and Miss Basketball will be chosen from the player of the year award winners.

“[The recognition] is nice but I have to humble myself with it because it’s not about me,” Winchester said. “It’s about the team and about what we do.”

Winchester averaged 18.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5 assists per game this year for the Lady Bears. Brantley’s Amanhi Upshaw and Spring Garden’s Tykeah Rogers are the other finalists for girls 1A player of the year.

Winchester admits that when she found out she was a finalist she was fairly ecstatic.

“The coaching staff came and told me when I was at school,” Winchester said. “I was screaming and excited.”

She said she never expected to be a finalist for 1A player of the year, but she could go much farther than that. Winchester said she picked up an offer from Stillman Friday to go along with previous offers from Alabama State and Jackson State.

“My options are open,” Winchester said.

Moorer has his share of offers as well.

Auburn University Montgomery, Wallace Community College Selma, Iowa Central Community College and Montevallo have offered him scholarships to play at the next level. He’s also spoken with Texas Southern and Alabama State, but no official offers have been made.

Moorer averaged 26.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and led Dallas County to its second consecutive appearance in Birmingham this season. He’ll have to beat out Faith Academy’s Josh Hill and J.O. Johnson’s Josh Petty to win 5A player of the year.

“I was excited that after all of the hard work that I’ve put in over the course of four years I was happy to see that my talent was recognized by somebody,” Moorer said.

After four years at Dallas County, he said his game has completely changed. He said when he was a freshman there wasn’t much he could do right.

“I couldn’t even shoot, dribble, nothing for real,” Moorer said. “All I could do then is jump.”

Over the course of four years, that changed in a big way. Moorer was a big headache for opponents last season, as he knocked down 61 three-pointers and amassed 926 points total in 35 games.

Moorer led the Hornets to Birmingham for the second consecutive year. Although the team couldn’t finish the job this year, Dallas County won the 2013 4A state championship.

Moorer said he safely keeps his championship ring tucked away in a drawer.

“I wore it right after we got it but that’s it,” Moorer said. “I haven’t even looked at it. I was trying to get another one.”

Moorer and Winchester may be able to add more hardware Thursday.

The banquet will take place Thursday at the Alabama Activity Center in Montgomery.

Moorer would be the third consecutive player of the year winner from Dallas County, following William Lee, who won the 4A player of the year award the last two seasons. Keith head coach Cecil Williams believes Winchester would be the first ever girls player of the year from the Bears.