John R. Wooden Award announces the Women’s Late Season Top 20
Release from John R. Wooden Award:
The John R. Wooden Award announced the Women’s Late Season Top 20 today, a list comprised of 20 student-athletes who are the front-runners for college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor at roughly two-thirds of the way through 2014-15 season. The list is chosen by a poll of national women’s college basketball media members.
Players not chosen to this late season list are eligible for the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players, will be announced the week of the Final Four.
Connecticut, the 2014 NCAA champion, boasts three players on the midseason Top 20 list: Moriah Jefferson, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart, who finished third in the voting as a sophomore a year ago. She is the only returning Wooden Award All American this season. So far this year, Stewart, a junior, is averaging 16.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, while shooting 52.6% from the field.
Three more teams put a pair of players on the list: California (Brittany Boyd, Rashanda Gray); Notre Dame (Jewell Loyd, Brianna Turner) and South Carolina (Tiffany Mitchell, A’ja Wilson). Other players of note statistically include the nation’s top scorer, Ohio State freshman Kelsey Mitchell, and the country’s No. 2 rebounder, Jillian Alleyne of Oregon.
Three players chosen to the women’s late season list are freshmen: Kelsey Mitchell, Turner, and Wilson. The ACC led all conferences with five selections, followed by the Pac-12, the American, the Big Ten and the SEC with three apiece. The Big 12 and Big East had one apiece.
The 39th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor and reveal the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners live on ESPN on April 10, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, which in 2015 will go to San Diego State Head Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Fisher.
| Name | Ht. | Yr. | Pos. | School | Conference | |
| Jillian Alleyne | 6-3 | JR | F | Oregon | Pac-12 | |
| Brittany Boyd | 5-9 | SR | G | California | Pac-12 | |
| Nina Davis | 5-11 | SO | F | Baylor | Big 12 | |
| Alisha Gray | 6-0 | SO | G | North Carolina | ACC | |
| Reshanda Gray | 6-3 | SR | F | California | Pac-12 | |
| Dearica Hamby | 6-3 | SR | F | Wake Forest | ACC | |
| Isabelle Harrison | 6-3 | SR | C | Tennessee | SEC | |
| Brittany Hrynko | 5-8 | SR | G | DePaul | Big East | |
| Moriah Jefferson | 5-7 | JR | G | Connecticut | The American | |
| Samantha Logic | 5-9 | SR | G | Iowa | Big Ten | |
| Jewell Loyd | 5-10 | JR | G | Notre Dame | ACC | |
| Kelsey Mitchell | 5-8 | FR | G | Ohio State | Big Ten | |
| Tiffany Mitchell | 5-9 | JR | G | South Carolina | SEC | |
| Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis | 5-11 | SR | F | Connecticut | The American | |
| Kelsey Plum | 5-8 | SO | G | Washington | Pac-12 | |
| Breanna Stewart* | 6-4 | JR | F | Connecticut | The American | |
| Brianna Turner | 6-3 | FR | F | Notre Dame | ACC | |
| Elizabeth Williams | 6-3 | SR | C/F | Duke | ACC | |
| A’ja Wilson | 6-5 | FR | G/F | South Carolina | SEC | |
| Amanda Zahui B. | 6-5 | SO | C | Minnesota | Big Ten | |
(Based on a media poll. Players listed alphabetically.)
* 2014 Wooden All American
