Kelsey Plum Earns Nancy Lieberman Award As Best Point Guard
April 01, 2017 | Women's Basketball
DALLAS -- Senior Kelsey Plum of the University of Washington women's basketball team was chosen as the winner of the 2017 Nancy Lieberman Award, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame selection committee on Saturday (April 1).
Plum becomes the first player in program history to win the award, which is given to the top point guard in women's college basketball.
"With her combination of leadership and tremendous scoring ability, Kelsey Plum has become one of the most exciting players to watch in the game today," said Lieberman, who presented Plum with the award. "As a recipient of this award, she is in elite company, and I appreciate the effort and determination she has put forth during her college career to achieve the numerous records she has set."
Plum, a 5-foot-8 guard, had a record-breaking season in 2016-17. After leading the Huskies to their first Final Four in 2016, she became the leading scorer in NCAA history, breaking Jackie Stiles' 16-year-old record. Plum finished with 3,527 career points.
She also set the NCAA single-season record with 1,109 points while leading the nation in scoring at 31.7 points per game.
The Pac-12 Player of the Year led the Huskies in assists (168) amd steals (52) and had a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio in 35 games this season.
Plum, who was named the national player of the year from the Associated Press and the USBWA, also won the Drysdale and Staley awards earlier this week as well as being a unanimous AP All-American.
Now in its 18th year, the Nancy Lieberman Award is presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Previous winners include Connecticut's Moriah Jefferson, Renee Montgomery, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, Baylor's Odyssey Sims, Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins and Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot.
"It is an honor for Kelsey and the University of Washington to be associated with a pioneer like Nancy, who blazed the way for future players, and hopefully Kelsey has done and will continue to do the same for today's youth," Washington coach Mike Neighbors said.
