Kelsey Plum became the NCAA all-time leading scorer in Washington's last regular-season game.
ATLANTA – Kelsey Plum, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history, was named winner of the 2017 Citizen Naismith Trophy, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Saturday. The Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding women’s college basketball player, is named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball.
.@UW_WBB's Kelsey Plum is the first #Pac12WBB player to win the @NaismithTrophy since 1997. Congrats! https://t.co/6DckRKkfs7 pic.twitter.com/TYvxgF5gq4
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) April 1, 2017
Plum becomes the first Husky and fifth Pac-12 player to win the Naismith Trophy, following two each from Stanford University (Kate Starbird, 1997; Jennifer Azzi, 1990) and USC (Lisa Leslie, 1994; Cheryl Miller, 1985, 85, 86).
Plum was chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, who based their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2016-17 college basketball season, and by fans, who were eligible to vote at www.naismithtrophy.com/vote from March 20-31. The vote was tabulated and certified by Aprio, formerly Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, the largest full-service, independent CPA-led business advisory firm, based in Atlanta.
Kelsey Plum of @UW_WBB is your 2017 @CitizenWatchUS Naismith Women's College Player of the Year! https://t.co/VbjP9SuCfA pic.twitter.com/jUbLyb1DG0
— The Naismith Trophy (@NaismithTrophy) April 1, 2017
The Atlanta Tipoff Club and Citizen Watch Company will honor Plum on the Washington campus later this month.
“Kelsey’s accomplishments this season were remarkable, as well as record-breaking, which speaks to her consistency and desire to improve each and every season,” said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “She will always be remembered not only as an iconic basketball player, but also as a Citizen Naismith Trophy winner.”
“Citizen Watch Company is the proud partner of the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Naismith Trophy, supporting academia and the prestige of sportsmanship,” said Eric Horowitz, U.S. Managing Director of Citizen Watch. “Kelsey Plum brings forth a constant passion and empowerment seen in Women’s Basketball. Her strength and encouragement both on and off the court ring true with the values we as a brand admire.”
In addition to passing Jackie Stiles as the NCAA all-time scoring leader, Plum, who finishes with 3,527 points, led the nation in scoring at 31.7 ppg, while shooting 53.3 percent from the field overall, 42.9 percent from 3-point range and 88.8 percent from the foul line. This season she became the first player in Pac-12 history, female or male, to score 3,000 career points, en route to an NCAA single-season scoring record of 1,109 points. Plum became just the second player in Pac-12 history to record 300 career three-pointers. Plum’s accomplishments earned her Pac-12 Player of the Year honors.
The Naismith Trophy women’s honor was first presented to Anne Donovan (Old Dominion University) in 1983. Other notable winners include Cheryl Miller (1984-86, University of Southern California), Dawn Staley (1991-92, University of Virginia), Lisa Leslie (1994, University of Southern California) and Diana Taurasi (2003-04, UConn).
