University of Delaware Women's Basketball Junior Elena Delle Donne Named to Midseason Naismith Player of the Year Watch List
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File Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell
NEWARK, Del. – All-American Elena Delle Donne of the eighth-ranked University of Delaware women’s basketball team has been named a contender for the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List in accordance with her outstanding performance throughout the season.
Delle Donne, a former Naismith High School Girl’s Player of the Year recipient, added her most recent recognition to three additional midseason watch lists announced last month, which include the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Women’s National Player of the Year Watch List, the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Watch List, and the State Farm Wade Award Watch List.
The prestigious midseason 32 list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the 2011-12 college basketball season. The Naismith Trophy, presented by AT&T, will be awarded on April 1, 2012 at the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Denver.
Since 2005, presenting sponsor AT&T has set the standard in allowing fans to participate in determining the trophy winner. Through the power and ease of text messaging fan voting will account for 25 percent of all of the final results – more than any other national college basketball award.
The Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year and an Associated Press Preseason All-American, Delle Donne currently leads all NCAA Division I players in scoring, averaging 28.3 points. In the Hens’ most recent victory over William & Mary, Delle Donne, who has accumulated 791 points so far this season, surpassed her own record of 774 points set during her freshman year campaign. The 6-5 forward now holds three of the top four single-season points totals in her three-year career as a Blue Hen.
Delle Donne, Delaware’s all-time scoring leader, helped the Blue Hens to their first-ever national ranking in addition to a perfect 18-0 Colonial Athletic Association regular season.
Joining Delle Donne on the Naismith Watch List is Shante Evans of Hofstra University as well as three other former Naismith High School Girl’s Player of the Year recipients, including Connecticut freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Stanford sophomore Chiney Ogwumike, and Notre Dame junior Skylar Diggins.
Delaware (27-1, 18-0), which secured the top seed in the CAA Tournament after defeating Drexel on Feb. 19, heads to the CAA Tournament to face the winner of the Towson vs. Old Dominion game on Friday, March 9 at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md. for a noon tipoff.
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