STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford junior Lili Thompson was among 30 women’s basketball players named to the John R. Wooden Award Women’s Preseason Top 30 it was announced Tuesday.
Thompson is one of three Pac-12 players on the list and is joined by Oregon’s Jillian Alleyne and Washington’s Kelsey Plum. The list is comprised of 30 student-athletes who are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor and is chosen by a preseason poll of national women’s college basketball media members.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ‘11). Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike won the 2014 Wooden Award.
In the early going this season, Thompson is averaging 15.5 points and is shooting 45.5 percent from behind the arc. On Sunday, she came off the bench at Gonzaga to pour in 21 points in 29 minutes and went 4-of-7 on 3-pointers. Her sixth career 20-point effort helped No. 15 Stanford (2-0) close the game on a 19-1 run and beat the Bulldogs, 65-48.
The Cardinal’s leading returning scorer, Thompson earned her first selection to the All-Pac-12 squad in her sophomore season. In 2014-15, Thompson and Amber Orrange (13.3 ppg) became the first Cardinal guards since Candice Wiggins (2007-08) to lead the team in scoring.
The Mansfield, Texas native is off to another hot start to open a season. Last year, Thompson began with 26 points against Boston College, 24 against Connecticut and a career-high 28 against Texas to become the first Cardinal guard to put up at least 20 in three consecutive games since Wiggins in 2008.
Academically, Thompson was selected to the 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team last February, one of only five Division I underclassmen in the entire country to receive such recognition.
The Cardinal opens its home schedule with its first ranked test of the season, hosting No. 22 George Washington in Maples Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 21 at noon. Season tickets, mini plans and single-game seats are available by calling 800-STANFORD or visiting gostanford.com/tickets.
Players not chosen to the preseason list are eligible for both the midseason list and 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-America Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players, will be announced the week of the Final Four.