STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior Brittany McPhee is one of 20 players on the watch list for the 2018 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. The annual award in its inaugural year recognizes the top shooting guard in women's college basketball.
The selection committee is composed of top women's college basketball personnel including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers. By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players will be narrowed to 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Ms. Drysdale and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. Fans will also have the opportunity to vote for their favorite finalist at www.hoophallawards.com.
The winner of the 2018 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be announced at an awards ceremony hosted by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Women's Basketball Coaches Association and ESPN at the NCAA Women's Final Four in Columbus, Ohio.
McPhee had a breakout junior campaign and was named All-Pac-12 and to the Lexington Regional All-Tournament Team. She was second on the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game and improved her scoring average by 6.8 points over her sophomore season.
McPhee scored in double figures 25 times, had seven 20-point efforts and led Stanford offensively in its run to the program's 13th Final Four, averaging a team-high 16.8 points per game and making 44.4 percent from behind the arc in the NCAA Tournament. Among a number of memorable performances, she scored 19 of her game-high 27 in the second half of the Cardinal's 16-point comeback win against No. 2 Notre Dame in the Elite Eight.
A human biology major with a 3.73 cumulative GPA, McPhee was also honored at the 2017 Final Four as women's basketball's Elite 90 award winner, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships.
McPhee and the No. 10 Cardinal begin the season in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, Nov. 10 for a game against No. 5 Ohio State that will be carried on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Two days later, Stanford will face No. 1 UConn for the first time since 2014 at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT.