STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford sophomore Kiana Williams is one of 20 players on the watch list for the 2019 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. The annual award in its second 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 have the opportunity to vote for their favorite finalist at www.hoophallawards.com.
The winner of the 2019 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award will be revealed on an ESPN platform during the 2019 Women's Final Four in Tampa, Florida.
Williams had a standout freshman campaign in 2017-18, was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention and also landed on the Pac-12 All-Freshman and Pac-12 All-Tournament teams. Twenty-six players were voted either All-Pac-12 or all-conference honorable mention last season and Stanford's dynamic playmaker was the only freshman among them.
The 5-foot-8 Williams played in all 35 games a year ago and averaged 10.4 points on 41.4 percent shooting (128-of-309), including a 38.4 percent clip from deep (71-of-185), 1.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. She was fourth in the conference in 3-point percentage (.384) and fifth in makes (71). Her 71 made triples are the second most for a Stanford freshman in program history.
Williams improved by leaps and bounds as the season wore on and after averaging 3.1 points and shooting 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in her first seven collegiate games, she upped those numbers to 12.2 points on 43.6 percent shooting (122-of-280) in the final 28. She scored in double figures in 19 of the season's last 28 games and averaged 13.3 points per game in the NCAA Tournament, which was third among the country's freshmen.
In the final nine games of the season, Williams led the nation by hitting 56.9 percent from deep (29-of-51) and had a number of memorable performances including a 26-point effort against Cal (Feb. 15), a 24-point outing on 6-of-7 shooting from behind the arc against Arizona State (March 3) and a 21-point, NCAA Tournament debut against Gonzaga (March 17).
A two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week selection, Williams was also voted to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.7 points on 70.4 percent shooting (19-of-27), including 72.2 percent on 3-pointers (13-of-18), in three games in Seattle.
Williams and the Cardinal begin their regular season at home on Wednesday, Nov. 7 against UC Davis (7 p.m.). Season tickets, single-game tickets, three-game and six-game mini plans and group tickets (15 or more) for all dates on the 2018-19 calendar are on sale now by visiting gostanford.com/wbbtickets or calling 800-STANFORD.
In addition to its television broadcast schedule, every Cardinal game this upcoming season will again be carried via GoStanford.com's audio stream with Kevin Danna and Tim Swartz splitting play-by-play duties.
