From UConn & Los Angeles Athletic Club:
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Three University of Connecticut women’s basketball team standouts, Breanna Stewart, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson, have each earned a spot on the Wooden Award Preseason Top-30 List as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Monday. The list is chosen by a preseason poll of national college women’s basketball media members.
Stewart, who is scoring at a 21.0 points per game clip this season, averaged 19.4 points and 2.8 blocks per game in 2013-14. She recorded double-digit points in 38 of UConn’s 40 games on her way to being selected as the 2013-14 National Player of the Year by the Associated Press, the Atlanta Tip-Off Club (Naismith Trophy), the United States Basketball Writers Association and the Honda Sports Award.
Mosqueda-Lewis is competing in her final season in a UConn uniform after helping the Huskies capture their second consecutive national title in 2013-14. Limited by injury, the forward earned 26 starts and notched 19 double-figure scoring games. She posted the program’s third-ever triple-double in the Huskies’ NCAA Second Round victory over Saint Joseph’s on March 25. The three-point sharpshooter saved her best for the postseason, earning a spot on the American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team after posting 14.7 points and shooting 47.4 from beyond the arc. In addition, Mosqueda-Lewis was tabbed as the Lincoln Regional Most Outstanding Player after averaging 17.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 51.0 percent in the Huskies first four NCAA Tournament victories.
Jefferson enjoyed a breakout sophomore season, starting all 40 games and averaging 10.0 points per contest. The Texas native led The American in assists per game (4.9) and shooting percentage (57.5) en route to an all-conference First Team selection. She dished out 25 assists compared to only seven turnovers during the Huskies’ six-game run through the NCAA Tournament. Her 195 total assists marked the fifth-highest single-season total for a Husky player.
Players not chosen to the preseason team are eligible for both the midseason team and the National Ballot. The National Ballot consists of 20 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 American Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players, will be announced the week of the Final Four.
Jillian Alleyne (Oregon)
Rachel Banham (Minnesota)
Brittany Boyd (California)
Crystal Bradford (Central Michigan)
Lexie Brown (Maryland)
Nina Davis (Baylor)
Kaela Davis (Georgia Tech)
Nneka Enemkpali (Texas)
Bashaara Graves (Tennessee)
Allisha Gray (North Carolina)
Rashanda Gray (California)
Dearica Hamby (Wake Forest)
Sara Hammond (Louisville)
Isabelle Harrison (Tennessee)
Bria Holmes (West Virginia)
Brittany Hrynko (DePaul)
Moriah Jefferson (UConn)
Samantha Logic (Iowa)
Jewell Loyd (Notre Dame)
Tiffany Mitchell (South Carolina)
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (UConn)
Amber Orrange (Stanford)
Kelsey Plum (Washington)
Aerial Powers (Michigan State)
Breanna Stewart (UConn)
Rachel Theriot (Nebraska)
Courtney Walker (Texas A&M)
Aleighsa Welch (South Carolina)
Courtney Williams (South Florida)
Elizabeth Williams (Duke)
