Theriot Named to Wade Watch List

Lincoln - Nebraska junior Rachel Theriot had her name added to another women's basketball national player-of-the-year watch list on Tuesday, when she was included among 25 players on the Wade Watch list.

The Wade Trophy is the official national player-of-the-year award of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and is in its 38th season of honoring the country's top player. In 1993, Nebraska All-American Karen Jennings won the trophy that is named for Lily Margaret Wade and is voted on by the membership of the WBCA.

Theriot, a 6-0 point guard from Middleburg Heights, Ohio, was one of 30 players named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 30 on Monday. She was ranked as the No. 13 player in the nation by ESPN heading into this season and was a preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection. She has the Huskers off to a 4-0 start and ranked No. 15 nationally by the Associated Press heading into this Friday's game at UCLA.

Theriot is averaging 17.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals as a junior for the Huskers. Last season, she proved herself as one of the nation's top young players, earning honorable-mention All-America accolades from the AP after claiming a first-team All-Big Ten award. 

In 2013-14, Theriot averaged 14.1 points and 7.1 assists per game while leading the Big Ten with a 2.7-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Her 234 assists were a school record. She guided the Huskers to their first-ever conference tournament title as the Big Ten Tournament MVP, averaging 18.7 points and a tournament-record 10.0 assists per game.

Regarded as “The Heisman of Women’s Basketball,” The Wade Trophy is presented annually to the WBCA NCAA Division I Player of the Year by SHAPE America - the Society of Health and Physical Educators and the WBCA.  

The 25-member list is made up of top NCAA Division I student-athletes who best embody the spirit of Lily Margaret Wade according to the following criteria: game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability.

Here is the list of candidates for the 2015 Wade Trophy in alphabetical order:

Player	Institution	Position	Year
Jillian Alleyne	Oregon	Forward	Junior
Rachel Banham	Minnesota	Guard	Senior
Brittany Boyd	California	Guard	Senior
Crystal Bradford	Central Michigan	Guard	Senior
Nina Davis	Baylor	Forward	Sophomore
Nneka Enemkpali	Texas	Forward	Senior
Bashaara Graves	Tennessee	Forward	Junior
Allisha Gray	North Carolina	Guard	Sophomore
Reshanda Gray	California	Forward	Senior
Dearica Hamby	Wake Forest	Forward	Senior
Sara Hammond	Louisville	Forward	Senior
Isabelle Harrison	Tennessee	Center	Senior
Bria Holmes	West Virginia	Guard	Junior
Brittany Hrynko	DePaul	Guard	Senior
Samantha Logic	Iowa	Guard	Senior
Jewell Loyd	Notre Dame	Guard	Junior
Tiffany Mitchell	South Carolina	Guard	Junior
Kaleena Mosqueda- Lewis	Connecticut	Forward	Senior
Amber Orrange	Stanford	Guard	Senior
Kelsey Plum	Washington	Guard	Sophomore
Breanna Stewart	Connecticut	Forward	Junior
Rachel Theriot	Nebraska	Guard	Junior
Courtney Walker	Texas A&M	Guard	Junior
Aleighsa Welch	South Carolina	Forward	Senior
Elizabeth Williams	Duke	Center	Senior