Senior guard Tay'ler Mingo of the Wright State women's basketball team has been selected by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a candidate for the 2015 Nancy Lieberman Award. The award recognizes the top point guard in women’s NCAA Division I College Basketball.
The criteria for selection require that players demonstrate the floor leadership, play-making abilities, and ball-handling skills that Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman embodied in her career. Lieberman is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and holds the distinction of being the only athlete to receive the Wade Trophy twice.
Season-long voting from sportswriters across the country determine the winner. The watch list will be trimmed to 15 finalists and then five by mid-March, with the winner to be announced at the WBCA Award Show in Tampa, Florida, during the Women's Final Four. Past winners of the award include Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi of Connecticut, Skylar Diggins of Notre Dame and Odyssey Sims of Baylor, who received the award last season.
Named the Horizon League Player of the Week on November 17 and December 22 and the College Sports Madness Horizon League Player of the Week on January 19, Mingo currently ranks ??? in Division I in scoring at 23.4 points per game, second in steals per contest at 3.9 and ??th in assists per game at 5.2. She leads the league in each of those three categories and also is fifth in free throw percentage at .766.
MIngo has reached double figures in scoring in all 22 games for the Raiders so far this season, with her high being a career-best 34 at Butler on December 5. She has scored 30 or more points in a game six times in 2014-15, including three straight games against Valparaiso (31), Youngstown State (30) and Cleveland State (31) in January.
Mingo dished a season-best 10 assists against Cleveland State on January 24, which also tied a career high, and has recorded seven or more assists in game eight times this season. She has also had five or more steals in a contest seven times, with her high of seven coming Thursday in a 92-55 win over Youngstown State.
Wright State (17-5, 6-2 Horizon) returns to action on Saturday as the Raiders host Valparaiso at 2:00.
**Release courtesy of Wright State Athletic Communications.
Tags: Horizon League - Women's Basketball · Wright State - Women's Basketball
