Senior guard Tay'ler Mingo of the Wright State women's basketball team was selected by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as one of 15 finalists for the 2015 Nancy Lieberman Award on Monday. The award recognizes the top point guard in women’s NCAA Division I College Basketball.
“These 15 candidates exhibit floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills similar to those of Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman. We are pleased to be recognizing them for their commitment to the game,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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.
A premier Selection Committee made up of top college basketball personnel including Hall of Famers, media members, head coaches and sports information directors was appointed by the Hall of Fame to review the candidates. The watch list will be trimmed to 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 and February 9, Mingo (Akron, OH/Regina) currently ranks eighth in Division I in scoring at 22.7 points per game, sixth in steals per contest at 3.4 and 25th in assists per game at 5.4. She leads the league in each of those three categories and also is fourth in free throw percentage at .764.
Mingo has reached double figures in scoring in all 27 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 career-high 11 assists against Valparaiso on February 7 and has recorded seven or more assists in game 11 times this season. She has also had five or more steals in a contest seven times, with her high of seven coming in a win over Youngstown State on February 5.
Wright State (20-7, 9-4 Horizon), which has reached the 20-win plateau for the fourth time in five seasons under head coach Mike Bradbury, goes to Detroit on Thursday, February 26, for its final road game of the regular-season. Tip-off is at 7:00.
The following is the 2015 Lieberman Award Watch Finalist List:
Lindsay Allen Notre Dame
Brittany Boyd California
Natasha Cloud St. Joseph's
Syessense Davis Rutgers
Niya Johnson Baylor
Almesha Jones Morehead State
Brianna Kiesel Pittsburgh
Samantha Logic Iowa
Damika Martinez Iona
Angela Mickens James Madison
Tay'ler Mingo Wright State
Kelsey Mitchell Ohio State
Nikki Moody Iowa State
Sydney Wiese Oregon State
Tags: Horizon League - Women's Basketball · Wright State - Women's Basketball
