LOS ANGELES – Seniors Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough of the fourth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team are two of 15 players named to the National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award® Presented by Wendy's® today on ESPNW.
All balloted players have been certified by their university to meet or exceed the qualifications for the Wooden Award. The qualifications include: candidates must be full-time students in an accredited NCAA college or university and a full-time student making progress toward graduation and have a cumulative 2.00 grade point average since enrolling in their school. Candidates must exhibit strength of character, both on and off the court, should contribute to team effort, must excel in both offense and defense and should be considered on their performance over the course of the entire season.
Click here for the full National Ballot.
Voting will take place from March 14-21, and voters, consisting of hundreds of members of the national women's college basketball media, take into consideration a player's entire season of play, as well as opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation's top 10 players, and the finalists for the Wooden Award, widely considered the most prestigious honor in college basketball, will be announced following the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament and will be the focus of a 30-minute show March 27 on ESPN at 8pm EST.
Jones and Walker-Kimbrough were unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selections this week, both earning the honor for the third straight year. They were both named to the All-Big Ten Defensive Team. Jones leads the Terrapins with 19.2 points and 10.8 boards per game. Walker-Kimbrough is averaging 18.8 points and 3.7 assists per contest.
Walker-Kimbrough is No. 5 on Maryland's all-time scoring list with 2,064 career points and needs 14 to pass Kristi Toliver at No. 4 (2,078). Walker-Kimbrough's career three-point percentage of 46.1 percent is currently the best in Maryland history, ahead of Toliver's 40.8 percent, and is a Big Ten record. She has made 179 three-pointers in her career, which is No. 2 in Maryland history.
Jones is leading the country in field goal percentage (.690) for the second straight year. Her career average of 64.7 percent is a Big Ten record currently. Jones is No. 3 on Maryland's rebounding list with 1,152 career boards. She is No. 8 on Maryland's scoring list with 1,806 points.
The Terrapins lead the country in scoring (90.0) and are No. 2 in field goal percentage (.505) and rebounding margin (+16.1). They are third in scoring margin (+26.9) and fourth in assists (20.2).
The fourth-ranked and second-seeded Terrapins (28-2) will face sixth-seeded Michigan State (21-10) in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Top-seeded Ohio State will take on fifth-seeded Purdue in the first semifinal at 4 p.m.
The Saturday night contest will be televised around the world on the Big Ten Network, the BTN2Go app and BTN2Go.com. Click here for your channel number for BTN. Fans outside the U.S. can watch here.
With a win Saturday night, the Terrapins will play in Sunday's Championship game at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. For tickets, matchups and more on the Big Ten Tournament, click here.
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