With major prizes on horizon, Kelsey Plum is undefeated in postseason basketball awards

By Percy Allen The Seattle Times • April 1, 2017 1:30 am

SEATTLE — A day after winning the Associated Press Player of the Year award in women’s college basketball, Kelsey Plum received two more accolades Friday.

The Washington Huskies star collected the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, which recognizes the national player of the year.

The 5-foot-8 point guard from Poway, Calif. also picked up the Dawn Staley Award, which is given to the most outstanding collegiate guard in the country.

So far Plum, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history, is five for five in major postseason awards. She also captured Pac-12 Player of the Year honors and the espnW Player of the Year award.

The early accolades bodes well for bigger prizes on the horizon.

Plum is a finalist and seemingly the front-runner for the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy and the Nancy Lieberman Award, which will announce winners Saturday. She could also claim the Wooden Award next week.

The slew of awards is a fitting tribute to a record-breaking season, in which Plum smashed the NCAA’s all-time scoring record. She broke the 16-year-old record in style while tallying a Pac-12 record 57 points in Washington’s regular-season finale at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Plum finished with 3,527 career points — 134 more than previous record holder Jackie Stiles.

Plum also surpassed Stiles, the former Missouri State standout, on the NCAA’s single-season scoring list with 1,109 points.

In her final game — a 75-64 loss to Mississippi State in the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 last Friday in Oklahoma City — Plum also broke the 33-year-old NCAA career free throw record. She has 912 in her career.

Plum scored 21 or more points in all 35 games this season, including 17 30-plus and five 40-plus games. She scored a Pac-12 record 54 points in the final regular season game of her career.

“For four years Kelsey has been exactly the kind of ambassador women’s basketball need,” Staley said in a release. “She’s exciting, she’s talented and most of all she’s driven. You don’t become the highest scoring player in the history of the game without putting in the work off the court every single day.

“No one is more deserving of this award because no one has worked harder for it. Kelsey is the type of player young girls around the world can look up to, and we’re all looking forward to seeing what she does next.”