Baylor WBB’s Richards Named Finalist for Naismith’s Lieberman Award

[Robarts, Kyle]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – February 1, 2021

Baylor WBB’s Richards Named Finalist for Naismith’s Lieberman Award
Naismith/WBCA Narrows List of Nation’s Top Point Guards to 10
For more information contact: Kyle Robarts, 254-405-9492, Kyle_Robarts at baylor.edu<mailto:Kyle_Robarts at baylor.edu>

Richards head shot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve65a3ms8np3r4e/BU_WBB_Richards_DiDI_20-21.JPG?dl=0

WACO, Texas – First-year point guard and Baylor senior DiDi Richards earned a spot as a Top 10 candidate for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association 2021 Nancy Lieberman Award, announced Monday.

Richards, from Cypress, Texas, ranks 8th in the NCAA and 2nd in the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.27:1. She ranks 9th in the country and 1st in the Big 12 in assists per game (6.5) and 9th and 2nd, respectively, in total assists (85). She’s averaging 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

The Baylor standout was the National Defensive Player of the Year last season, named by both Naismith and the WBCA. Despite 2020-21 being her first season as point guard, she ranked in the Top 10 in the nation in assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio last season while leading the Big 12 in both categories.

Known for her defensive prowess, she’s quietly moved up Baylor’s all-time assists leaderboard, and through Sunday’s game at Iowa State, ranks fifth all-time on the Lady Bears’ decorated list with 464. Richards is the only Big 12 point guard on the national finalist list.

In March, the committee will declare five finalists, and the winner will be announced April 9 with the other four members of the Naismith/WBCA Starting Five awards. Odyssey Sims won the Lieberman Award in 2014 while Alexis Jones (2017) and Te’a Cooper (2020) have been past finalists for the honor for Baylor.

2021 Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award Candidates*
Destiny Slocum
Arkansas
DiDi Richards
Baylor
Dyaisha Fair
Buffalo
Paige Bueckers
Connecticut
Ali Patberg
Indiana
Hailey Van Lith
Louisville
Myah Taylor
Mississippi State
Raina Perez
NC State
Diamond Johnson
Rutgers
Tiana Mangakahia
Syracuse

*Players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point in the 2020-21 season

www.BaylorBears.com


___________________________________
Kyle Robarts | Associate Director, Athletics Communications (WBB, WTEN)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3042 | C: 254-405-9492

[cid:image001.png at 01D6F892.1E8562A0]<http://baylorbears.com/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210201/82ad9c35/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11689 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/bumedia/attachments/20210201/82ad9c35/attachment-0001.png>