Kelsey Bone has been named to the list of 20 outstanding players for its 2013 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, as The United States Basketball Writers Association midseason watchlist released Feb. 26, 2013. The Texas A&M women’s basketball team center standout, in her junior year, continues gathering national attention, adding this USBWA national player of the year watchlist to her 2012-13 season accolades.
Kelsey’s statistics and relentless style in playing great offense and stellar defense are good reasons for the nod. Bone leads the SEC in field goal percentage (57/7), as well as rebounds per game (9.9). She’s third in points per game (17.6) and has received 3 SEC Player of the Week honors in the Aggies inaugural season in the SEC. Most importantly, just five Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week from this season are on this list, and Bone is one of those five included, which adds more excitement as the watch continues.
Bone is one of only two SEC representatives among the top 20 players in the country; A’dia Mathies of Kentucky joins Kelsey as the SEC continues to shine as the season winds down to tournament play. In the department of double-doubles, Bone is second in the SEC this season with 13, and has 27 career double-doubles to date. But there are still some games left to play this season.
As the first woman to every receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA, and their only four-time Bruin basketball All American, Ann Meyers Drysdale is said, by the late, great UCLA coach, John Wooden, to be “the one who really got Women’s basketball going.” Ann Meyers married famed L.A. Dodgers pitcher Tom Drysdale and, together, they are “the first married couple to ever be enshrined in their respective sports’ Halls of Fame.” Time Magazine named Meyers Drysdale as one of the ten greatest female athletes of all time.
So, for the 20 young women who were named to the Midseason Watch list, of this grouping, this award, voted on by the Board of Directors of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, is indeed a singular honor. These 20 young women are indeed a who’s who of the NCAAW grouping.
The full list of distinguished players includes:
Kayla Alexander, Syracuse
Alex Bentley, Penn State
Kelsey Bone, Texas A&M
Gennifer Brandon, California
Elena Delle Donne, Delaware
Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame
Stefanie Dotson, Connecticut
Kelly Fair, Connecticut
Angel Goodrich, Kansas
Chelsea Gray, Duke
Brittney Griner, Baylor
Tianna Hawkins, Maryland
Maggie Lucas, Penn State
A’dia Mathies, Kentucky
Kaleena Moaqueda-Lewis, Connecticut
Chiney Oguwmike, Stanford
Niveen Rasheed, Princeton
Odyssey Sims, Baylor
Alyssa Thomas, Maryland
Elizabeth Williams, Duke
The award will be presented to the women’s national player of the year by Ann Meyers Drysdale personally at the USBWA women’s awards press conference on April 7 in New Orleans, prior to the start of the NCAA Women’s Final Four semifinals, just five short weeks away.
On Thursday, Feb. 28, the Aggies will be on the road against Tennessee; the game begins at 6:00 pm CST and will be broadcast on the CSS sports network.
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