photo by UK Athletics
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the third time this postseason, University of Kentucky women’s basketball sophomore guard Rhyne Howard has been tabbed a first-team All-America selection as the Wooden Award named the star to its All-America team Wednesday night live on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
In March, Howard was named one of 15 players nationally to the Wooden Award National Ballot with the selection committee then selecting five players for the Wooden Award All-America Team.
All five players are considered finalists for the Wooden Award, which is widely considered the most prestigious honor in college basketball and names the nation’s best player.
It has been accolade after accolade for Howard this postseason, earning first-team All-America honors and being named a finalist for several national player of the year honors. Most recently, Howard was tabbed a regional finalist for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America Team after coaches in the second region tabbed her one of the 10 best players in the region. The selection committee will select the 10-member WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America team from 52 candidates, which will be announced Thursday, April 2.
Last week, Howard became the third player in program history to earn first-team All-America honors from the United States Basketball Writers Association, which automatically made her one of five candidates for the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year award from the USBWA. This postseason she also became the first player in program history to earn first-team All-America honors from the Associated Press. She is the fifth Kentucky player in program history to earn first-team All-America honors from a major organization, joining Pam Browning (1977, Street and Smith’s), Valerie Still (1981, 82, 83, Street and Smith’s), Dunlap (2010, USBWA and WBCA) and Mathies (2012, USBWA). Howard became the 11th All-America honoree in program history last season when she earned All-America honorable mention by the WBCA. She is the second UK player behind Still to earn three or more first-team All-America honors in the same season.
Howard is also one of four finalists for the Citizen Naismith Trophy, recognizing the most outstanding women’s college basketball player of the year. She is looking to become the first Kentucky player to win the prestigious award while she is believed to be the first to make the top-four finalists for the award, which started in 1983. The winner of the award will be announced Friday at Noon ET on CBS Sports HQ. Howard is a top-five finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award, which names the top small forward of the year in collegiate women’s basketball.
The native of Cleveland, Tennessee, was recently named by league coaches the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, First-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team. She was a four-time honoree of the SEC Player of the Week award and was espnW National Player of the Week in January.
Howard had a sensational sophomore season for Kentucky, leading the Wildcats and ranking second nationally with 23.4 points per game. The guard also led UK with 6.5 rebounds per game and 62 steals, while she was second on the team with 29 blocks and third on the team with 68 assists. Howard hit 84 3-pointers this season, which was the most in program history in a single season, topping the previous record of 81 set by Sara Potts in 2004-05. Her 3.1 3-pointers per game ranked top-10 nationally while her 633 total points ranked fifth nationally. Howard’s 23.4 scoring average was the most for a UK player under Matthew Mitchell and the fourth-best average in program history.
Howard placed her name all over the Kentucky record books this season as the only player in program history to score 25 or more points in five straight games while she was the second player to score 20 or more points in eight straight games. Howard had two stretches during the season of 20 or more points in eight straight games, including each of her last eight games played after missing three games with a finger injury.
Two of the top-12 scoring performances in program history have come this season by Howard. The first was her 37 points in UK's win vs. Tennessee followed by a school-record tying 43 points at Alabama. She is the only player in program history to score 37+ points in consecutive games and the first to hit seven or more 3-pointers in consecutive games. On top of earning six double-doubles this season, Howard became the second fastest UK player ever to reach 1,000 career points and ended the season with 1,158 career points which ranks 27th on UK’s all-time scoring list.