SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced today that University of Louisville women’s basketball center Josie Williams is one of 20 watch list candidates for the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award. Named after the three-time All-American,1994 National Player of the Year and Class of 2015 Hall of Famer, the annual award in its sixth year recognizes the top centers in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball.
Williams comes to the Cardinals after beginning her collegiate career at Utah Valley. In her final two seasons with the Wolverines, she was selected to the All-WAC first team both seasons. In her senior season, she set a program single season record with 24 double-doubles, which was tied for fourth in the country that season. She averaged 17.3 points per game and 12.4 rebounds per game in her senior season. The 12.4 rebounds per game were the second-highest in program history for a single season and it ranked fifth overall in the NCAA last season.
Louisville is one of just three teams and the only ACC school to have a player named to all five positional watch lists this season. Chrislyn Carr was named to the Lieberman Award Watch List, Hailey Van Lith was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List, Morgan Jones was named to the Cheryl Miller Award Watch List and Olivia Cochran was named to the Katrina McClain Award Watch List.
Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the three rounds starting today, October 21. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award will be narrowed to 10 and then in late February to just five. In March the five finalists will be presented to Leslie and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
The winner of the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Women’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Award (Point Guard), Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (Shooting Guard), Cheryl Miller Award (Small Forward) and the Katrina McClain Award (Power Forward), in addition to the Men’s Starting Five.
Previous winners of the Lisa Leslie Award are Aliyah Boston, South Carolina (2020-22), Megan…
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