Kelsey Plum’s magical year keeps going as the Washington Huskies standout takes home the 2017 John R. Wooden Award.
As if becoming the NCAA’s all time career and single season scoring leader wasn’t enough, Washington’s Kelsey Plum was awarded the 2017 John R. Wooden Award.
The accolades have been pouring in for Plum, who shattered Jackie Stiles’ career scoring record with a 57-point performance against Utah back on February 26. She went into the game 54 points shy of the record, and through the help of her team she smashed the record and finished the game with 3,397 points. That 57-point performance was only three points shy of tying the single-game scoring record.
The 2017 Wooden Award for women's college basketball is Washington's Kelsey Plum! pic.twitter.com/Ynt9VWsKwL
— ESPNU (@ESPNU) April 8, 2017
With the NCAA women’s scoring record in the books, Plum is second only to LSU’s Pete Maravich (3,667 points) in all-time scoring across men’s and women’s basketball, finishing her prolific career with 3,527 points and 1,109 points in the 2016-2017 season. Plum was the first Pac-12 player (male or female) to hit 3,000 career points and she averaged 31.7 points in the 2016-2017 season. She also broke the NCAA’s longstanding free throw record with 912 points.
While there’s no question Plum was the best candidate for the Wooden Award, she had some fierce competition. Two of UConn’s standouts — Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier — were finalists, along with Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell and A’ja Wilson from national champion South Carolina.
Next: 28 most memorable buzzer beaters in March Madness history
Plum has amassed an impressive collection of awards this season, including the Naismith and Wade Trophies. She was the Pac-12 Player of the Year, the AP Player of the Year, the Ann Meyers Drysdale national player of the year, and the espnW Player of the Year. She was also a unanimous AP All-American, and recipient of the Dawn Staley Award.
Next up for Plum: The WNBA Draft.