UConn's Stewart takes home 2nd straight Naismith
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Connecticut star Breanna Stewart joined some elite company when the junior forward was named the winner of the Naismith Trophy on Tuesday.
Stewart, who will lead the top-ranked Huskies into Tuesday's National Championship Game against Notre Dame, becomes only the ninth multiple winner of women's college basketball's player of the year award. She also captured the 2014 Naismith while helping UConn to a second consecutive national title.
Of those eight previous multiple recipients, six (Cheryl Miller, Dawn Staley, Chamique Holdsclaw, Diana Taurasi, Seimone Augustus, Brittney Griner) have won it in back-to-back years. Miller won three straight Naismith Trophies from 1984-86.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Stewart has averaged 17.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 blocks for the 37-1 Huskies.
The upstate New York native also becomes only the fourth player to win two women's Naismith Trophies as a collegian and be named the National High School Player of the Year as well. Former UConn greats Taurasi and Maya Moore and Holdsclaw also achieved the feat.
Other finalists for the 2015 women's Naismith were Notre Dame's Jewell Loyd, South Carolina's Tiffany Mitchell and Minnesota's Amanda Zahui B.