Baylor women’s basketball senior Alexis Jones is one of 10 candidates for the 2017 Nancy Lieberman Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Monday afternoon. The honor recognizes the top point guard in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball.
Jones is the lone representative of the Big 12 Conference included as a finalist for the award this season. Odyssey Sims is the only player in Baylor women’s basketball history to win the Nancy Lieberman Award, as she was recognized in 2014.
Jones leads the No. 2-ranked Lady Bears offensively, averaging 14.7 points per game and is shooting a team-high 41.8 percent from three-point field goal range. The 5-9 point guard has distributed 10 or more assists in a game twice this season and is averaging 5.2 assists per game.
The Irving, Texas, native is the only player in the Big 12 Conference to register a triple-double this season, compiling 24 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists against No. 20/20 Oklahoma on Jan. 29. It her first career triple-double, the sixth all-time at Baylor (joining Brittney Griner, who recorded five in points-rebounds-blocks) and the 26th in Big 12 history.
Jones has also set career-highs in points (30 at No. 22/25 Tennessee), rebounds (12 vs. NO. 20/20 Oklahoma), field goals made (11 at No. 22/25 Tennessee), field goal attempts (25 at No. 22/25 Tennessee), three-point field goals made (6 vs. Southeastern Louisiana) and three-point field goal attempts (13 vs. TCU).
In less than two full seasons with the program, Jones ranks second all-time in career three-point field goal percentage (41.4), fourth in assist average (4.6) and ninth in three-point field goals made (121). She is 107 points from netting 1,000 points at Baylor and has the potential to become the seventh player in program history to score 1,000 points in two years.
Jones, a preseason All-Big 12 first team selection, has been selected Naismith Trophy Women’s Basketball Player of the Week once and Big 12 Player of the Week twice this season. She has been named to the 2017 Wooden Award Midseason 25, as well as 2017 Wade Trophy and Naismith Trophy Watch Lists.
The Selection Committee for the Nancy Lieberman Award is composed of top women’s college basketball personnel including media members, head coaches, sport administrators and members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The list will be narrowed to five finalists in mid-March, with the winner being announced during the WBCA’s Keynote Session in Dallas, Texas, at the 2017 Women’s Final Four.
