Jefferson Named to Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Midseason Watch List

HOPEWELL, N.J. — Senior guard Kiki Jefferson was announced as one of 15 named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Midseason Watch List presented by Her Hoop Stats on Monday.

The Becky Hammon Award was first given out in 2020, with South Dakota's Ciara Duffy being named the inaugural winner. FGCU's Kierstan Bell won the award in 2021 and 2022. This year's midseason watch list includes representatives from 14 schools and 11 conferences. The WCC leads all conferences with three watch list members. Gonzaga is the lone team with multiple players on the list.

Jefferson has had a phenomenal senior campaign thus far, helping lead the Dukes to a 16-2 overall record and a 6-0 mark in Sun Belt play. The Lancaster, Pa. native is averaging 18.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, good for second and third in the league, respectively. The guard is also one of the most efficient players in the conference, connecting on 99-of-224 (44.2%) from the field, the fifth-best mark in the Sun Belt.

The senior has been hard to guard as opponents have sent her to the line for 131 attempts, which is currently tied for the fifth-most attempts in the NCAA. Additionally, Jefferson has gone 105-for-131 from the charity stripe, also good for fifth in the country.

Jefferson's passing skills have been on full display as well. The guard is sixth in the Sun Belt in total assists with 61, recording eight games this season with five or more dimes, highlighted by a career-high eight dimes against Coastal Carolina on Dec. 29, 2022.

She etched her name in James Madison women's basketball history against Southern Miss (Jan. 7), when she cracked the program's top-10 scoring list with 1,504 career points.

About Becky Hammon
Hammon was a three-time All-American during her career at Colorado State and led the Rams to the Sweet 16 in 1999, the program's only appearance to date. She was signed by the New York Liberty in 1999 and traded to the San Antonio Stars in 2007, where she played the rest of her career. Hammon retired in 2014 as a six-time All-Star and a two-time All-WNBA First Team honoree. In 2016 she was named one of the top 20 players in WNBA history and was recently named to the W25. Hammon became the second female coach in NBA history when she began coaching for the San Antonio Spurs in 2014. Additionally, Hammon is the only woman to be a head coach in the NBA Summer League as well as the only woman to be a member of an NBA All-Star coaching staff. Currently, Hammon is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces and won the 2022 WNBA Championship in her first season.

About Her Hoop Stats
Her Hoop Stats was founded in 2017 to unlock better insight about women's basketball at all levels. We began as a statistics site focused on providing consistent, reliable, and easy-to-access data about women's basketball for both mobile and desktop environments. Her Hoop Stats has expanded to become a leading independent voice in the women's game providing content through our newsletter, podcast network, YouTube channel, and social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).

2023 Becky Hammon Player of the Year Candidates

Destinee Wells	Belmont
McKenna Hofschild	Colorado State
Abby Hsu	Columbia
Keishana Washington	Drexel
Brynna Maxwell	Gonzaga
Yvonne Ejim	Gonzaga
Kiki Jefferson	James Madison
Sam Breen	UMass
Savannah Wheeler	MTSU
Katelyn Young	Murray State
Alex Fowler	Portland
Isnelle Natabou	Sacramento State
Myah Selland	South Dakota State
Quinesha Lockett	Toledo
Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu	USF

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