ATLANTA (April 1, 2017) – Kelsey Plum, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history, was named winner of the 2017 Citizen Naismith Trophy, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today. The Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding women’s college basketball player, is named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball.
Plum becomes the first Husky and fifth Pac-12 player to win the Naismith Trophy, following two each from Stanford University (Kate Starbird, 1997; Jennifer Azzi, 1990) and USC (Lisa Leslie, 1994; Cheryl Miller, 1985, 85, 86).
Plum was chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, who based their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2016-17 college basketball season, and by fans, who were eligible to vote at www.naismithtrophy.com/vote from March 20-31. The vote was tabulated and certified by Aprio, formerly Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, the largest full-service, independent CPA-led business advisory firm, based in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Tipoff Club and Citizen Watch Company will honor Plum on the Washington campus later this month.
“Kelsey’s accomplishments this season were remarkable, as well as record-breaking, which speaks to her consistency and desire to improve each and every season,” said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “She will always be remembered not only as an iconic basketball player, but also as a Citizen Naismith Trophy winner.”
“Citizen Watch Company is the proud partner of the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Naismith Trophy, supporting academia and the prestige of sportsmanship,” said Eric Horowitz, U.S. Managing Director of Citizen Watch. “Kelsey Plum brings forth a constant passion and empowerment seen in Women’s Basketball. Her strength and encouragement both on and off the court ring true with the values we as a brand admire.”
In addition to passing Jackie Stiles as the NCAA all-time scoring leader, Plum, who finishes with 3,527 points, led the nation in scoring at 31.7 ppg, while shooting 53.3 percent from the field overall, 42.9 percent from 3-point range and 88.8 percent from the foul line. This season she became the first player in Pac-12 history, female or male, to score 3,000 career points, en route to an NCAA single-season scoring record of 1,109 points. Plum became just the second player in Pac-12 history to record 300 career three-pointers. Plum’s accomplishments earned her Pac-12 Player of the Year honors.
The Naismith Trophy women’s honor was first presented to Anne Donovan (Old Dominion University) in 1983. Other notable winners include Cheryl Miller (1984-86, University of Southern California), Dawn Staley (1991-92, University of Virginia), Lisa Leslie (1994, University of Southern California) and Diana Taurasi (2003-04, UConn).
ABOUT THE ATLANTA TIPOFF CLUB
Founded during the 1956-57 season, the Atlanta Tipoff Club is committed to promoting the game of basketball and recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of those who make the game so exciting. The Atlanta Tipoff Club administers the Naismith Awards, which are the most prestigious national honors in all of college basketball. Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, the Naismith Trophy recognizes the top men’s and women’s college basketball players, coaches, administrators and officials. The Naismith Trophy was first presented to UCLA’s Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in 1969.
ABOUT CITIZEN WATCH
As a true manufacture d’horlogerie, CITIZEN integrates a comprehensive manufacturing process that extends from creating a watch’s individual components to its final assembly. We operate in over 130 countries across the world. Since our founding in 1918, we have continued to explore new possibilities of a watch through our constant development from the world’s first light-powered technology, Eco-Drive, to the state-of-the-art satellite wave watch, based on our belief, “Now is the time to start to make the world better,” summarized in our brand statement, “BETTER STARTS NOW.” CITIZEN will continue to push the boundaries for the future of watches.
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Media Contact:
Traci Messier
Jackson Spalding for the Atlanta Tipoff Club
tmessier@jacksonspalding.com
404-214-3596
Kaitlin Derkach
The Promotion Factory for Citizen Watch Company
Kaitlin@thepromofact.com
212-217-9065