HOPEWELL, N.J. (January 17, 2024) — Fairfield's Meghan Andersen has been name to the 2024 midseason watch list for the 2024 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats. 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, and Massachusetts’ Sam Breen won the most recent award in 2023.
Andersen, a first-year forward for the Stags, ranks fifth in the nation among rookies with her 17.9 scoring average while placing third with a .551 field goal percentage. The "Road Runner" also is the fourth-most accurate 3-point shooter in the nation among first-year players with a .417 mark.
Andersen has helped the Stags to a 12-game winning streak, the third-longest active streak in the country. That success has put Fairfield in the national conversation, earning four votes in the most recent AP Top-25 poll.
This year’s midseason list includes representatives from 14 teams and 10 conferences. Five conferences – the MEAC, Mountain West, Missouri Valley, Sun Belt, and WCC – placed two
players on the watch list. Norfolk State becomes the third team (Ohio - 2021, Gonzaga - 2023) to place multiple players on a single midseason watch list. Murray State’s Katelyn Young becomes
just the second player to be named to the midseason watch list three times, joining Dyaisha Fair who did so three times for Buffalo.
The complete list in alphabetical order by school is:
Izzy Higginbottom, Arkansas St., Jr., G
McKenna Hofschild, Colorado St., Gr., G
Abbey Hsu, Columbia, Sr., G
Katie Dinnebier, Drake, Jr., G
Meghan Andersen, Fairfield, Fr., F
Terren Ward, Georgia Southern, Sr., G/F
Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga, Sr., F
Katelyn Young, Murray St., Sr., F
Diamond Johnson, Norfolk St., Jr., G
Kierra Wheeler, Norfolk St., Jr., F
Tess Heal, Santa Clara, So., G
Khari Clark, Stony Brook, Gr., F/C
Mia Moore, UAB, R-So., G
Desi-Rae Young, UNLV, Sr., C
Rachael Rose, Wofford, Jr., G
Award Eligibility & Schedule
To be eligible for this award, players must compete in one of the 26 conferences deemed to be “mid-major.” The following conferences are considered high-major for the purposes of this
award, and thus ineligible: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC. In October, the 25-player preseason watch list was announced. The 10 semifinalists will be announced in
February, followed by the five finalists announced in early March. The winner will be announced around the Final Four. The list is fluid and players may play their way on or off the list over the
course of the season.
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 and 2023 WNBA Championships.
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).