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Braun Named to Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 List
1/24/2024 11:55:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota sophomore Mara Braun has been named as one of the top 10 candidates for the 2024 Cheryl Miller Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced Wednesday. Now in its seventh year, the award recognizes the top small forward in women's NCAA Division I college basketball.
Braun moves on to the top 10, where there will be a fan voting portion involved where fans can support their favorite players in the remaining rounds, starting Friday, January 26, on hoophallawards.com. The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process.
Braun, a native of Wayzata, Minn., has led the Golden Gophers in scoring (17.7), which is the third-best rate in the Big Ten Conference. Her 56 made threes rank her second in the Big Ten and is ninth in the country. She's second in the NCAA in free throw percentage at 94.8 percent, a category that no Big Ten has led nationally since 2006 (Adrienne Squire, Penn State). This season Braun has already put together the fifth-longest streak of made free throws in Big Ten history at 37. Braun has been honored by the Big Ten on the conference's weekly honor roll twice and has helped lead Minnesota to its best 19-game start (14-5) to a season since 2014-15 when the team started 16-3. Braun also reached 500 points for her career this season in her 31st game, the third-fastest in program history only behind Lindsay Whalen (29 games) and Laura Coenen (30 games). In Braun's career she has scored in double figures 38 of her 48 games and this season has already registered nine 20-point performances, passing her 2022-23 total of eight games in 29 games played.
In March, five finalists will be presented to Miller and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The Selection Committee for the Cheryl Miller Award is composed of top women's college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, the Katrina McClain Power Forward Award and the Lisa Leslie Center Award, in addition to the Men's Starting Five.
After playing four games in the past nine days the Gophers will have four days between games with the next matchup being on the road against Illinois. The road contest is slated for Jan 28, which will be streamed on B1G+. Fans interested in buying tickets for Gopher women's basketball this season can find more information at https://z.umn.edu/24sznTix or by calling the Minnesota Ticket Sales Office by phone at 1-800-U-GOPHER or by email at gophersports@umn.edu.
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter (X.com), Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2023-24 season.
2024 Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 List:
Mara Braun, Minnesota
Yarden Garzon, Indiana
Kiki Jefferson, Louisville
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Jordan King, Marquette
Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina
Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
Rickea Jackson, Tennessee
Madison Booker, Texas
McKenzie Forbes, Southern California
Braun moves on to the top 10, where there will be a fan voting portion involved where fans can support their favorite players in the remaining rounds, starting Friday, January 26, on hoophallawards.com. The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process.
Braun, a native of Wayzata, Minn., has led the Golden Gophers in scoring (17.7), which is the third-best rate in the Big Ten Conference. Her 56 made threes rank her second in the Big Ten and is ninth in the country. She's second in the NCAA in free throw percentage at 94.8 percent, a category that no Big Ten has led nationally since 2006 (Adrienne Squire, Penn State). This season Braun has already put together the fifth-longest streak of made free throws in Big Ten history at 37. Braun has been honored by the Big Ten on the conference's weekly honor roll twice and has helped lead Minnesota to its best 19-game start (14-5) to a season since 2014-15 when the team started 16-3. Braun also reached 500 points for her career this season in her 31st game, the third-fastest in program history only behind Lindsay Whalen (29 games) and Laura Coenen (30 games). In Braun's career she has scored in double figures 38 of her 48 games and this season has already registered nine 20-point performances, passing her 2022-23 total of eight games in 29 games played.
In March, five finalists will be presented to Miller and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The Selection Committee for the Cheryl Miller Award is composed of top women's college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, the Katrina McClain Power Forward Award and the Lisa Leslie Center Award, in addition to the Men's Starting Five.
After playing four games in the past nine days the Gophers will have four days between games with the next matchup being on the road against Illinois. The road contest is slated for Jan 28, which will be streamed on B1G+. Fans interested in buying tickets for Gopher women's basketball this season can find more information at https://z.umn.edu/24sznTix or by calling the Minnesota Ticket Sales Office by phone at 1-800-U-GOPHER or by email at gophersports@umn.edu.
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter (X.com), Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2023-24 season.
2024 Cheryl Miller Award Top 10 List:
Mara Braun, Minnesota
Yarden Garzon, Indiana
Kiki Jefferson, Louisville
Aneesah Morrow, LSU
Jordan King, Marquette
Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina
Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
Rickea Jackson, Tennessee
Madison Booker, Texas
McKenzie Forbes, Southern California
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