Riders star Winterburn, 20, is top Young Player for third time
HOLLY Winterburn of Leicester Riders has been awarded the Molten WBBL Young Player of the Year award for the third time already in her career – and third completed season in a row – at the age of just 20.
The award is voted for by WBBL head coaches, who pick their top three candidates, and it was tightly contested after a highly competitive WBBL season.
Winterburn was selected in first place by five coaches and second by one other, just edging out
Sian Phillips of
Caledonia
Pride who had three first place selections.
The Northampton-native progressed through the Riders’ set-up at Charnwood College, being named MVP of the Women’s Elite Academy Basketball League in 2018-19 alongside playing in the WBBL and spent last season in the US at the powerhouse University of Oregon in the Pac-12 Conference with a season-high of 17 points against South Dakota.
Returning to Leicester this season, she took on the captaincy following the departure of Australian Kate Oliver in February.
Riders went 12-4 with Winterburn as captain, finishing second in the WBBL Championship and pushing champions Sevenoaks Suns all the way, beating them and the other team in the top three, London Lions, in consecutive days at the end of April to maintain a title challenge.
Winterburn had her seasonhigh of 36 points in that clash with London, a critical 84-80 victory in their penultimate game that secured second place, as she shot 12-17 (70 per cent) from the floor and made all eight of her freethrows, including 10 points in the fourth quarter as Leicester came from behind.
Overall, she averaged 15 points per game on 36 per cent three-point shooting and was third in the WBBL for assists per game (6.2), sixth in steals (2.1), ninth in defensive rebounds (6.1) and tenth in fouls drawn as she proved to be a match-up nightmare for opponents all season.
She had a single-game high of 12 assists against Sevenoaks, and 13 rebounds twice, with a best effort of 5-8 (63 per cent) threepointers against Durham Palatinates. Her assist and rebound numbers are highs in her young career as she continues to develop her all-around game, as was her three-point percentage which has improved yearon-year. Winterburn has also been selected in the Molten WBBL All-British Team of the Year and the Molten WBBL Team of the Year and was second only to Kennedy Leonard in weekly WBBL All-Star Five appearances over the campaign, featuring nine times.
More significantly than that array of awards, in February she lifted the WBBL Cup in Manchester with a near-MVP performance, coming close to a triple-double with 16 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in a 78-67 defeat of season-long rivals Sevenoaks.
In her fifth WBBL campaign already, having made her debut in 201516, Winterburn can add this year’s haul of accolades to her trophy cabinet – she was a two-time WBBL Trophy winner in 2018-19 and 2017-18.