The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Dangerfield named to Nancy Lieberman Award watch list
Crystal Dangerfield is generating her share of attention this offseason, and rightfully so.
The UConn senior on Monday was named to the watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given annually to the best point guard in NCAA Division I women’s basketball.
Dangerfield was one of five finalists last season, when she averaged 13.4 points and 5.9 assists. Her 225 assists were secondmost in a season at UConn, behind Sue Bird’s 231 in 200102.
This is the second honor in a week for the Murfreesboro, Tenn., native. Last Monday, Dangerfield was named the American Athletic Conference’s CoPreseason Player of the Year, along with UCF guard Kay Kay Wright, and landed on the conference’s preseason first team.
Dangerfield only recently returned to full basketball activities after undergoing surgery to repair an impingement in her left hip on May 30. Still, the Huskies figure to lean on Dangerfield, their most experienced returning starter, heavily this season.
“Crystal has a huge role, and she knows it, but she carries it well,” sophomore guard Christyn Williams said last week. “She’s a leader on the team.”
Four different Huskies have previously won the Lieberman Award: Bird (200002), Diana Taurasi (200304), Renee Montgomery (2009) and Moriah Jefferson (201516).
Nineteen others were named to this year’s watch list, including Wright and St. John’s Tiana England, a Stamford native. The five finalists will be announced in March.