BATON ROUGE — Temeka Johnson, the point guard of LSU’s 16th-ranked Lady Tigers basketball team, was named of the 12 candidates for the Nancy Lieberman Award presented annually by the Detroit Rotary Club honoring the nation’s top point guard in Division I women’s basketball.
Johnson, a 5-3 senior from New Orleans, was one of three finalists for the award last year. She joins Jamie Carey (Texas), Cristina Ciocan (South Carolina), Erin Grant (Texas Tech), Lindsey Harding (Duke), Kelly Mazzante (Penn State), Sara Nord (Louisville), Yolanda Paige (West Virginia), Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers), Erika Valek (Purdue), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota) and last year’s winner Diana Taurasi of UConn among the list of candidates for this year’s honor.
The criterion for the award is based on floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Lieberman during her career. Lieberman is enshrined at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and won the Wade Trophy twice during her career.
Johnson currently leads the Southeastern Conference in assists per game (7.91) and assists to turnover ratio (2.95) and is averaging 11.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. She is also ranked fourth in the nation in assists per outing with her 7.91.
The honor is voted on by sportswriters from across the nation and the winner will be announced in Detroit in early April. The list on candidates will be cut down to 10 over the next few weeks and the voters will have until mid-march to determine the winner.