BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU’s Jada Williams was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watchlist Monday by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as one of the Top-20 point guards across the country in women’s basketball.
Now in its 28th year, the Nancy Lieberman Award recognizes the top point guard in NCAA Division I women’s college basketball. To be considered for this prestigious award, candidates must exhibit the floor leadership, playmaking, and ball-handling skills of Class of 1996 Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman.
LSU’s only recipient of the Lieberman Award in its history was Temeka Johnson, who was recently inducted into the LSU Athletics’ Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2025.
Williams joined the LSU roster after spending her junior season at Iowa State, averaging 15.3 points, 7.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. In 32 games played and started in Ames, Williams earned All-Big 12 First-Team honors for her performance throughout her third collegiate season. Williams was ranked in the top five nationally in both assists (246) and assists per game (7.7). The versatile point guard posted the second-best Iowa State single-season mark for assists (246).
Before making the move to Iowa State, Williams spent her first two seasons at Arizona in Tucson. In her sophomore year, she led the Wildcats in scoring with 12.7 points per game and 13.4 points per game in conference matchups. Williams posted 23 double-figure scoring performances on the season, leading Arizona in scoring in eight games.
Williams was the third-highest scorer among Pac-12 freshmen in her opening season with the Wildcats, averaging 9.5 points per game. She played 1,012 minutes, the third-most by a freshman in Arizona program history and totaled 16 double-figure scoring games, leading the team in scoring five times.
In the Tigers’ first exhibition contest against UNT Dallas, Williams accounted for 12 points, seven assists and three rebounds. LSU returns to action on Thursday, Oct. 29, to face Loyola (N.O.) in the second of two exhibition games before the Tigers welcome Southeastern Louisiana to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on November 2.
Fans are encouraged to participate in fan voting in each of the three rounds starting on Friday, October 30. In February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2027 Nancy Lieberman Award will be narrowed to 10, then to five in March. In late March, the five finalists will be presented to Lieberman and the Hall of Fame’s selection committees, where winners will be selected. The selection committee for the Nancy Lieberman Award is composed of top women’s college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers.
The winner of the 2027 Lieberman Awards will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the four other members of the Men’s and Women’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Jerry West and Ann Meyers Drysdale Awards (Shooting Guard), Julius Erving and Cheryl Miller Awards (Small Forward), Karl Malone and Katrina McClain Awards (Power Forward), and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lisa Leslie Awards (Center).