2021 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Candidates

Kiara Lewis Syracuse
Lewis had a breakout season for the Orange last year, stepping in at point guard while Tiana Mangakahia recovered from breast cancer. She averaged 17.6 points per game en route to All-ACC honors.

Charisma Osborne UCLA
Osborne enters her second season with the Bruins coming off a debut campaign that saw her earn Pac-12 All-Freshman accolades. She was third on the team with 12.2 points per game and set a new UCLA freshman record with 59 made three-pointers last season. She was the Bruins' second-leading rebounder (5.8 rpg) and ranked fourth in the Pac-12 with 89 offensive boards. Osborne notched 18 double-digit scoring performances in 2019-20, including a career-high 32 points at Washington State (Feb. 21). She added 11 rebounds in the team's win over WSU, becoming just the sixth Bruin to record a 30-10 game since 1999.

Destiny Pitts Texas A&M
Pitts, a transfer from Minnesota, was named to the All-Big Ten First Team during her sophomore campaign. She averaged 16.3 points per game, starting 32 games and raining in 81 three-pointers on the year. Her full set of skills were on display against Boston College (Dec. 8, 2019), where she poured in a career-high 35 points, shooting 6-of-8 from behind the arc and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.

Kiana Williams Stanford
Williams was named WBCA All-America Honorable Mention last season. She averaged 15 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.8 apg, and shot 34.7 from long range. 

Zia Cooke South Carolina
Cooke was named to the Southeastern Conference all-freshman team last season after averaging 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 steals. In SEC games, Cooke led the team with a 14.0 scoring average.

Arella Guirantes Rutgers
Guirantes led the Big Ten and ranked ninth in the nation with 20.6 points per game last season during a campaign that was lauded with All-America Honorable Mention accolades by the Associated Press, the WBCA and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. She was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team, just the third from Rutgers since joining the conference in 2014-15 and first to be selected unanimously.

Taylor Mikesell Oregon
Mikesell averaged 12.3 points and shot 41.8% from behind the arc for the Terrapins. She was the Big Ten freshman of the year in 2018-19 after averaging 13.4 points per game, and followed that up with 11.2 points per game last season as a sophomore.

Taylor Robertson Oklahoma
obertson averaged 19.1 points per game and knocked down an OU and Big 12 record 131 three pointers. Only in her second season, the OU shooting guard found herself in an elite group, joining former Sooner greats Courtney Paris and Aaryn Ellberg on OU’s all-time scoring list.

Lindsey Pulliam Northwestern
Pulliam was named to the first team all-conference last year.

Jakia Brown-Turner NC State
Played in all 32 games and made the start in 31 outings, the most starts by a freshman in the Wes Moore era. The Oxon Hill, Md., averaged 9.4 points per game during the 2019-20 campaign and compiled a scoring average of 10.1 points per game in league action, during which she hit double figures in 11 of 18 ACC games.
Ashley Owusu Maryland

Dana Evans Louisville
She was a first-team All-ACC selection last season and a semifinalist for the Citizen Naismith Trophy, given to the nation’s most outstanding player. After earning the league’s Sixth Player of the Year honor two seasons ago, Evans increased her scoring average from 10.4 points per game as a sophomore to 18 points per game as a junior.

Nicole Cardano-Hillary Indiana
Cardaño-Hillary played her first three seasons at George Mason before transferring to Indiana in the 2020 offseason. She became Mason’s all-time leading scorer in 2019-20, scoring 1,766 career points. She started in all 30 games and scored in double figures 27 times and had 11 20+ point games. An Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team selection, Cardaño-Hillary averaged 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Previously, Cardaño-Hillary was the A-10 Player of the Year (2018-19) and the A-10 Rookie of the Year (2017-18) at George Mason.

Jill Townsend Gonzaga
Last season, Townsend averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, shooting 41.1 percent from long range in the process.

Sonya Morris DePaul
Morris was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection last season after helping lead the Blue Demons to a three-peat BIG EAST tournament title along with a conference regular-season crown. The 5-foot, 10-inch junior from St. Louis averaged 15.6 points a game in helping the Blue Demons average 85 points over a 40-minute span---second highest in the nation.

Christyn Williams UConn
Williams, one of UConn’s three upperclassmen this season and the Big East preseason player of the year, is coming off a bit of an up-and-down sophomore campaign. She averaged 14.6 points per game but struggled with consistency and confidence before finishing the season named to the AAC First Team and All-Tournament Team.

Aari McDonald Arizona
McDonald led the Pac-12 in scoring for the second straight season with 20.6 points per game. It was also her second straight season of leading the conference in steals (2.6) as she garnered the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award.

In just two seasons on the court as a Wildcat, McDonald has jumped to sixth on the all-time scoring list. She has the single highest-scoring game (44 points vs Texas in 2019-20) and season (890 in 2018-19) in program history.

Chelsea Dungee Arkansas
Dungee is coming off a great encore performance during her second season at Arkansas, one in which she led the team in scoring (16.9 PPG), field goals made (171) and free throws made (146). For her efforts last season, Dungee garnered her second straight Second-Team All-SEC nod.

DiJonai Carrington Baylor
Carrington played just five games for the Cardinal this past season because of a reported knee injury. That followed a breakout junior season in 2018-19 in which she averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds to earn all-Pac-12 honors for a team that reached the Elite Eight. In addition to rebounding well for her size, she ranked fifth in the Pac-12 in free throw attempts and was among Stanford's 3-point leaders as a junior.