Destinee Wells Named to 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Belmont University women's basketball's very own Destinee Wells has been selected as one of 20 watch-list candidates for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Monday. In its 24th year, the national award recognizes the top point guard in NCAA Division I women's basketball.
 
To be considered for the prestigious award, candidates must exhibit the floor leadership, playmaking and ball-handling skills of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1996 member Nancy Lieberman.
 
"The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is honored to celebrate both men and women at all levels of the game," said President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame John L. Doleva. "The players being recognized today on the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List have worked extremely hard to master their skills and have become outstanding examples of why the future is so bright for our game. We look forward to evaluating this year's top point guards with Nancy Lieberman, a Hall of Famer who helped pave the way for today's female athletes."
 
A junior, Wells has been nothing shy of extraordinary in her first two seasons as the Bruins' floor general. The only freshman in the nation to average at least 17.5 points, 4.5 assists and 2.4 steals in 2020-21, Wells has scored in double figures in 43 of her last 45 games and 51 of 56 career games. Starting in all but one game she has donned the Belmont jersey, Wells enters the 2022-23 campaign needing only 36 points to become the Bruins' 33rd 1,000-point scorer. In addition to her scoring ability, Wells has compiled 255 assists, 188 rebounds and 91 steals in her first two years.
 
Over the last two NCAA Tournaments against some of the biggest names in the game, the Lakeland, Tennessee (Houston HS), native has averaged 19.8 points and five assists with 20-point outings versus Tennessee and Gonzaga. Named Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Year following the 2021-22 season, Wells claimed back-to-back spots on the All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team and was tabbed All-American honorable mention by World Exposure Report after her sophomore season. Wells became only the second player in Ohio Valley Conference history selected as OVC Tournament MVP as both a freshman and sophomore upon leading Belmont to its sixth OVC Tournament title in seven years.
 
Reaching double figures in all but two games in 2021-22 (29), seven of Wells' 11 20-point performances took place during the most important months of the season – February and March. She ranked among the top 65 players in the nation in both total assists (140) and assists per game (4.5) while finishing her sophomore season with 519 points and 112 rebounds. Wells is a career 81.4 percent (197-of-242) free-throw shooter.
 
Fans are encouraged to participate in fan voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the three rounds for the Nancy Lieberman Award starting Friday, Oct. 21. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award will be narrowed to 10 and then in late February to just five. In March, the five finalists will be presented to Lieberman and the Hall of Fame's selection committee where a winner will be selected.
 
The 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award winner will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Women's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (Shooting Guard), Cheryl Miller Award (Small Forward), Katrina McClain Award (Power Forward) and the Lisa Leslie Award (Center), in addition to the Men's Starting Five.
 
Previous winners of the Nancy Lieberman Award include: Caitlin Clark, Iowa (2022), Paige Bueckers, UConn (2021), Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon (2018-20), Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame (2012-13), Diana Taurasi, Connecticut (2003-04) and Sue Bird, Connecticut (2000-02).
 
For more information on the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award and the latest updates, visit HoopHallAwards.com and follow @hoophall and #LiebermanAward on Twitter and Instagram.
 
About Nancy Lieberman
Playing hoops on the rough-and-tumble Harlem courts, Brooklyn-bred Nancy Lieberman learned to play a physical, aggressive style of basketball unlike other women of her time. As a 5-foot-10 point guard, Lieberman was taller than many of the guards of her era, and her ability to drive to the hoop, dish out assists, and grab hard-fought rebounds served her well during her stellar career. She compiled over 2,400 points, 1,100 rebounds and 961 assists as she led the Old Dominion to a 125-15 record, a WNIT title and back to back national championships in 1979 and 1980 (102-6 her last three years). Follow Nancy Lieberman on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @Nancylieberman and visit NancyLiebermanCharities.org for more information.
 
About the WBCA
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information visit WBCA.org and follow @wbca1981 on social media.
 
About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game's elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit HoopHall.com and follow @hoophall on social media.

2023 Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award Candidates*

Destinee Wells	Belmont	Deja Kelly	North Carolina
Jenna Annecchiarico	College of Charleston	Olivia Miles	Notre Dame
McKenna Hofschild	Colorado State	Te-Hina Paopao	Oregon
Caitlin Clark	Iowa	Lauren Park-Lane	Seton Hall
Emily Ryan	Iowa State	Dyaisha Fair	Syracuse
Chrislyn Carr	Louisville	Jasmine Powell	Tennessee
Alexis Morris	LSU	Rori Harmon	Texas
Haley Cavinder	Miami	Gina Conti	UCLA
Myah Taylor	Mississippi	Makenna Marisa	Penn State
Anastasia Hayes	Mississippi St	Jenna Clark	Yale

*Players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2022-23 season
 
Follow Belmont women's basketball on social media - @BelmontWBB on Twitter, @belmontwbb on Instagram and Belmont Women's Basketball on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.