PHILADELPHIA — Hannah Hidalgo is one of four women’s college basketball players to be named a finalist for this year’s Dawn Staley Award, the Phoenix Club of Philadelphia announced on Tuesday. The honor is named after current South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and is given to the nation’s top guard. Should Hidalgo earn the honor, she would join Skylar Diggins-Smith as the only other Irish player to win the award. Diggins-Smith won in 2012 and 2013.
Hidalgo both runs the point for Notre Dame and leads the ACC in scoring (23.3 points per game). She is also pacing the nation with 4.6 steals per contest. Hidalgo is the only player in the nation averaging at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals per game.
In last weekend’s ACC Tournament, Hidalgo averaged 19.3 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals per game. After the Irish won the Tournament on Sunday, the freshman was named MVP.
The other three finalists for this year’s honor are Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, USC’s JuJu Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers. The winner of the award will be announced the weekend of the Final Four, and the award will be given on April 11th in a virtual ceremony.