March 23, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky women’s basketball junior guard A’dia Mathies has been named one of 12 finalists for The State Farm Wade Trophy, as announced by The State Farm Wade Trophy Committee, along with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport. The award is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding NCAA Division I women’s basketball player.
Mathies, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, is leading the Wildcats to one of their most successful seasons in school history. UK won its first SEC regular season championship since 1982 with a school-record 13-3 mark in league play. The Wildcats are 27-6 overall and have now won 25-plus games for three consecutive seasons for the first time ever. Kentucky is also playing in its second Sweet 16 in the last three years.
Mathies, a 5-foot-9 guard, leads the Wildcats in scoring (15.2 points per game), 3-point field goal percentage (.372) and steals (2.6 steals per game). The Louisville, Ky., native is second on the team in rebounds (5.2 rebounds per game), 3-point field goals made (48), and assists (2.6 assists per game).
Amongst her SEC peers, Mathies is second in the league in scoring, fourth in steals, third in 3-point field goal percentage, tied for eighth in 3-point field goals made and 13th in offensive rebounds. Mathies has reached double figures in scoring in every game but seven this season, and has 11 games of 20 or more points. Her best game of the season came against Tennessee as she poured in a career-high 34 points and hit the game-winning basket with less than five seconds left to snap Tennessee’s 36-game SEC winning streak. Mathies’ 34 points were the most points scored by a Wildcat since 1987.
In addition to being named the SEC Player of the Year by the coaches and The Associated Press, Mathies also was named to the All-SEC first team (coaches and AP), the All-SEC Defensive Team and the SEC All-Tournament team. Mathies is also on the watch lists for the Naismith Award, the John R. Wooden Award and the USBWA Player of the Year Award.
The candidates for The State Farm Wade Trophy were selected by a vote of committee members composed of leading basketball coaches, journalists and administrators. The committee will select the winner from the 10-member NCAA Division I State Farm Coaches’ All-America Team. The winner will be announced during the WBCA Awards Show, which will be held at 7 p.m. ET Monday, April 2, in Denver. The event is part of the WBCA National Convention and is held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women’s Final Four.
The State Farm Wade Trophy, now in its 35th year, is named after the late, legendary three-time national champion Delta State University coach, Lily Margaret Wade. This most prestigious award, regarded as “The Heisman of Women’s Basketball,” debuted in 1978 as the first-ever women’s national player of the year award in college basketball.
Last year’s State Farm Wade Trophy winner was Connecticut’s Maya Moore, who was the first student-athlete to win the award for three consecutive years (2009, 2010, 2011).
UK Hoops will play Gonzaga Sunday at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament in Kingston, R.I. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke and Holly Rowe calling the action.
