The Phoenix Club of Philadelphia announced the four finalists for the Dawn Staley Award on Friday. The award recognizes the NCAA Division I women’s basketball player best exemplifying the skills Staley possessed throughout her career: ball handling, scoring, ability to distribute the basketball, and the will to win.
The nominees include some of the biggest stars in the game, with UConn’s Paige Bueckers, USC’s JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, and South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley all receiving nominations.
Meet the Four Finalists for the 2025 Dawn Staley Award
Paige Bueckers
Bueckers needs no introduction. UConn’s fifth-year senior guard has a trophy case full of awards, including the 2021 AP, Naismith College, and USBWA National Player of the Year awards, the 2021 John R. Wooden Award, three Big East tournament Most Outstanding Player Awards, three Big East Player of the Year Awards and two unanimous first-team All-American honors.
This year, Bueckers has led the No. 3 UConn Huskies to a 31-3 record, including an undefeated conference slate and Big East tournament championship. Bueckers leads the team in points and assists, with 19.0 and 4.9 respectively.
JuJu Watkins
JuJu Watkins has quickly risen through the ranks, cementing herself as a top-tier player and an overwhelming favorite to win the Wooden Award. The Big Ten Player of the Year finished the year second in scoring to FSU’s Ta’Niya Latson with 24.6 points per game, leading the No. 4 USC Trojans to a Big Ten regular season title.
Although Watkins’ Trojans lost in the Big Ten Championship game, most bracketologists still project them as the No. 1 seed. At only 20 years old, Watkins is not draft-eligible until 2027 and will continue wreaking havoc across the college basketball landscape until then.
Hannah Hidalgo
Hannah Hidalgo is the reigning Dawn Staley Award winner, and for good reason. The Notre Dame sophomore has quickly established herself as one of the best guards in Division I, earning AP All-American First-Team honors last year and ACC Player of the Year this year.
Hidalgo led the No. 8 Fighting Irish in scoring, helping lead the team to a share of the ACC’s regular season title, before losing in the ACC tournament semifinal against No. 7 Duke.
MiLaysia Fulwiley
MiLaysia Fulwiley is looking to bring the Staley Award home. The 2025 SEC Sixth Player of the Year is second on the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks in scoring, averaging 12.0 points a game.
KEEP READING: JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers Feature on 10 Most Influential Female Athletes List
Fulwiley was crucial to the Gamecocks’ SEC Tournament winning run, scoring 15 points in the quarterfinal against Vanderbilt and 19 in the semifinal against No. 11 Oklahoma.
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