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LEXINGTON, Kentucky — University of Kentucky women’s basketball senior guard Rhyne Howard added two more impressive honors to her long list of accomplishments this season when she was named one of four finalists for the 2022 Honda Sport Award and a Senior CLASS Award All – was appointed. American.
Presented annually for the past 46 years by the CWSA to the top female athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, the Honda Sport Award means “the best of the best in collegiate athletics.” The sports award winner will be a finalist for Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2022 Honda Cup, which will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
The women’s basketball finalists were selected by a panel of coaches and experts from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The winner of the Honda Sport Award for women’s basketball will be announced later this week after administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools vote. Each NCAA member institution has one vote.
The Senior CLASS Award, an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, focuses on the overall student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To qualify for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as a senior or graduate student in NCAA Division I and demonstrate notable achievement in four areas of excellence: classroom, community, character and competition. Howard was one of five players selected to the association’s first team.
Now this season, Howard has been recognized with first-team All-America honors from the WBCA, The Associated Press, the Wooden Award and the United States Basketball Writers Association. Howard joined Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson, Baylor’s Brittney Griner, Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw, Duke’s Alana Beard, Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris, and UConn’s Breanna Stewart and Maya Moore as the only three-time ` All-America -Prize winners of the first team. Howard was named an ` and USBWA First-Team All-America in 2020 and 2021 after historic seasons for the Wildcats. She is the second Kentucky basketball player to ever receive three first-team awards from the same organization and the only British player to receive three first-team awards from multiple organizations.
This honor joins a long list of honors for Howard, who has established herself as one of the finest players in women’s basketball. Howard was a finalist for the 2022 WBCA Wade Trophy, the 2022 Cheryl Miller Award, one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy Women’s National Player of the Year, national voting for the Wooden Award, and finalist for the Dawn Staley Award. The Cheryl Miller Awards recognize the nation’s top small forward and this is the third year Howard has been a finalist. The Naismith Trophy and the Wooden Award both strive to recognize the best player in women’s college basketball. Howard was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy and was a Wooden All-American for the past two seasons. This is also the third year in a row that she is a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award, presented annually to the most outstanding guard in women’s college basketball.
As the most versatile player in the country, Howard entered the NCAA tournament as the only player in the nation with 600+ points, 200+ rebounds, 100+ assists, 70+ steals, and 35+ blocks.
It was a fairytale end to her British career for Howard, who played at an even more elite level than before during Kentucky’s historic 10-game winning streak. Most recently, Howard shone on the national stage at the Southeastern Conference Tournament, helping Kentucky win its first tournament title in 40 years. The guard was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, becoming the second player in program history to receive the honor. Howard scored 88 points in the UK’s four games in the event, marking the third-most all-time by a player in the tournament.
The Wildcats won the championship with a huge upset win over No. 1 South Carolina. Howard was amazing in the game, scoring 18 points with four rebounds, two assists and two blocks. In the semifinals, Howard had 24 points with seven assists, nine rebounds and two 3s against the No. 15 Tennessee. Howard led Kentucky to a surprise win over LSU No. 6 in the quarterfinals, scoring 32 points with six 3-pointers. The guard had 14 points against Mississippi State in the second round of the event.
In the final week of the regular season, Kentucky celebrated Rhyne Howard Day against Auburn as the guard played their final game at the Memorial Coliseum and walked out in style. Howard scored 32 points in the game, which is the most points ever scored by a Kentucky senior on Senior Day. Howard hit eight 3s in the game, which was a new school record for 3s in a game. She had six 3s in the first half, which was a new school record for 3s in two halves. The eight brands from afar gave Howard 272 career 3s, making her the school’s career record holder for 3s. Her 32 points was a season high and the performance earned her the second-most 30-point games in school history at nine.
She started the final week of the regular season with 19 points and a season-best 12 rebounds at Mizzou, adding four assists and four steals against MU as the Wildcats notched back-to-back road wins in the SEC with 15-plus points for the first times since 2016. The double-double against Missouri was her team-leading 10th of the season and helped her earn SEC Player of the Week honors.
The week before, Howard was named the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week after several incredible performances. Howard has been brilliant in all three of Kentucky’s games this week, starting with 16 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two 3s against Mississippi State. She helped Kentucky bounce back from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to post the 11th-biggest comeback in program history. Against Vanderbilt, Howard had 17 points with four rebounds, three assists and three 3s. Her best game came in Arkansas, where she had 29 points with five 3s and added 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks. She went 9 of 16 from the field and 5 of 10 of 3. Two of the three games were double-doubles for Howard.
Her performances over the past few weeks propelled Howard to 17th all-time on the SEC’s career scoring list. Howard finished the season leading Kentucky averaging 20.5 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game with 102 assists, 71 steals, 39 blocks and a team-best 70 3-pointers. Howard ranked high nationally in several categories, including 15th in points per game and 15th in total points. Howard ranked first in the Southeastern Conference in points per game and endpoints.
One of their best games this season came against Georgia in the top-15, scoring 30 points in the game, including 22 in the second half. She scored 17 points in the fourth quarter. In addition to Britain’s last 10 points in the game, she scored 13 of Britain’s last 17 points overall. She also shone against West Virginia as she scored 27 points and hit 5 of 7 from long range with six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Against Winthrop, Howard joined an exclusive club by becoming the third player in British history to score a triple-double in a game. She had 22 points against the Eagles with 10 rebounds and 10 assists and added five steals.
Howard’s career is one of the best in program history. In 114 career games, Howard hit at least a 3 in 99 games, scored 10 or more points in 102 career games, 15+ in 85 games, 20+ in 61 games, 25+ in 33 games, and 30+ in 10 games. The guard led Britain in 73 career games in goals, 60 career games in rebounds, 40 career games in assists, 50 games in steals and 45 career games in blocks. She had 27 career double-doubles and one triple-double. That season, Howard hit a 3 in 26 games, three-plus-3s in 10 games, five-plus-3s in five games, hit 10+ in 28 games, 15+ in 26 games, 20+ in 17 games, 25+ in seven games, and three 30-point game. She led Great Britain with 19 goals, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, 19 steals, 14 blocks and 10 season doubles.
For her career, Howard scored 2,290 career points and ranked second in points scored in British history. Against Vanderbilt, Howard scored her 2,000 career points, becoming the third wildcat in school history — for both men and women — to score 2,000 or more points in 100 games or fewer. She joined Hall of Famers Dan Issel and Valerie Still in that category. Howard ranks second in school history in career scoring average of 20.1 while she is second in field goals scored with 790, first in career 3 with 284, and fourth in career 3-pointer Field goal percentage at 38.2. It also ranks fourth in UK history with 2,298 steals per game.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
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