Morehead State senior Almesha Jones has been named to the watch list for the 2015 Nancy Lieberman Award, honoring the nation's top Division I women's basketball point guard.
The award, in conjunction with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., is named for Hall of Famer and former WNBA player and coach Lieberman. During a four-year career at Old Dominion, Lieberman became the first two-time winner of the Wade Trophy, honoring the nation's best player.
Past winners include Connecticut's Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins and last year's honoree, Odyssey Sims of Baylor.
A Cincinnati native, Jones leads the nation in total assists (184) and ranks second in assists per game (8.0). She has six double-digit assist efforts and four "point-assist" double-doubles this year. She needs just 10 more assists to set the MSU single-season record. Jones leads the team and ranks third in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring (17.8) and has 11 20-point performances.
"Almesha has been our catalyst this season," first-year Head Coach Greg Todd said. "It is rare to find a player that leads the nation in assists and also leads her team in scoring. In addition to her amazing basketball talent, she is also the leader of our team. She makes all her teammates better on and off the court."
Jones became Morehead State's career assist leader on Jan. 24, surpassing Irene (Moore) Strong's 32-year-old standard of 499. She now has 527 career assists and is ranked 10th in league history. Jones is the first player in program history with at least 1,000 career points, 500 assists and 200 steals.
Jones has 1,318 points in 110 career games. She also has 144 three-pointers and 238 steals, needing just 14 more to set the MSU career steal mark. Jones ranks third in the OVC in free throw percentage this season (.792) and has nailed 76 percent at the free throw line in her career.
