Stewie Named Top Female Basketball Player for Third Time

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—After helping the USA Basketball Women’s World Cup Team to a gold medal and a perfect 6-0 record, former UConn superstar Breanna Stewart today was named the 2018 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. This is the third time Stewart, who currently stars for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, has won the award. Stewie was named USA Basketball’s top female athlete in 2011 and 2013.

“It’s really an honor,” said Stewart, who led the Huskies to four straight national championships from 2013-16, earning Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament each year. “Each time that I’ve won has had its own special meaning, its own special place. "This one is special, because I was in a different position than I was with the other ones. I was playing with a lot of younger players and had to perform really well and be at my best at the World Cup.

“It wasn’t a team that had a lot of time together,” continued Stewart, a three-time consensus NCAA women’s basketball player of the year. “And we didn’t have a lot of time to work with coach [Dawn] Staley in putting the pieces together.”

At the 2018 FIBA World Cup from Sept. 22-30 in Tenerife, Spain, Stewart started in all six games for the USA and averaged a team-leading 16.3 points per game to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She shot 58.0 percent from the field and was named FIBA World Cup MVP and to the all-tournament team. 

“Breanna has been an important part of our USA Basketball family for many years, and it was impressive this past September to watch her perform with such success at the World Cup,” said USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley. “We are very grateful for her loyalty and dedication, and we are proud to celebrate the tremendous year she had in 2018.”

USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year Award Winners
2018	Breanna Stewart	1998	Lisa Leslie
2017	Janelle Bailey	1997	Chamique Holdsclaw
2016	Diana Taurasi	1996	Teresa Edwards
2015	A’ja Wilson	1995	Sylvia Crawley
2014	Maya Moore	1994	Dawn Staley
2013	Breanna Stewart	1993	Lisa Leslie
2012	Diana Taurasi	1992	Katrina McClain
2011	Breanna Stewart	1991	Ruthie Bolton
2010	Diana Taurasi	1990	Teresa Edwards
2009	Tina Charles	1989	Venus Lacy
2008	Katie Smith	1988	Katrina McClain
2007	Candice Wiggins	1987	Teresa Edwards
2006	Diana Taurasi	1986	Cheryl Miller
2005	Crystal Langhorne	1985	Jennifer Gillom
2004	Dawn Staley	1984	Cheryl Miller
2003	Seimone Augustus	1983	Lynette Woodard
2002	Lisa Leslie	1982	Cindy Noble & LaTaunya Pollard
2001	Ayana Walker	1981	Denise Curry
2000	Teresa Edwards	1980	Carol Blazejowski
1999	Natalie Williams	* Indicates UConn Player

USA Basketball has presented its Female Athlete of the Year award annually since 1980.

“Stewie played each and every game with all her heart,” said USA head coach   Dawn Staley (South Carolina), who was named the 2018 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year, and earned USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year recognition herself in 1994 and in 2004. “She probably played more minutes than I should have given her, but she was that good. It was hard to keep her off the floor. What’s always telling about a player like Stewie is although she’s tired, she never asks to come out of a game. She always plays through things. She’s impactful on the floor. She is always sacrificing for the sake of the team. Even when she’s dog tired, she’s fighting through it.”

Among the 16-team field, Stewart ranked sixth in scoring and field goal percentage, eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.471) and 14th in rebounding.

She scored in double digits in all six of the USA’s games, including a team-high 23 points in the USA’s victory over China, 19 points against Nigeria in the quarterfinals, 20 points in the semifinals against Belgium and 10 points against Australia in the gold medal game.
Stewart joined the USA World Cup Team just two days prior to the start of the World Cup after helping lead the Seattle Storm to the 2018 WNBA Championship, where she earned WNBA Finals MVP honors. Stewart also was named the 2018 WNBA MVP after she led the Storm to a league-best 26-8 record.

Stewie is hardly the only Huskie to be named USA Basketball’s Female Player of the Year. Maya Moore earned the title in 2014, and Tina Charles was tagged with the award in 2009. In addition, Diana Taurasi also earned USA Basketball Female Player of the Year recognition three times (2006, 2010 and 2012).

—Staff Reports