Jan. 28, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame fifth-year senior guard/tri-captain Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) is one of seven players who have been added to the 2009-10 State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List, it was announced Thursday by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Schrader and her fellow mid-season additions earned their spots on this year’s Wade Watch List by virtue of their on-court performances to date during the ’09-10 campaign, and they expand the player pool for this season’s national player-of-the-year award to 32, as selected by the State Farm Wade Trophy Committee.
Schrader, a preseason all-BIG EAST Conference selection and three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll choice this year, becomes the fifth Notre Dame player named to the Wade Watch List in the past seven seasons, and the first since Charel Allen in 2007-08. Joining Schrader as the newest names on this year’s Wade Watch List are: Dawn Evans (James Madison), Kelsey Griffin (Nebraska), Nnemkadi Ogwumike (Stanford), Shekinna Stricklen (Tennessee), Bianca Thomas (Mississippi) and Jasmine Thomas (Duke).
In addition, Schrader is the third Notre Dame player this season to earn a place on a national player-of-the-year award watch list. Senior guard/tri-captain Ashley Barlow (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) was both a preseason Naismith Trophy candidate and a midseason John R. Wooden Award Top 20 choice, while freshman guard Skylar Diggins (South Bend, Ind./Washington) joined Barlow on this year’s preseason Naismith Trophy candidate slate.
Schrader currently ranks second on the team in scoring (11.6 ppg.) and is tops in rebounding (career-high 7.9 rpg./seventh in the BIG EAST), while also owning a career-best .557 field goal percentage (good for sixth in the league) and five double-doubles (also sixth in the BIG EAST), three of which have come in wins against ranked opponents. For her career, Schrader ranks 16th all-time at Notre Dame with 1,278 points, eighth in rebounds (751) and games started (110), and first for double-doubles by a guard (16), while she maintains an active streak of 67 consecutive starts that is only seven away from moving her into the top five at Notre Dame in that category.
A two-time all-BIG EAST selection, including a first-team honoree in 2008-09, Schrader is in her second season as a team captain for the Fighting Irish. She is finishing up work on her bachelor’s degree in management-consulting from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, having twice earned recognition on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team for her success in the classroom.
The renowned “Wade Watch” list for the State Farm Wade Trophy is comprised of student-athletes who are members of an NCAA Division I institution and are selected based on the following criteria: game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability. The State Farm Wade Watch list will be narrowed down to 12 finalists in mid-March. The State Farm Wade Trophy winner will be officially announced at the WBCA National Convention, held in conjunction with the NCAA Women’s Final Four, in San Antonio, Texas.
The Wade Trophy, named after the late, legendary three-time national champion Delta State University head coach Lily Margaret Wade, debuted in 1978 as the first-ever women’s national player of the year award in college basketball. The Wade Trophy Coalition was established in June of 2000 when the WBCA partnered with The National Association of Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS). For the past 10 years, the two have worked together to present the State Farm Wade Trophy Player of the Year Award. A committee compromised of coaches, administration and media from across the United States selects the winner.
Schrader and the third-ranked Fighting Irish (18-1, 5-1 BIG EAST) will embark on a two-game BIG EAST road trip this weekend, beginning Saturday with a 1 p.m. (ET) matchup against Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. Notre Dame then will head to Piscataway, N.J., on Monday to take on Rutgers in a 7:30 p.m. (ET) contest that will be televised live from the Louis Brown Athletic Center to a national cable audience on ESPN2 as part of its “Big Monday” package.
— ND —