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USC’s Kiki Iriafen Named To Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year Watch List
October 31, 2024 | Women's Basketball
The USC grad student is the defending winner of the award, earning the honor last season at Stanford.
LOS ANGELES — USC grad student Kiki Iriafen sets up her defense of the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year award, selected to the Watch List for the honor that she won last year as a junior at Stanford. Now a Trojan, Iriafen has a spot on the 20-player Katrina McClain Watch List, as announced today (Oct. 31) by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, in partnership with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
Iriafen is the third Trojan to be named to a 2024-25 watch list for the Naismith Starting Five, following Talia von Oelhoffen's selection to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Watch List on Oct. 28 and JuJu Watkins' Oct. 29 pick to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List. There is other positional Watch List — and Lisa Leslie Center of the Year — still to be announced.
An AP Preseason All-American also with a spot on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team, Iriafen also was recently picked to the Naismith Trophy Watch List. A 6-3 forward, Iriafen comes to the USC women's basketball program as a grad transfer out of Stanford, where she averaged 19.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game in the 2023-24 season. A 2024 All-America Honorable Mention recipient last year with the Cardinal, Iriafen continues to raise the bar for herself with this year's set of significant preseason awards.
Iriafen and the Women of Troy enter their 2024-25 campaign as the No. 3 team in the nation, set to open the season next week in Paris. No. 3 USC takes on No. 20 Ole Miss in an Aflac Oui-Play Game on November 4 at Adidas Arena in Paris, France.
The Katrina McClain Award was first presented in 2018, when WBCA and the Naismith Hall, in collaboration with ESPN, incorporated the Nancy Lieberman Award, presented since 2000 to the top NCAA women's point guard, into a new set of awards known as the "Naismith Starting Five".
Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting in each of the three rounds starting on Friday, November 1. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the Katrina McClain Award will be narrowed to 10, and then in late February, to just five. In March, the five finalists will be presented to the Katrina McClain and Hall of Fame's selection committees, where winners will be selected. The Selection Committee for the Katrina McClain Award is composed of top college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers.
The winner of the 2025 Katrina McClain Award will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the four other members of the Men's and Women's Starting Five.
For more information on the 2025 Katrina McClain Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophallu and #McClainAward on X and Instagram.
About Katrina McClain:
Katrina McClain was a prolific rebounder and terrific scorer in a career that spanned three Olympic Games, three continents, and countless driveways, backyards, and arenas all over the world. Before she earned her stripes for USA Basketball, McClain starred at the University of Georgia where she was a two-time Kodak All-America and the WBCA National Player of the Year her senior season. She left Georgia as the school's second all-time leading scorer and rebounder, averaging a double-double her final two seasons in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs reached the 1985 NCAA Final Four and national championship game with McClain controlling the paint and Teresa Edwards running the offense. The two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year finished her international career with two Olympic gold medals and one bronze, three FIBA World Championships medals, and five medals at the Goodwill Games, Pan Am Games, and World University Games. In all Katrina McClain appeared on eleven USA Basketball rosters becoming one of the most decorated athletes in USA Basketball history.
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981, or call 1-770-279-8027.
About the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, and celebrating the game of basketball at every level—men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches, and contributors—both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 450 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits, and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game's elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum, and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophallu, or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.
Iriafen is the third Trojan to be named to a 2024-25 watch list for the Naismith Starting Five, following Talia von Oelhoffen's selection to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Watch List on Oct. 28 and JuJu Watkins' Oct. 29 pick to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List. There is other positional Watch List — and Lisa Leslie Center of the Year — still to be announced.
An AP Preseason All-American also with a spot on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team, Iriafen also was recently picked to the Naismith Trophy Watch List. A 6-3 forward, Iriafen comes to the USC women's basketball program as a grad transfer out of Stanford, where she averaged 19.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game in the 2023-24 season. A 2024 All-America Honorable Mention recipient last year with the Cardinal, Iriafen continues to raise the bar for herself with this year's set of significant preseason awards.
Iriafen and the Women of Troy enter their 2024-25 campaign as the No. 3 team in the nation, set to open the season next week in Paris. No. 3 USC takes on No. 20 Ole Miss in an Aflac Oui-Play Game on November 4 at Adidas Arena in Paris, France.
The Katrina McClain Award was first presented in 2018, when WBCA and the Naismith Hall, in collaboration with ESPN, incorporated the Nancy Lieberman Award, presented since 2000 to the top NCAA women's point guard, into a new set of awards known as the "Naismith Starting Five".
Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting in each of the three rounds starting on Friday, November 1. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the Katrina McClain Award will be narrowed to 10, and then in late February, to just five. In March, the five finalists will be presented to the Katrina McClain and Hall of Fame's selection committees, where winners will be selected. The Selection Committee for the Katrina McClain Award is composed of top college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers.
The winner of the 2025 Katrina McClain Award will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the four other members of the Men's and Women's Starting Five.
For more information on the 2025 Katrina McClain Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophallu and #McClainAward on X and Instagram.
About Katrina McClain:
Katrina McClain was a prolific rebounder and terrific scorer in a career that spanned three Olympic Games, three continents, and countless driveways, backyards, and arenas all over the world. Before she earned her stripes for USA Basketball, McClain starred at the University of Georgia where she was a two-time Kodak All-America and the WBCA National Player of the Year her senior season. She left Georgia as the school's second all-time leading scorer and rebounder, averaging a double-double her final two seasons in Athens. The Lady Bulldogs reached the 1985 NCAA Final Four and national championship game with McClain controlling the paint and Teresa Edwards running the offense. The two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year finished her international career with two Olympic gold medals and one bronze, three FIBA World Championships medals, and five medals at the Goodwill Games, Pan Am Games, and World University Games. In all Katrina McClain appeared on eleven USA Basketball rosters becoming one of the most decorated athletes in USA Basketball history.
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981, or call 1-770-279-8027.
About the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, and celebrating the game of basketball at every level—men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches, and contributors—both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 450 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits, and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game's elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum, and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophallu, or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.
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