Kiki Rice Named Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch Checklist

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior Kiki Rice has been chosen to the 20-person watch record for the 2025-26 Nancy Lieberman Award, which honors the nation’s greatest collegiate level guard.

Rice, the 5-foot-11 level guard from Bethesda, Md., heads into her fourth season with the Bruins. UCLA’s second main scorer in 2024-25 with 12.8 factors per recreation, she shot career-bests from the ground (.485 FG%) and from lengthy vary (.365 3FG%). Rice was the workforce and convention chief in assists (170) and surpassed 100 assists for the third-consecutive season. She was named First Team All-Big Ten, and UCLA Women’s Basketball’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree. Also tabbed as All-America Honorable Mention honors (Associated Press and WBCA), Rice was a finalist for the 2025 Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award. She was named the NCAA Women’s Basketball Elite 90 Award winner and a Arthur Ashe Jr. Award Sports Scholar.

Fans are inspired to take part in Fan Voting in every of the three rounds beginning on Friday, October 31. In late January, the watch record of 20 gamers for the 2026 Bob Cousy and Nancy Lieberman Awards will likely be narrowed to 10, after which in late February, to only 5. In March, the 5 finalists will likely be offered to Cousy, Lieberman, and the Hall of Fame’s choice committees, the place winners will likely be chosen. The Selection Committees for the Bob Cousy and Nancy Lieberman Awards are composed of prime males’s and ladies’s faculty basketball personnel, together with media members, head coaches, sports activities data administrators, and Hall of Famers.

The winners of the 2026 Cousy and Lieberman Awards will likely be offered on a to-be-determined date, together with the 4 different members of the Men’s and Women’s Starting Five. Additional awards being offered embody the Jerry West and Ann Meyers Drysdale Awards (Shooting Guard), Julius Erving and Cheryl Miller Awards (Small Forward), Karl Malone and Katrina McClain Awards (Power Forward), and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lisa Leslie Awards (Center).

Previous winners of the Nancy Lieberman Award embody Caitlin Clark, Iowa (2022-24), Paige Bueckers, UConn (2021 and ’25), Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon (2018-20), Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame (2012-13), Diana Taurasi, Connecticut (2003-04), and Sue Bird, Connecticut (2000-02).

For extra data on the 2026 Bob Cousy and Nancy Lieberman Awards and the most recent updates, go to hoophallawards.com and observe @hoophallu, #CousyAward, and #LiebermanAward on X and Instagram.

2025-26 Nancy Lieberman Award Candidates
Rachael Rose – Clemson
Taina Mair – Duke
Janelle Brown – Fairfield
Jada Williams – Iowa State
S’Mya Nichols – Kansas
Tonie Morgan – Kentucky
MiLaysia Fulwiley – LSU
Zoe Brooks – NC State
Britt Prince – Nebraska
Reniya Kelly – North Carolina
Hannah Hidalgo – Notre Dame
Aaliyah Chavez – Oklahoma
Raven Johnson – South Carolina
Olivia Miles – TCU
Talaysia Cooper – Tennessee
Rori Harmon – Texas

Ny’Ceara Pryor – Texas A&M
Kiki Rice – UCLA
Kymora Johnson – Virginia
Jordan Harrison – West Virginia