Texas A&M junior center Ciera Johnson earned a spot on the Lisa Leslie Award Watch List, becoming the fourth Aggie to earn a spot on a positional award list this week, the A&M athletic department announced on Friday.
A&M is the only SEC school to have more than two players named to watch lists, and is one of six schools in the nation to have at least four.
In her sophomore season, Johnson averaged 8.4 rebounds per game, ranking sixth in the SEC. She was also 12th in the conference in blocks with 35 and 27th with an average 12.0 points per game.
She increased her point and rebound averages to 13.2 and 9.6 during the SEC and NCAA Tournaments in the spring.
In the postseason, Johnson had three double-doubles, taking her season total to 12, which puts her at seventh in program history. She also scored over 10 points in 27 games last season, shooting 52.9 percent from the field.
The award is named after Lisa Leslie, who is currently a studio analyst for the Orlando Magic on Fox Sports Florida. Leslie was a center for the University of Southern California from 1990-94, where she earned All-PAC-10 recognition all four years and was an All-American three times.
Leslie went on to play in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks and was the first WNBA player to score over 3,000 career points.
Five finalists for the award will be presented to Leslie and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee in March.