Her Hoop Stats announced their semifinalists for the 2024 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award on Wednesday, and it includes Arkansas State women’s basketball guard Izzy Higginbottom.
The Junior from Batesville, Ark. has made a significant impact for the Red Wolves this season, guiding the team to a 13-10 (6-6 SBC) record and putting her name into the team record books. In addition, some of her season totals rank among the best in the nation.
The preseason All-Sun Belt First Team selection averages 23.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists through 23 games. Higginbottom has scored 30-plus points seven times this season and ranks sixth in the nation in points per game.
Other notable national ranks include free throws made (1st), free throw attempts (2nd), minutes per game (6th), free throw percentage (6th), points (7th), field goals (27th), and field goal percentage (105th). Higginbottom reached 1,000 career points against Texas State on Jan. 20 and scored her 1,000th point as a Red Wolf on Feb. 10 at Akron.
This year’s list of semifinalists includes representatives from 10 teams and nine conferences. The Mountain West was the only conference to have two players on the list, making Higginbottom the lone representative of the Sun Belt.
The five finalists will be announced in early March and the winner will be announced around the Final Four. The list is fluid and players may play their way on or off the list over the course of the season.
Hammon was a three-time All-American during her career at Colorado State and led the Rams to the Sweet 16 in 1999, the program’s only appearance to date. She was signed by the New York Liberty in 1999 and traded to the San Antonio Stars in 2007, where she played the rest of her career.
Hammon retired in 2014 as a six-time All-Star and a two-time All-WNBA First Team honoree. In 2016 she was named one of the top 20 players in WNBA history and was recently named to the W25.
Hammon became the second female coach in NBA history when she began coaching for the San Antonio Spurs in 2014. Additionally, Hammon is the only woman to be a head coach in the NBA Summer League as well as the only woman to be a member of an NBA All-Star coaching staff.
Currently, Hammon is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces and won the 2022 and 2023 WNBA Championships.
Her Hoop Stats was founded in 2017 to unlock better insight about women’s basketball at all levels. It began as a statistics site focused on providing consistent, reliable, and easy-to-access data about women’s basketball for both mobile and desktop environments.
Her Hoop Stats has expanded to become a leading independent voice in the women’s game providing content through its newsletter, podcast network, YouTube channel, and social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).
Arkansas State is entering the backend of a four-game road trip with a matchup against Southern Miss on Feb. 15 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
