LOS ANGELES -- Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford has won the John R. Wooden Award as college basketball's female player of the year.
Ogwumike received the award from Wooden's grandson, Craig Impelman, on Friday night at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Her coach, Tara VanDerveer, and her sister, Nneka Ogwumike of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, were on hand. Nneka was a two-time finalist for the Wooden Award.
Chiney Ogwumike led the Cardinal to the Final Four, where they lost in the national semifinals. She was a two-time Pac-12 player of the year and three-time league defensive player of the year. As a senior, Ogwumike averaged 26.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game this season. She ended her career as the league's career scoring leader with 2,722 points.
Ogwumike carries a 3.6 grade-point average in international relations, a component of the award that was important to Wooden.
She had accompanied her sister to the Wooden Award gala in previous years only to see Nneka go home empty-handed.
"I guess three time's a charm," Chiney said.
While accepting the Legends of Coaching award earlier in the evening, VanDerveer inadvertently blurted out that Chiney Ogwumike was the women's Wooden winner. VanDerveer stopped herself midway through, but the news was already out of the bag.
Ogwumike received 774 points in nationwide voting that took place March 12-25, including the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Odyssey Sims of Baylor finished second with 761.
Breanna Stewart of national champion Connecticut was third at 732. Kayla McBride of Notre Dame finished fourth at 562, and Alyssa Thomas of Maryland was fifth at 509.
"I'm so humbled," Ogwumike said. "The girls on the video are equally as deserving. I'm just in awe."