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Wooden Award trims list to 15

Women's College Basketball, Connecticut Huskies, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Washington Huskies, Ohio State Buckeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, South Carolina Gamecocks, South Florida Bulls, Maryland Terrapins, Oregon Ducks, Baylor Bears, Michigan State Spartans

Breanna Stewart, who has helped UConn to a 66-game winning streak and three consecutive national championships, is one of six seniors on the Wooden Award top 15 list of finalists, which was released Friday.

Stewart, who won the award last year, is averaging 19.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game this season. She is one of three Huskies on the list. Senior Moriah Jefferson (13.1 PPG, 5.4 APG) and junior Morgan Tuck (12.3 PPG) also made the top 15.

Minnesota senior Rachel Banham, who ranks second in the country in scoring at 27.6 points per game, also was included, as was Washington's Kelsey Plum, third in the nation with 26.5 PPG. Plum is one of six juniors on the list.

Friday's finalists also includes three sophomores: Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell, Notre Dame's Brianna Turner and South Carolina's A'ja Wilson, who was the SEC Player of the Year.

The Big Ten leads all conferences with five representatives. Senior Courtney Williams of South Florida joined the UConn trio to give the American Athletic Conference four representatives.

South Carolina and Maryland were the only other schools with multiple players on the list. Senior Tiffany Mitchell also made the cut for the Gamecocks, while juniors Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough represented the Terps.

The national award winner and a five-player All-America team will be named after the 2016 Final Four in Indianapolis in April.

Stewart could become the fifth player to win the award multiple times. LSU's Seimone Augustus (2005, '06), Tennessee's Candace Parker (2007, '08), UConn's Maya Moore (2009, '11) and Baylor's Brittney Griner (2012, '13) were two-time winners.

Duke's Alana Beard won the inaugural award in 2004.

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