SPRINGFIELD, MA — Iona College women’s basketball senior guard Damika Martinez was one of 31 players named to the Watch List for the 2015 Nancy Lieberman Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced. Martinez was a finalist for the award a season ago.
Now in its fifteenth year, the award recognizes the top point guard in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball. Candidates exhibit the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills of Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman.
Martinez (Meriden, CT), who was also named to the Dawn Staley Award Mid-Season Watch List earlier this week, is averaging 24.2 points per game this season for the Gaels, good for second in the nation. She is shooting 46.5% from the field, 41.9% from behind the arc, and is averaging 2.6 three-point field goals per game.
Martinez, the nation’s active leading scorer, has scored 2,399 points over her standout four seasons with the Gaels, and sits just 69 points away from breaking the MAAC scoring record (Patty Stoffey, Loyola, 2,467). She currently sits 84th all-time on the Division I scoring ledger, and already holds the MAAC record for three-pointers, set on Dec. 29 at ETSU.
Martinez is the nation’s active leader in field goals with 873, and also ranks in the top ten among active players in career scoring average (20.5 ppg), three-point field goals (293) and three-point field goal percentage (40.7%).
Martinez averaged 24.9 points per game for the Gaels a season ago, eighth overall in the country. Martinez’s efforts earned her the MAAC Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season, along with AP All-American Honorable Mention and All-Met Player of the Year recognitions. She was also named to the All-MAAC and All-Met First Teams and All-ECAC Second Team.