BATON ROUGE – Aneesah Morrow was one of 20 players on Thursday’s preseason watchlist for the Katrina McClain Award which goes annually to the nation’s top power forward.
Aalayah Del Rosario and Sa’Myah Smith join Flau’Jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow and Mikaylah Williams to be on the preseason watch list for one of the Hoop Hall’s position specific awards that were all released throughout the week.
Del Rosario returns for her sophomore season after earning SEC All-Freshman honors last year. She was a key component coming off the bench for the Tigers who reached the elite eight, playing in all 37 games. Throughout the season the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native continually improved while she gained confidence. She averaged 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds, scoring in double figures four times and grabbing double digit rebounds twice.
Smith returns healthy for her redshirt sophomore season after a knee injury cut her year short last season. Prior to the injury which happened at the Cayman Island Classic, Smith looked poised to have a breakout season. She was averaging 11.7 points and 7.6 rebounds with 11 blocked shots. Playing in just seven games, Smith had also scored 21 points twice and grabbed 11 rebounds twice.
During her freshman season, Smith was a critical piece on LSU’s national championship team. A member of the 2023 SEC All-Freshman team, she played a role coming off the bench with 4.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, totaling 38 blocked shots. In the championship game against Iowa, Smith scored two points and had two rebounds, but her lone block of the game helped swing the first half momentum in favor of LSU to help the Tigers capture their first championship.
This list will be narrowed down to 10 in late January, with plans to announce our Final 5 in late March. The winner of this award, as well as presentation details, will be announced towards the end of the season.
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