HOPEWELL, N.J. (, 2020) — Her Hoop Stats announced the 15 student-athletes that have been named to the mid-season watch list for the 2021 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Wednesday morning.
The Mid-American Conference featured five Student-Athletes on the list including Buffalo Sophomore Dyaisha Fair, Central Michigan Senior Micaela Kelly, Bowling Green's Lexi Fleming, as well as Ohio Senior CeCe Hooks and R-Junior Erica Johnson.
To be eligible for this award, players must compete in one of the 26 conferences deemed to be “mid-major.” The following conferences are considered high-major for the purposes of this award, and thus ineligible: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC. The 10 semifinalists will be announced in February, with five finalists being announced in early March. The winner will be announced in late March. The list is fluid and players may play their way on or off the list over the course of
the season.
Fleming, a native of Cincinnati, is the lone freshman to make the watch list. She is one of five Mid-American Conference student-athletes chosen to the list, which includes representation from 14 teams and 10 conferences.Fleming currently leads the Falcons in scoring, with 19.5 points per game, and also has 4.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3.0 steals per contest. She has started all eight games in her inaugural season as a Falcon, and has scored in double figures in all eight games. Fleming is shooting nearly 50 percent from the field (53 of 107; .495) and over 40% from three-point range (17 of 42; .405), and she has gotten to the free-throw line 44 times, making 75% of her shots from the stripe.
Micaela Kelly, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, is ranks third in the Mid-American Conference and 13
th nationally in scoring at 23.7 points per game. She leads the Chippewas in steals and ranks second on the team in rebounds and assists.
Dyashia Fair is currently ranked 22nd in the nation in scoring (22.4 ppg) while also averaging 6.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game. She also ranks in the top 20 nationally in assists (46), assists per game (5.8), free throws made (45) and attempted (58) and final points (156).
Hooks won the MAC Defensive Player of the Year last season for the second-straight season and was also named to the All-MAC first team and MAC All-Defensive team. Hooks became the career record holder for steals with 316, and finished the season fifth in the country at 3.7 steals per game. Hooks averaged a career-high 18.2 points per game. This season, Hooks is No. 6 in the nation in points per game at 25.0.
Johnson was on the All-MAC first team after finishing fourth in the league in points per game with a team-best 18.6. Johnson averaged 21.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in conference play. had 30 or more points in a game three times this season, including a career-high 36 against Kent State on the road. Johnson garnered the program's first triple-double, and became a 1,000 point scorer for Ohio in the MAC Tournament win over Western Michigan. This season, Johnson is No. 14 in the nation at 23.8 points per game.
