Maryland women’s basketball guard Kaila Charles was named to several midseason lists for national awards in the past week.
The junior is finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award, Wooden Award, Wade Trophy and Citizen Naismith Trophy.
With the exception of the Cheryl Miller Award — given to the best small forward in college basketball — the other three honors are granted to the top player in the country.
[Read more: With unrelenting defense, Maryland women’s basketball dominated its rematch with Rutgers]
Charles leads Maryland with 16.0 points per contest — good for fifth in the Big Ten — on 51.3 percent shooting. She also averages 6.1 rebounds per game.
While Charles’ scoring is slightly down from the 17.9 points she averaged during the 2017-18 season, the Glenn Dale native has notched double-figures in 21-of-24 matchups this year, guiding the Terps to a 22-2 mark overall and 11-2 record in the Big Ten.
Three other Big Ten players were named to the Wade Trophy watch list. Michigan center Hallie Thome, Minnesota guard Kenisha Bell and Iowa forward Megan Gustafson were each honored.
[Read more: Maryland women’s basketball is atop the Big Ten. It plans to stay there.]
Gustafson also appeared on the Wooden Award late-season top 20 and was one of 30 players listed on the Citizen Naismith Trophy midseason team.
Gustafson averages a Big Ten-best 27.3 points a game and is tied for first with 12.8 rebounds per contest to power the No. 14 Hawkeyes. The senior is the frontrunner to win the conference’s player of the year award.
Maryland takes on Nebraska on Thursday before facing Iowa (19-5, 10-3 Big Ten) in a battle between the conference’s top-two squads on Sunday.
