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Taylor Higginbotham
Kellyn Whitlow

Higginbotham Nominated NCAA Woman of the Year

Taylor Higginbotham received Western Illinois' nomination for NCAA Woman of the Year.

MACOMB, Ill. – There were many deserving Leathernecks, but when thinking of the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year, Western Illinois' Senior of the Year and Student-Athlete of the Year quickly came to mind. 

The entire nominee list was announced Wednesday, June 26, and Taylor Higginbotham was named alongside 584 student-athletes from all three NCAA divisions. 

"Taylor is a great representation of what it means to be a student-athlete," said head coach JD Gravina. "People see her successes athletically and academically and think everything came easy to her, but the challenges and adversity she has battled in her life make her accomplishments even more impressive." 

As the lone senior on the Leathernecks' 2018-19 roster, Higginbotham sealed her final season as the women's basketball team's all-time leading scorer. Her storied career helped Western to the 2017-18 Summit League Championship title and three straight postseason appearances (NCAA, WBI, WNIT). 

She left her mark with 1,806 career points while adding 806 rebounds and 238 steals, which rank third and fifth in WIU history, respectively. 

In the next step of the award process, each conference will select up to two nominees from the pool of school nominations. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division -- and then narrow that list down to the top three from each division. 

The nine finalists will be announced in September, and from those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The Top 30 honorees and the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be celebrated at the annual award ceremony Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.
 
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