JACKSON — Players from Mississippi State’s men’s and women’s basketball programs received four of the six finalist nominations for the 2019 C Spire Howell and Gillom Trophies, which are awarded annually to the best male and female college basketball players in the Magnolia state.
All three of the women’s nominees are from Mississippi State’s No. 5 nationally-ranked squad, and one of the three men’s finalists is representing the resurgent Bulldogs, who have 20 wins or more for the second straight year. This is the second year in a row that MSU has at least four of the six finalists.
Senior All-American center Teaira McCowan, senior guard Jordan Danberry and graduate transfer Anriel Howard are the ladies’ finalists. Defending 2018 Howell winner and senior MSU guard Quinndary Weatherspoon joins Ole Miss’ junior guard Breein Tyree and University of Southern Mississippi’s senior guard Cortez Edwards vying for the men’s award.
Eight different men’s players from seven schools received votes from sports media covering the teams. Ten different women’s players from five schools received votes. MSU broke a five-year consecutive win streak by Ole Miss for the men’s award in 2018, while former MSU great Victoria Vivians became the only four-time winner in the history of the C Spire Gillom Trophy last year.
The winners will be selected through a combination of another round of media votes and a fan vote conducted by C Spire. Fans may vote for their favorite players by going to www.csopafanvoting.com through Saturday, March 9 at noon. Each fan with a valid email address may vote up to three times daily. The fan vote counts for a weighted 10 percent of the final total and has helped decide the winner several times in recent years.
The Howell Trophy presented by C Spire is named after Bailey Howell, a two-time All American at Mississippi State University and a six-time NBA All-Star who played on Boston Celtics’ world championship teams in 1968 and 1969. Howell, a 1977 inductee to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the first male Mississippi player inducted in the National Basketball Hall of Fame, still holds nearly a dozen season and career records at Mississippi State University.
The Gillom Trophy presented by C Spire is named after Abbeville, Miss. native Peggie Gillom-Granderson, Ole Miss’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. She coached in the WNBA and the Olympics and retired after a seven-year stint as associate head coach of the Lady Rebels’ basketball team at Ole Miss.
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