ROSEMONT, Ill. – University of Iowa senior forward/center Megan Gustafson was selected as this year’s recipient of the Honda Sport Award for basketball, it was announced April 20 by the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards (CWSA). Gustafson is the second Big Ten student to earn the prestigious award in its 43-year history — and the first since Purdue’s Stephanie White in 1999 — with the honor presented annually to the top female students in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, signifying the “best of the best in collegiate athletics.”
With her selection, Gustafson, who will graduate next month from Iowa with degrees in finance and marketing, also becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the recipient of this year’s Honda Cup, which will be presented June 24 in Los Angeles during a live telecast on CBS Sports Network. Three students from current Big Ten schools have earned the Honda Cup, with Penn State volleyball standout Megan Hodge the most recent conference honoree in 2010.
The Honda Sport Award recipient is chosen annually through a vote of administrators from more than 1,000 NCAA member schools.
Gustafson, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, capped her collegiate career earlier this month by emerging as the first consensus national player of the year in Big Ten women’s basketball history. She was chosen for top honors by the Associated Press, Naismith Trophy, United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), espnW and the Senior CLASS Award, and she was a unanimous first-team All-America selection by every major media organization.
A native of Port Wing, Wis., Gustafson led the nation in scoring (27.8 ppg.), field goal percentage (.696) and double-doubles (33) for the second consecutive season, while also ranking third nationally in rebounding (13.4 rpg.). A two-time Big Ten Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament, Gustafson set Big Ten single-season records for points (1,001), rebounds (481), field goal percentage (.696), field goals made (412 – also an NCAA record), and double-doubles (33 – tied NCAA record).
She also became the first women’s basketball student in NCAA Division I history to average at least 27.8 points and 13.3 rebounds per game while shooting .696 or better from the field.
With 23 points in Iowa’s NCAA Elite Eight game against Baylor on April 1, Gustafson became the first Big Ten women’s basketball student and the fourth NCAA Division I women’s basketball student (as well as the first post player) to score 1,000 points in a single season, finishing with 1,001 points this year. She joins Washington’s Kelsey Plum (1,109 in 2016-17), Missouri State’s Jackie Stiles (1,062 in 2000-01) and Baylor’s Odyssey Sims (1,054 in 2013-14) as the only NCAA Division I women’s basketball students with 1,000-point seasons.
For her career, Gustafson holds 16 Iowa school records, while ranking fifth in Big Ten history with 2,804 points. She also holds conference career records for rebounds (1,460 – 14th in NCAA history), field goal percentage (.657 – fifth in NCAA history) and double-doubles (88 – fourth in NCAA history).
#B1GWBBall