WACO, Texas – Baylor junior Queen Egbo and freshman Hannah Gusters were named to the Lisa Leslie Award Preseason Watch List by the Naismith Hall of Fame and WBCA, Friday. The honor, in its fourth year, awards the top center in NCAA Division I women's basketball.
 
The award's namesake was a three-time All-American at USC, the 1994 WBCA National Player of the Year, and a 2015 Naismith Hall of Fame class inductee. The preseason watch list consists of 20 of the nation's top posts. As Big 12 Sixth Woman of the Year last season, Egbo was a finalist for the Leslie Award when the list narrowed to 10.
 
Egbo has already been named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team after averaging 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 0.9 steals, primarily off the bench as a sophomore. Egbo started eight games in place of an injured Lauren Cox last season, and with Cox's departure to the WNBA, Egbo is expected to start down low for the Lady Bears.
 
ESPN's Hoopgurlz ranked Gusters as the No. 2 center and the No. 16-ranked recruit overall in the 2020 class. She swept high school All-America honors with nods from McDonald's, Jordan Brand, Naismith and the WBCA. Gusters averaged 22.1 points and 10.3 rebounds a game for Irving MacArthur High School alongside fellow Baylor freshman Sarah Andrews.
 
Egbo and Gusters join DiDi Richards, DiJonai Carrington, and NaLyssa Smith as Baylor players who earned spots on the Naismith/WBCA 'Starting 5' preseason watch lists. Richards was named to the Lieberman Award list, Carrington to the Drysdale Award watch list and Smith to the McClain Award slate entering into the season.
 
Baylor opens its 2020-21 season with Central Arkansas at home Nov. 25 with the tip time at the Ferrell Center expected to be 7 p.m.
 
2021 Lisa Leslie Award Candidates*

Queen Egbo	Baylor
Hannah Gusters	Baylor
Sara Hamson	BYU
Olivia Nelson-Ododa	Connecticut
Jade Williams	Duke
Kristin Scott	Iowa State
Ameshya Williams	Jackson State
Ayoka Lee	Kansas State
Elissa Cunane	NC State
Kate Cain	Nebraska
Janelle Bailey	North Carolina
Shakira Austin	Ole Miss
Eleah Parker	Penn
Nancy Mulkey	Rice
Kamilla Cardoso	Syracuse
Antoinette Lewis	South Alabama
Aliyah Boston	South Carolina
Charli Collier	Texas
Ila Lane	UC Santa Barbara
Elizabeth Kitley	Virginia Tech

 
*Players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point in the 2020-21 season
 
About Lisa Leslie:
Widely regarded as the best player in the country during her senior year of high school, Leslie decided to play basketball close to home at University of Southern California. While at USC, she set Pac-10 records for scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, earning All-Pac-10 honors each of her four seasons. In 1991, she was named national freshman of the year and went on to earn All-American Honors the following three seasons. In her senior season, she won multiple national player of the year awards, including the Naismith College Player of the Year and the WBCA Player of the Year. In the summer of 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association was launched and with it, Lisa Leslie became a household name. The Los Angeles Sparks landed the hometown star, who would go on to help them win two world championships. As an eight-time All-Star and three-time MVP, Leslie became the face of the WNBA. In 2002, she became the first player to dunk in a WNBA game. Leslie retired as the all-time leading rebounder in WNBA history and was an eight-time First Team All-WNBA performer. Internationally, Leslie won four gold medals in Olympic competition. Since retiring from professional play, Leslie has worked as a sports commentator and analyst for several networks, while exploring fashion modeling and acting as well.
 
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: www.WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981 or call 1-770-279-8027.
 
About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game's elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit www.hoophall.com, follow @hoophall or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.