SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced Thursday, Oct. 24 redshirt senior Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) of the Drake University women's basketball team is one of 20 watch list candidates for the 2019 Katrina McClain Award.
 
Named after the two-time All-American and 1987 National Player of the Year, the annual McClain award recognizes the top power forwards in women's NCAA Division I college basketball. Rhine's preseason accolade comes two days after teammate Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) was tabbed to the Ann Meyers Award watch list for the nation's top shooting guard.
 
Rhine, who advanced to the mid-season McClain watch list last year and helped lead Drake to its third-straight NCAA Tournament, is coming off another banner season. She averaged 18.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds while shooting a league-best 61.2 percent from the floor. Rhine was selected to the All-Missouri Valley Conference First Team for the second consecutive season. She recorded a team-high 13 double-doubles and 14 20-plus scoring performances.
 
Rhine is the Valley's active career scoring leader with 1,654 points. She is No. 9 all-time at Drake in career rebounds with 755 and is No. 2 in career field goal percentage at 60.1.
 
An outstanding student, Rhine already earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education while maintaining a 4.00 grade point average. She is enrolled in Drake's master's of science in counseling program. Rhine was picked to the 2019 Google Cloud (CoSIDA) Academic All-American First Team along with being chosen the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second-straight time.
 
"From the University of Georgia to Team USA, Katrina McClain was a standout power forward," said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame. "The young women on our Starting Five watch list exhibit many of the characteristics that made her such a successful athlete and we look forward to seeing the energy and effort they will bring to the court this season."
 
The Selection Committee for the Katrina McClain Award is composed of top women's college basketball personnel including media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers. New to the award this season is Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds. By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2020 Katrina McClain Award will be narrowed to just 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Ms. McClain-Pittman and the Hall of Fame's selection committee.
 
The winner of the 2020 Katrina McClain Power Forward Award will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 10, 2020, along with the other four members of the Women's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, the Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award and the Lisa Leslie Center Award, in addition to the Men's Starting Five.
 
Previous winners of the Katrina McClain Power Forward of the Year Award include Napheesa Collier, Connecticut (2019) and Ruthy Hebard, Oregon (2018).
 
For more information on the 2020 Katrina McClain Award and the latest updates, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #McClainAward on Twitter and Instagram. Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, October 25.