South Carolina senior Raven Johnson has been named to the 2026 Nancy Lieberman Award Midseason Top 10, as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). This marks Johnson’s first appearance on the midseason list for an award that recognizes the top point guard in women’s college basketball.
Johnson has served as a key player for the Gamecocks during her career. With her on the court, South Carolina holds a 128-7 record, three Final Four appearances including one national championship and one runner-up finish, along with three SEC regular-season titles and three SEC Tournament championships. She ranks fifth in program history for career assists and is credited with three of South Carolina’s top seven single-season assist-to-turnover ratios. This season, she is sixth in the SEC for assists per game at 5.1 and is fifth nationally with a 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio. Johnson is also posting a career-best average of 9.9 points per game on 51.4 percent shooting from the field, with those numbers increasing to 12.1 points per game on 55.4 percent shooting against ranked teams and 12.3 points per game on 54.8 percent shooting in SEC play.
The Midseason Top 10 list will be reduced to five players in mid-March, after which finalists will be presented to Nancy Lieberman and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee for final consideration. The winner will be selected by a group consisting of media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers.
Fans can participate in voting for both remaining rounds starting Friday, February 6 at hoophallawards.com. According to organizers: “The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process.”
The winner of this year’s Lieberman Award will be announced alongside recipients of other Women’s Starting Five honors—the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (Shooting Guard), Cheryl Miller Award (Small Forward), Katrina McClain Award (Power Forward), and Lisa Leslie Award (Center)—on a date yet to be determined.
South Carolina, currently ranked No. 3/3 nationally, plays Texas A&M tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 before hosting Mississippi State on Thursday, February 5 and #15/15 Tennessee on Sunday, February 8.
For further updates about South Carolina women’s basketball, fans are encouraged to visit GamecocksOnline.com or follow @GamecockWBB on social media.
The full list of Nancy Lieberman Award Midseason Top 10 honorees includes Zoe Brooks (NC State), Aaliyah Chavez (Oklahoma), Rori Harmon (Texas), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Raven Johnson (South Carolina), Liv McGill (Florida), Olivia Miles (TCU), Tonie Morgan (Kentucky), Britt Prince (Nebraska), and Kiki Rice (UCLA).
