Rhyne Howard tabbed as Senior CLASS All-American, Honda Sport finalist

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On3 image — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

Let’s go ahead and add some more hardware to Rhyne Howard’s already overflowing trophy case.

On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that the former Kentucky Women’s Basketball superstar was named a Senior CLASS Award All-American and was tabbed as one of four finalists for the 2022 Honda Sport Award.

The Senior CLASS (an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®) Award is handed out to a senior student-athlete who thrives in all four of these areas: classroom, community, character, and competition. Howard was one of five to make the All-American team.

As for the 2022 Honda Sport Award, it’s presented by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) and is meant to recognize “the best of the best in collegiate athletics.” Howard joins National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), and NaLyssa Smith (Baylor) as the finalists. The winner of the award will be announced later this week and will automatically qualify as a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.

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Below is more on Howard’s historic career at Kentucky, courtesy of UK Athletics. The school’s second all-time leading scorer is a projected top-two pick for the 2022 WNBA Draft set for April 11.

Howard has now earned first-team All-America honors this season from the WBCA, The Associated Press, Wooden Award and United States Basketball Writers Association. Howard joined Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson, Baylor’s Brittney Griner, Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw, Duke’s Alana Beard, Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and UConn’s Breanna Stewart and Maya Moore as the only three-time first-team AP All-America honorees. Howard was tabbed AP and USBWA First-Team All-America in 2020 and 2021 after historic seasons for the Wildcats. She is the second Kentucky women’s basketball player ever to earn three first-team honors from the same organization and the only UK player to earn three first-team honors from multiple organizations.

These honors join a long list of honors for Howard, who has been established as one of the top players in women’s basketball. Howard was a finalist for the 2022 WBCA Wade Trophy, 2022 Cheryl Miller Award, one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy Women’s National Player of the Year, on the national ballot for the Wooden Award and a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award. The Cheryl Miller Award names the best small forward in the nation and this is the third year Howard has been a finalist. The Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award both seek to name the top player in women’s college basketball. Howard was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy and was a Wooden All-American each of the last two seasons. This is also the third straight year she has been a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award, which is annually awarded to the most outstanding guard in women’s college basketball.