Iowa senior guard Kachine Alexander was named to the Naismith Trophy watch list on Tuesday.

The Minneapolis native is one of 50 NCAA women’s Division-I basketball players to make the list for the annual award, which recognizes the college basketball player of the year. The honor is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

Alexander — a member of watch lists for the other two most prestigious awards in NCAA women’s basketball, the Wooden Award and Wade Trophy — claimed the Big Ten rebounding title last year, and she was one of five players named to the defensive All-Big Ten team despite missing seven games because of a stress fracture in her right leg.

She joins Big Ten hoopsters Jantel Lavender and Samantha Prahalis of Ohio State and Northwestern’s Amy Jaeshcke on the Naismith list.

In February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors will narrow the list from 50 to the top 30 players in the nation. The list will be reduced to the top four in March, and the award will be presented April 4 at the NCAA women’s Final Four in Indianapolis.

— by Jon Frank