Duquesne star Megan McConnell named finalist for national Mid-Major Player of the Year honor

The world of women’s college basketball started noticing Duquesne senior guard Megan McConnell before the season, and now she’s on the threshold of one of the sport’s top honors.

McConnell, a Chartiers Valley graduate, is one of the five finalists for the 2025 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.

McConnell, who is third on Duquesne’s all-time women’s scoring list with 1,713 points, helped lead Duquesne (18-11, 9-9) into the second round of the conference tournament where the No. 9-seeded Dukes will play No. 8 Fordham at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Henrico (Va.) Sports & Events Center.

While leading the Atlantic 10 in many statistical categories, McConnell is the only Duquesne player to start all 29 games this season. She is No. 1 in the conference in scoring (18.8 points per game), assists (150) and assists per game (5.2). She ranks fourth in 3-pointers per game (2.1), shooting 35.5% from beyond the arc.

McConnell was recently named first-team Atlantic 10 All-Conference and Defensive Player of the Year. She is the first Duquesne woman to receive the latter honor since Jocelyn Floyd in 2013.

Nationally, she is the only Division I women’s player this season to surpass 500 points (544), 200 rebounds (206), 100 assists (150) and 100 steals (115). She is second in the nation in steals and steals per game (4.0).

At 5-foot-7, McConnell is ninth in the Atlantic 10 with 7.1 rebounds per game and is only the second Duquesne player to secure 1,000 rebounds (1,041).

At the outset of the season, McConnell was named to the preseason Player of the Year watch list, and she also was one of the mid-season and top 10 finalists for the award. The winner will be announced April 2.

The other finalists are Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim, Drake’s Katie Dinnebier, Harvard’s Harmoni Turner and Laura Ziegler of Saint Joseph’s.