ATLANTA, GA – Senior guard Stella Johnson (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic) of the Rider University women's basketball team was named to the Women's Citizen Naismith Trophy Watch List as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club on Wednesday morning. Johnson is one of 50 players in the nation and just two players from mid-major programs to earn a spot on the list.
 
"We are extremely proud of Stella," Rider Head Coach Lynn Milligan said. "This is a huge honor for her and our program. She is disciplined, determined and her work ethic is unmatched. Stella will no doubt continue to evolve her and this program and do what is necessary for success."
 
Johnson, the 2019-20 Preseason MAAC Player of the Year, opened the season with 22 points, three rebounds, one steal and one block at Princeton last night.
 
As a junior, Stella was tabbed as the MAAC Player of the Year and she was a unanimous selection to the All-MAAC First Team. In 2018-19, she was also named to the MAAC All-Championship for the second year in a row. She led the MAAC in scoring (18.8 PPG) and steals (2.5 SPG) a year ago. Stella recorded her 1,000th career point in December of last season at Binghamton and she's currently sixth in program history with 1,444 career points.
 
In late October, Johnson was also named one of 20 watch-list candidates for the 2020 Nancy Lieberman Award as announced by The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). 
 
The midseason 30 team will be announced in early February, and then the competition will be narrowed down to 10 national semifinalists on March 3, 2020. Following those results, four finalists will be named on March 20, 2020, and the winner of the 2020 Citizen Naismith Trophy for Women's Player of the Year will be announced on April 4, 2020.
 
Rider returns to action on Sunday, November 10, with a road showdown against Penn State.