Powers, who became the 24th Spartan in history to record over 1,000 points on Wednesday following the road victory against Penn State, was named to the midseason watch list earlier this month.

Given to the most outstanding collegiate guard in the country who exemplifies the skills that Staley endowed during her career, including ball handling, scoring and the ability to distribute the basketball.

The Detroit native is one of four players from the Big Ten who were named to the watch list, along with Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell, Rutger's Tyler Scaife and Samantha Logic of Iowa. 

The sophomore's 26-points in Happy Valley puts her 33-points behind Liz Shimek (2002-06) for the MSU single-season scoring record. She also set the single-season free throws record (134) that same night after surpassing Becky Cumming's 1999-00 record of 130 by converting five en route to a 74-67 win. 

Leading the team and second in the conference in points per game (22.6), Powers also ranks first in rebounds (11.9), blocks (1.2) and steals (2.4) per game for the Spartans. Her 35.3 minutes played on the floor per night are only behind sophomore Tori Jankoska, who's averaging 36.2 minutes a game. 

The other 12 contenders for the trophy include: Baylor's Niya Johnson, California's Brittany Boyd, Carolina's Allisha Gray, DePaul's Brittany Hrynko, Iona's Damika Martinez, Notre Dame's Jewell Lloyd, South Carolina's Tiffany Mitchell, South Florida's Courtney Williams, Stanford's Amber Orange, Texas A&M's Jordan Jones, UConn's Moriah Jefferson and Kelsey Plum of Washington.