SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A day after earning SEC Player of the Week honors for the third time this season, Ole Miss women’s basketball senior Cotie McMahon has been named a top 10 finalist for the 2026 Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced on Wednesday.
This marks the third time that McMahon has been honored to the prestigious small forward list, earning top 10 finalist honors last season and top 5 finalist recognition in 2024. McMahon is the first Rebel since Shakira Austin in 2021-22 to be a top 10 finalist for a Naismith Starting Five Award.
The annual award recognizes the top small forward in NCAA Division I women’s basketball, determined by a national committee. The winner of the 2026 Cheryl Miller award will be presented on a to be determined date along with the other four members of the Women’s Starting Five awards.
The Dayton, Ohio, native is no stranger to national recognition, also earning spots on the John R. Wooden Award Top 25 Women’s Midseason Watch List, Jersey Mike Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List, and 10 other individual honors just this season alone.
McMahon has delivered a dominant season for Ole Miss, emerging as one of the SEC’s most consistent scorers. Through 23 games and starts, she is averaging a team-high 19.7 points per game, which ranks fourth in the conference, on a 48.7 percent shooting clip. Additionally, she is pulling down 5.9 rebounds per contest, while leading the team with nearly 30 minutes of playing time per game.
In SEC play, her production has elevation even further, as she is averaging 21.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Her steady scoring and two-way impact have been instrumental in Ole Miss’ success against SEC competition, where the Rebels are averaging 75.6 points per game and have secured the best start in the coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin era with a 19-4 record.
Previous winners of the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award are Madison Booker, Texas (2024-25), Ashley Joens, Iowa State (2021-23), Satou Sabally, Oregon (2020), Bridget Carleton, Iowa State (2019), and Gabby Williams, Connecticut (2018).
For more information on the 2026 Cheryl Miller Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #MillerAward on Twitter and Instagram.
About Cheryl Miller
Cheryl Miller took women’s basketball to a new level, literally and figuratively. With her tremendous leaping ability, athletic dexterity, and grace, Miller established a legacy throughout her high school and college career that is unparalleled. Playing for Riverside Polytechnic High School (CA), in 1982, Miller set the single game scoring record of 105 points. As a collegiate forward at the University of Southern California from 1982 to 1986, Miller helped bring women’s basketball to the forefront of American sports. In 1984, she led the Olympic team to gold, averaging more than 16 points per game. Her superior athletic ability and engaging persona placed her among the elite in the world of college and professional athletics. In 1986, Sports Illustrated named Miller the best male or female player in college basketball. In a spectacular career, Miller scored 3,018 total career points and was a four-time All-America. Miller was named Naismith Player of the Year three times and earned the Wade Trophy once. Miller was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2010. Since retiring from professional play, Miller has had a very successful career as a WNBA GM, professional and collegiate coach, and sportscaster for TNT, ESPN and NBC for the 1996 Olympics.