Former standout University of Texas women's basketball player Ariel Atkins [2014-18] is a nominee for the prestigious 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the NCAA announced on Thursday.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, nominees must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have completed eligibility in her primary sport.

This is the 28th year of the NCAA Woman of the Year Award program, which was established in 1991. Atkins is one of 581 nominees nationally - the most in the history of the Woman of the Year program and one of 251 nominees in NCAA Division I.

Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its member schools and submits its conference nominee to the NCAA. The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee selects the Top 30 - 10 from each division and then three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women's Athletics selects the winner from the Top 9.

This marks the second time in three years that a Texas women's basketball player has been nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, as Imani McGee-Stafford was a 2016 nominee.

Atkins recently completed her highly decorated career with the Texas women's basketball team. The three-time All-Big 12 Conference player and a four-time member of the Academic All-Big 12 teams, Atkins helped lead the Longhorns to 108 victories, four NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and one NCAA Elite Eight appearance during her four years on the Forty Acres. She was an honorable mention All-America selection in each of the last two seasons at Texas.

She played in 121 career games with 100 starts, scoring in double figures on 81 occasions. Her career free-throw percentage of 83.1 ranks fourth all-time in UT history, her career three-point percentage of 37.3 ranks sixth all-time in UT history and her career scoring total of 1,497 points is 20th in program history.

Atkins started all 35 games for the Longhorns this past season, leading her team with 14.9 points per game and 2.5 steals per game. She scored in double figures 29 times, including eight 20-plus-point performances. Atkins was the only player in the Big 12 Conference to rank among the league's top-20 in the eight statistical categories of points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game, steals per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, field-goal percentage, three-point field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage. She ranked second in the Big 12 in steals per game [2.5] and three-point field goal percentage [.420].

As a senior, Atkins was named a Senior CLASS Award Second-Team All-American. Atkins, who also was a nominee for the Allstate Good Works Team, was heavily involved in the Neighborhood Longhorns program and participated in the U.S. Olympic Committee's Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere [FLAME] program. She also was recognized by the Big 12's Champions for Life program.

Atkins was selected by the Washington Mystics with the seventh pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, making her the third-highest drafted player in program history.