TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) – Florida State Women’s Basketball Alumna Natasha Howard was honored as the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday as announced by the league.

The coronation as the WNBA’s best defensive player was supplemented with her second straight selection to the league’s all-defensive first team. Howard continues to be one of the WNBA’s fastest rising stars, having been named an AT&T WNBA All-Star starter back in July and winning the league’s most improved player a season ago.

Lets gooooo Tash! The work you’ve put in over the years has continued to be on display, and I am SO proud… now go win that Championship 😁! 🖤⚡️@nhoward1033 pic.twitter.com/rjA7hcgQJc — Sue Semrau (@CoachSueFSU) September 11, 2019

Howard, who played at Florida State from 2010-14, received the maximum 11 votes from the WNBA’s head coaches. She ranks second in the league with 2.18 steals per game and third with 1.74 blocked shots per game. With the Seattle Storm, Howard won the WNBA title in 2018 and added her first title with the Minnesota Lynx in 2017.

Minus perennial all-stars Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird, Howard has picked up the slack for Seattle all year. She is also an MVP candidate who ranks in the Top 5 in the WNBA in points (fourth – 18.1) and efficiency (fifth – .552). Howard leads the sixth-seeded Storm in their playoff opener Wednesday night vs. the seventh-seeded Lynx in Seattle at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.

Pointing to her fast rise, Howard is the first WNBA player ever to win the league’s most improved player and the defensive player of the year over the span of one’s career.

Howard goes down as one of the best players in Florida State Women’s Basketball history. She ranks in the Top 3 in points (third – 1,811), field goals made (third – 711), rebounds (first – 1,046), blocked shots (third – 186) and double-doubles (first – 41).