[7] During her collegiate career, Bird won two NCAA championships, and was awarded a further eight accolades for her achievements.
She became the first of two basketball players to be nominated for, and hence to win, the Best Female College Athlete ESPY Award.
[9] Taurasi won the accolade again the following year,[9] and is one of three women, all UConn basketball players, to have received the Best Female College Athlete ESPY Award more than once: the most any one woman has won is Maya Moore, who earned three consecutive awards between the 2009 and 2011 ceremonies.
[10][11][12] Basketball players dominate the winners list, with 14 awards, while softball competitors have won five times, and just one swimmer (the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears' Missy Franklin at the 2015 ESPY Awards) has been recognized in the accolade's history.
[14] Beginning in 2021, the awards were again separated into men's and women's versions using the current naming scheme.