Big 12 Announces 2023-24 All-Conference Women’s Basketball Awards
The 2023-24 Big 12 Women’s Basketball regular season ended last weekend with Jennie Baranczyk and the Oklahoma Sooners winning their second consecutive Big 12 title before heading to the SEC.
Her squad is well-represented in the All-Big 12 Women’s Basketball Awards, as are their boarding partners for the SEC, the sixth-ranked Texas Longhorns. The Sooners and Longhorns each secured three individual awards, sharing Co-Player of the Year, and nearly swept the table on their way out of the league.
Here’s a look at the individual awards, as voted on by the league’s head coaches, plus what the Big 12 press release had to say about each of the winners.
Big 12 Co-Player of the Year: Skylar Vann, Oklahoma; Madison Booker, Texas
Vann averaged 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds during Conference play, while shooting an even 50.0% from the field, all of which rank among the top eight in the league. She added six 20+ point games as the award went to a Sooner for the first time since Courtney Paris in 2009, and for the seventh time overall. Vann had previously won the Sixth Player Award the last two seasons, and joins Lauren Cox (Baylor, 2020) as the only former Sixth Player Award winner to go on to win Player of the Year.
Booker is the first freshman to win a share of Big 12 Player of the Year, averaging 20.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists during the 18-game league schedule. She joins Brooke McCarty (2017) as the only Texas players to win Player of the Year, while she is the second Longhorn to take home Freshman of the Year in the past three seasons.
Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
Quinerly is the first West Virginia player to earn Defensive Player of the Year, leading the Mountaineer defense to lead the league in fewest points allowed (60.3), steals (13.2) and turnover margin (+8.1) during Conference play. Her 2.8 steals per Big 12 game ranked second, while she maintained an offensive output of 19.4 points per game.
Freshman of the Year: Madison Booker, Texas
Booker is the first freshman to win a share of Big 12 Player of the Year, averaging 20.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists during the 18-game league schedule. She joins Brooke McCarty (2017) as the only Texas players to win Player of the Year, while she is the second Longhorn to take home Freshman of the Year in the past three seasons.
Newcomer of the Year: Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma
Verhulst helped the Sooners to the regular season title by averaging 13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists against Big 12 opponents, marks which rated among the league’s top-10. Her 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked second as she became the third Oklahoma player to receive the award, and first since 2015.
Sixth Player of the Year: DeYona Gaston, Texas
Among reserves who played 15-or-more games, Gaston led the Big 12 with 8.8 points off the bench as she became the first Longhorn to earn the Sixth Player Award. Among all players, Gaston ranked 10th in league games with 0.9 blocks per Conference game.
Coach of the Year: Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma
Baranczyk was named Coach of the Year after leading the Sooners to a second consecutive regular season title. OU, who was voted fifth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, replaced four starters from last season’s team to go 15-3 and win the regular season title outright. The award goes to a Sooner head coach for the first time since 2009, and fifth time overall, while it is the third conference coach of the year honor for Baranczyk, earning the award twice in the Missouri Valley Conference.
In case you missed it, our own Matthew Postins shared his individual superlatives on Monday, which compared well to what the league released on Tuesday.
