Sophomores Napheesa Collier (24) and Katie Lou Samuelson (33) earned top honors this season being named unanimously as first team all-conference members. (Jackson Haigis/The Daily Campus)
After another perfect regular season and 70-game win streak in American Athletic Conference play, many of the UConn women’s basketball team’s best players head into the conference tournament on a high note after receiving numerous individual accolades from The American for their performances this season.
Sophomores Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier were unanimous selections as first team all-conference members, and were joined by junior Gabby Williams. Samuelson and Collier have a dynamic duo for the Huskies this season, with Samuelson leading the Huskies with 20.7 points per game and Collier coming off a 39-point performance in the regular season finale against USF. Like Samuelson, Collier is averaging over 20 points per game with an average of 20.4.
Collier and Samuelson were joined by USF’s Kitija Laksa as the only unanimous selections to the first team.
Williams was also tabbed as the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the fifth-straight UConn player to take home the honor. Williams leads UConn with 79 steals and 37 blocks, and has been just as dynamic on the offensive end, where she averages 13 points and has a team-high 152 assists.
Preseason Conference Player of the Year Kia Nurse was the only UConn player named to the all-conference second team, after averaging 12.8 points and 4.16 assists before her regular season was cut short due to a right ankle injury. Senior Saniya Chong was selected to the all-conference third-team after leading The American in assist-to-turnover ratio with a ratio of 3.66.
Last but not least, Crystal Dangerfield was named to the freshman all-conference team after averaging 6.1 points and 3.6 assists per game in her first season in Storrs.
The Huskies are likely in line for a few more individual awards as the American Athletic Conference player, coach, freshman and scholar-athlete of the year awards are announced Friday at 2 p.m. to kick off the conference tournament weekend.
Dan Madigan is the sports editor for The Daily Campus, covering women’s basketball. He can be reached via email at daniel.madigan@uconn.edu. He tweets @dmad1433.
