HENDERSON, Nev. - Showcasing the strength and parity across the league, The Big West unveiled its 2024-25 women’s basketball all-conference team, major awards and specialty honors on the eve of tipoff at the 2025 Big West Women’s Basketball Championship, presented by Credit Union 1.
With 10 of 11 teams earning a place on the various listings, five programs see themselves with at least one individual award winner, headlined by a trio of honorees for Big West regular-season champion Hawai’i.
Senior Lily Wahinekapu becomes just the third Rainbow Wahine to be tapped as Big West Player of the Year. The native of Kane’ohe, O’ahu comes full circle in a four-year career in The Big West, named Freshman of the Year while at Cal State Fullerton in 2021-22 before taking home top honors in 2024-25. Wahinekapu averaged a team-leading 11.1 points per game, with 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals a night as UH earned back-to-back regular season crowns.
UH teammate Ritorya Tamilo earned Big West Freshman of the Year honors after contributing 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, as an anchor for the defensive-minded ’Bows. Tamilo’s 38 blocks and counting is a freshman program record at Hawai’i and the native of Auckland, New Zealand is the first UH first-year honoree since the 1994-95 season.
On the sidelines, Laura Beeman of Hawai’i was honored as Big West Coach of the Year, guiding the team to a 22-8 overall record and a 16-4 mark in league action. This is a consecutive nod for Beeman, and a third in the last four seasons.
Big West Newcomer of the Year honors belong to UC San Diego’s Sabrina Ma. The junior from San Francisco opened the collegiate career at San Jose State, spending two seasons with the Spartans. This season for the Tritons, Ma contributes 10.4 points and 2.2 three-pointers per game on 36.4 percent shooting from distance to go along with averages of 3.7 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.4 assists. Eligible for their first postseason since reclassification from Division II, UCSD is set to compete as the No. 4 seed in the brackets in Henderson.
The league also recognized three specialty award winners representing three postseason-bound programs. Summah Hanson of UC Irvine was tapped as Best Sixth Player after averaging 8.7 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting a conference-best 90.9 percent from the free-throw line for the second-seeded Anteaters. UC Riverside’s Makayla Rose, who leads the Highlanders with 1.93 steals per game, was named Best Defensive Player. Rose is the first UCR individual award winner since the 2015-16 season. UC Santa Barbara’s Skylar Burke received the Best Hustle Player award for a gritty performance for the Gauchos, including 10.2 points and team-bests of 6.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
Wahinekapu is one of six on the All-Big West first team, up from the second team a season ago. Also bumping up on the listings and onto the first team is Tova Sabel of UC Davis. Sabel, a senior from Stockholm, Sweden, is the Aggies’ offensive pacesetter with 15.0 points per game and an average of six of those points coming from distance each night.
Also making the first team listings, The Big West leading scorer Savannah Tucker contributes 16.9 points per game for Long Beach State and is on the court nearly the entirety of each contest. The senior plays 37.07 minutes per game, good for eighth NCAA Division I. This is Tucker’s first career postseason team listing.
The Big West’s leading ball thief Sumayah Sugapong of UC San Diego also earned a spot on the first team after leading the conference with 2.50 steals per game alongside 14.31 points and 3.75 assists a night. The sophomore from San Diego leads the charge for the Tritons team who averages 11.13 steals per game, 13th in the country.
The UC Irvine pairing of Hunter Hernandez and Déja Lee round out the All-Big West first team. Lee, Big West Player of the Year a season ago, is making a second appearance on the team, with Hernandez earning a second nod on the squad after earning honors in 2022-23 before sitting out a year ago. Hernandez provides 13.04 points on .354 shooting and 5.57 rebounds per game with Lee adding 10.47 points, 3.07 assists and 1.53 steals a night for the defending champion Anteaters.
Second team selections represent five institutions with the upperclassmen listing including Shelley Duchemin of UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara’s Alyssa Marin, Megan Norris of UC Davis, Imani Perez of Hawai’i and Cal Poly’s Annika Shah.
Tamilo headlines the six-player All-Freshman team with Rose the top lock down player on the All-Defensive Team.
The 2024-25 awards slate has 10 of 11 teams represented, as well as no fewer than six states and five countries. Every first and second team honoree along with the full grouping of six freshmen and five defenders are set to converge on the court at Lee’s Family Forum this week to vie for the title in Henderson, Nev.
The 2025 Big West Women’s Basketball Championship, presented by Credit Union 1 tips off tomorrow, Wednesday March 12 with the crowning moments coming on Saturday, March 15. For more information on the championship, please visit bigwest.org/2025.