AUSTIN, Texas—Texas women's basketball's Madison Booker was named Big 12 Player of the Year and the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, the league announced on Tuesday. Booker also earned unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team and the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. All Big 12 awards were selected by a vote of the conference head coaches.
DeYona Gaston earned the Sixth Player Award, Aaliyah Moore earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors and the trio of Shay Holle, Shaylee Gonzales and Taylor Jones earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention. Holle was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team.
In Big 12 play, Booker averaged 20.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists while shooting 48 percent from the field and 91.6 percent from the free-throw line. Booker has scored in double figures in 20 straight games and has 11 games scoring 20 or more points. Against ranked opponents this season, Booker is averaging 21.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game.
Booker earned seven Big 12 weekly awards and three national weekly awards this season. On February 19, Booker was named both the Big 12 Player and Freshman of the Week, something that has only happened three other times in the last 15 years in the Big 12. Booker is the second Texas women's basketball player to earn the Big 12 Player of the Year award. In the 2016-17 season Brooke-McCarty earned the honor. Booker is the fifth Longhorn to earn the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Texas has earned the honor in two of the last three years with Rori Harmon being honored in 2022.
Coming back from injury Gaston scored in double figures in seven games for the Longhorns, including three of the last four games of the regular season. Gaston posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Texas Tech and in front of friends and family at Houston scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Gaston shot 53.6 percent from the field in conference games.
Aaliyah Moore, who returned this season from an ACL injury the season before had a stretch where she scored in double figures in seven games and averaged 11.8 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game in Big 12 play. Moore shot 55.2 percent from the field in conference games.Moore had a season-high 19 points to help the Longhorns to a victory on the road at Baylor and a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds in a key win over Kansas State.
Shaylee Gonzales continued her stellar career as she made her 200thcareer 3-pointer and recorded her 500thcareer assist. Gonzales, who reached 2,000 points last season currently has the seventh most points among active players in the country with 2,306 points. Gonzales scored in double figures in 17 regular season games with a season-high 21 points on her mom's 50thbirthday against Jackson State. Gonzales has played in 155 games in her collegiate career, including starting all 67 games she has played at Texas.
Taylor Jones shot 53.7 percent from the field in conference play and averaged 10.5 points and 6.6 rebounds in Big 12 games. Jones tallied four games scoring 20 or more points, including a season-high 27 points on 11-of-11 from the field against Oral Roberts. Jones posted a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the Texas win at Oklahoma State. For her career at Texas, Jones has shot 59.6 percent from the field.
Shay Holle played a crucial role for the Longhorns all season and especially in Big 12 play. Holle played 37.2 minutes per game in conference play and went all 40 minutes in eight conference games. Holle was a key perimeter defender for Texas, often drawing the assignment of the top opposing player. Holle also scored the ball with nine games in double figures, including four straight. This season Holle has a career-high field goal percentage of 48.9 percent. Holle scored 16 points and dished out six assists in a critical win over Iowa State. Holle tallied five steals in the Texas win on the road at Baylor.
Co-Player of the Year:Madison Booker, Texas
Co-Player of the Year:Skylar Vann, Oklahoma
Defensive Player of the Year:JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
Freshman of the Year:Madison Booker, Texas
Newcomer of the Year:Peyton Verhulst, Oklahoma
Sixth Player Award:DeYona Gaston, Texas
Coach of the Year:Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma
All-Big 12 First Team
Lauren Gustin, BYU
Audi Crooks, Iowa State*
Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas
S'Mya Nichols, Kansas
Ayoka Lee, Kansas State*
Serena Sundell, Kansas State
Skylar Vann, Oklahoma*
Payton Verhulst, Oklahoma
Madison Booker, Texas*
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
All-Big 12 Second Team
Sarah Andrews, Baylor
Kaitlin Peterson, UCF
Madison Conner, TCU
Aaliyah Moore, Texas
Jordan Harrison, West Virginia
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention:
Aijha Blackwell (Baylor), Dre'Una Edwards (Baylor), Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (Baylor), Kailey Woolston (BYU), Jillian Hayes (Cincinnati), Laila Blair (Houston), Addy Brown (Iowa State), Zakiyah Franklin (Kansas), Holly Kersgieter (Kansas), Gabby Gregory (Kansas State), Nevaeh Tot (Oklahoma), Sahara Williams (Oklahoma), Anna Gret Asi (Oklahoma State), Sedona Prince (TCU), Shaylee Gonzales (Texas), Shay Holle (Texas), Taylor Jones (Texas), Bailey Maupin (Texas Tech), Jasmine Shavers (Texas Tech)
Big 12 All-Defensive Team
Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas
Ayoka Lee, Kansas State
Shay Holle, Texas
Jordan Harrison, West Virginia
JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
Big 12 All-Freshman Team
Addy Brown, Iowa State
Audi Crooks, Iowa State*
S'Mya Nichols, Kansas*
Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State
Madison Booker, Texas*
*-unanimous selection
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