K-State Trio Earns All-Big 12 Honors
Mar 01, 2017 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State’s Breanna Lewis, Kindred Wesemann and Eternati Willock were recognized for their stellar seasons, as Lewis and Wesemann were named to the All-Big 12 First Team and Willock was a unanimous selection to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in an announcement by the league office on Wednesday. Lewis also earned her third straight selection to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team.
This is the first time since the 2008-09 season that K-State had three student-athletes earn All-Big 12 honors and the first time since 2011-12 that K-State placed two players on the All-Big 12 First Team.
Since the formation of the Big 12 in 1996-97, Kansas State has received 46 All-Big 12 honors by 21 different players. Of the 46 All-Big 12 citations, 20 have been on the first team, 10 second team honors, four third team recipients and 12 honorable mention honors. This is the third straight season that K-State has placed two players on the All-Big 12 teams.
During the 2016-17 season, Lewis reached the 400-point, 225-rebound mark for the second straight season. She is the only active NCAA Division I player with at least 1,500 or more career points and 275 or more career blocks. She is the 11th player in school history to reach 1,500 career points and is just one of four players in program history with 1,500 or more points and 800 or more career rebounds.
The senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been one of the most dominant centers in the Big 12 this season. She leads the Wildcats in a number of statistical categories, including: points (419; 14.0 ppg), field goals made and field goal percentage (184-of-328; .561), rebounds (247; 8.1 rpg) and double-doubles (7). Lewis ranks 11th in the Big 12 in scoring, fourth in field goal percentage, sixth in rebounding and sixth in blocked shots (55; 2.5 bpg). Her 247 rebounds this season are a career-high.
Lewis, who is the only player in program history to be named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team, earned her defensive honor by anchoring one of the Big 12’s top defenses this season. She has been responsible for 43.0 percent of K-State’s blocked shots and set the school record for blocked shots in a three-year span with 234. At the end of the regular season, Lewis registered a combined 87 blocks and steals.
Wesemann has achieved career season-highs and leads the Wildcats in points (420; 14.0 ppg) and steals (59; 2.0 spg). Her scoring average this season of 14.0 points per game marks the fourth straight season that Wesemann has improved her scoring average from one season to the next.
The senior guard from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, has ranked as one of the Big 12 Conference’s top 3-point shooters this season. Wesemann leads the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made (79) and 3-point field goals made per game (2.6). Wesemann’s 79 three-point field goals made are third in school history for 3-point field goals made by a senior.
Willock is the fourth player in school history to be selected to the Big 12 All-Freshman or All-Rookie Team and the first forward since Ashley Sweat in the 2006-07 season.
Willock has been a solid contributor to the K-State lineup, as she is averaging 7.0 points on a .414 field goal percentage and 5.3 rebounds. She ranks second on the team in rebounding and third in blocks with 16. In league play, the 6’4” forward of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, is averaging 8.1 points and 6.0 rebounds. She has seven double figure efforts in league play this season, including her first career-double-double – a 13-point, 13-rebound performance at Oklahoma State on January 14.
In Big 12 individual awards announced on Wednesday, junior Brooke McCarty of Texas was named the Big 12 Player of the Year. Texas head coach Karen Aston was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for guiding the Longhorns to a 15-3 record in Big 12 play and enters the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship at 22-7 with the No. 2 seed. The Longhorns played 12 top 25 opponents this season with seven of those ranked in the top 10. The team’s 15 conference victories ties the school record for most wins in Big 12 action and its string of 14-consecutive conference wins was a program-best. After starting the season at 2-4, Texas went on a 19-game win streak from December 11 - February 18 that ranked second nationally before it ended.
The Big 12 Freshman of the Year was guard Joyner Holmes of Texas, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year was Jessica Washington of Kansas, the Defensive Player of the Year was Brianna Taylor of Texas and the Sixth Man Award went to Lauren Cox of Baylor.
In addition to Lewis and Wesemann, other players named to the All-Big 12 First Team were: Kalani Brown of Baylor, Alexis Jones of Baylor, Bridget Carleton of Iowa State, Kaylee Jensen of Oklahoma State, Holmes, McCarty and Ariel Atkins of Texas and Tynice Martin of West Virginia.
Joining Willock on the All-Freshman Team were: Cox of Baylor, Chelsea Dungee of Oklahoma, Holmes of Texas and Brittany Brewer of Texas Tech. Cox, Willock and Holmes were unanimous selections to the team.
Under third year head coach Jeff Mittie, Kansas State has registered its first 20-win season since the 2011-12 season and the most overall wins (21) since 2010-11. K-State recorded 11 Big 12 wins, the most in league play since K-State won the Big 12 regular season title in the 2007-08 season with 13 wins.
K-State, as the No. 4 seed, will face the No. 5 seed Iowa State (18-11, 9-9 Big 12) in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at Chesapeake Energy Arena with a tip time of 11 a.m. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on FOX Sports Networks.
Saturday’s game will also be broadcast on the radio through the K-State Sports Network and for free online at kstatesports.com. Fans can also follow the free live stats at kstatesports.com or on the K-State Gameday app and receive updates on Twitter by following @kstate_gameday.
2016-17 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Awards
Coach of the Year: Karen Aston, Texas
Player of the Year: Brooke McCarty, Texas
Freshman of the Year: Joyner Holmes, Texas
Newcomer of the Year: Jessica Washington, Kansas
Defensive Player of the Year: Brianna Taylor, Texas
Sixth Man Award: Lauren Cox, Baylor
All-Big 12 First Team (all honors listed alphabetical by school)
Kalani Brown, Baylor; Alexis Jones, Baylor; Bridget Carleton, Iowa State;
Breanna Lewis, Kansas State; Kindred Wesemann, Kansas State; Kaylee Jensen, Oklahoma State; Ariel Atkins, Texas; Joyner Holmes, Texas; Brooke McCarty, Texas; Tynice Martin, West Virginia
All-Big 12 Second Team
Nina Davis, Baylor; Alexis Prince, Baylor; Jessica Washington, Kansas; Peyton Little, Oklahoma; Vionise Pierre-Louis, Oklahoma
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Jadda Buckley, Iowa State; Seanna Johnson, Iowa State; Maddie Manning, Oklahoma; Gabbi Ortiz, Oklahoma; AJ Alix, TCU; Kelsey Lang, Texas; Recee; Caldwell, Texas Tech; Ivonne CookTaylor, Texas Tech; Lanay Montgomery, West Virginia; Teana Muldrow, West Virginia
Big 12 All-Defensive Team
Kalani Brown, Baylor; Alexis Prince, Baylor; Breanna Lewis, Kansas State; Ariel Atkins, Texas; Brianna Taylor, Texas; Lanay Montgomery, West Virginia
Big 12 All-Freshman Team
Lauren Cox, Baylor; Eternati Willock, Kansas State; Chelsea Dungee, Oklahoma; Joyner Holmes, Texas; Brittany Brewer, Texas Tech
