Kennedie Shuler Named WCC Defensive Player of the Year, Three Beavers Win All Conference Honors
The West Coast Conference tournament tips off tomorrow, but before that there's one last bit of bookkeeping to take care of. Wednesday morning the conference revealed its award winners, with several Beavers earning honors.
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Kennedie Shuler Named West Coast Conference Player of the Week
Kennedie Shuler earned the highest honor, winning the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award. Shuler has been a key defensive playmaker for the Beavers all season, finishing the year with 65 steals and 29 blocks. In addition to her defensive prowess, as point guard she was an instrumental part of the Beavers offense, leading the team with 163 assists and finishing third on the team in total points scored with 405.
Shuler's showcase game of the season was the Beavers overtime win against Gonzaga on January 22nd. Oregon State struggled to contain the Bulldogs' star freshman Lauren Whittaker, who was just named the WCC's Offensive Player of the Year, in that game, but Shuler's 10 steals gave the Beavers plenty of opportunity to keep pace with Gonzaga. She also added 17 points and 9 assists, nearly finishing the night with a double double.
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Shuler was also named to the conference's First Team list, along with one other Beaver. Jenna Villa also made the list, after leading the Beavers in scoring with 460 total points, averaging 14.8 points per game, in her first season in Corvallis. Villa joined Oregon State as a transfer after spending the previous season at Washington State.
Senior guard Tiara Bolden also earned some recognition, as she was named to the conference's Second Team. Bolden has been on a hot streak of late, helping the Beavers break out of their three game losing streak with big games against Portland and Washington State. She finished the season with 412 total points, second most on the team, 153 rebounds and 49 assists.
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Oregon State is going to need big performances from all three players if they want to return to the NCAA Tournament. They're not going to get in as an at large bid, so the only path they have is winning the West Coast Conference tournament. To do that, they'll have to make it past the conference's top seed, LMU, who have already beat the Beavers twice this season.
The tournament starts tomorrow with the lowest seeds facing off. The Beavers, the tournament's fourth seed, won't play until Sunday, with their most likely opponent being the fifth seed Portland Pilots. Oregon State and Portland split their season series.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for On SI, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.