Maxwell And Martin Earn All-Pac-12 WBB Accolades In Sophomore Seasons
Entering the 2020-21 college basketball season, there was reason for optimism regarding the Utah women's basketball program.
The Utes finished 14-17 overall and 6-12 in the Pac-12 despite playing in the deepest and toughest conference in the nation. But that was a team full of underclassmen led by a dynamic guard in Brynna Maxwell, who was named all-Pac-12 honorable mention and a first-team all-Pac-12 freshman member.
Unfortunately, Utah may not have taken the step forward it was hoping to throughout the regular season. The Utes have wrapped up the regular season 5-15 overall and 4-14 in conference play.
Kemery Martin, Utah Women's Basketball — Courtesy of Utah Athletics
While the regular wasn't the success the Utes were hoping, the hype they had entering this season us bound to be even greater next season after what Maxwell and Kemery Martin accomplished.
Announced via Monday, Maxwell and Martin were named to the all-Pac-12 honorable mention team. They combined to score 39% of Utah's points on the season, starting the final 16 games of the season together.
Brynna Maxwell
This is the second consecutive season Maxwell has been named to the honorable mention team, and this year may be even more impressive.
It was known that when preparing for the Utes this season, Maxwell was the first, middle and last part of each team's scouting report. The dynamic guard — who might hold the title of best shooter in the Pac-12 — was absolutely deadly anytime she got an inch of space.
Maxwell finished the regular season ranked in the top-12 in scoring, three-pointers made (41) and three-pointers per game (2.05), all while leading the conference in free throw percentage at 92.1%.
She finished the season by averaging 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game
Maxwell was named the College Sports Madness National Player of the Week and Pac-12 Player of the Week after leading Utah to an early-season 85-79 victory over then-ranked No. 15 Oregon State. She finished with 34 points, which would remain the Pac-12 single season high this year.
Kemery Martin
With Maxwell scoring and being the primary focus of every opponent's game plan, Utah needed another player to step up and emerge as the No. 2 option — and the local product from Sandy more than fulfilled that role.
Since being inserted into the starting lineup during the fourth game of the regular season, Martin has emerged as another player who can create her own shot and take advantage of defenses if they elected to key on Maxwell too much.
She finished the season averaging 11.0 points per game, but was averaging 13.5 points per game over the final half of the season. She set a career-high with 25 points against Arizona State before putting up 21 points two games later against Cal, helping Utah notch victories in both games.
With Maxwell and Martin returning for the next two seasons, alongside point guard Dru Gylten, budding freshmen Kennedy McQueen and Peyton McFarland and glue-players in Andrea Torres and Niyah Becker, there's substantial reason for expectations to be high next season.
Utah will have the chance to showcase the bright future when it plays Washington State on Wednesday, March 4 in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. from the Michelob Ultra Arena in the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
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